Acclaimed author Maggie Anton to visit Midbar Kodesh Temple in November

Maggie Anton will be visiting the Midbar Kodesh Temple book club on November 17

to discuss her book “Fifty Shades of Talmud: What the First Rabbis Had to Say About You-Know-What”, the author’s first foray into non-fiction, and there’s still plenty of time to read the book, a lighthearted, in-depth tour of sexuality within the Talmud. Come eavesdrop at the first rabbis' locker-room door as they discuss every aspect of sexual relations how, when, where, with whom - often in startlingly explicit fashion. Anton reveals how Jewish tradition is more progressive in many respects, and more bawdy, than one might think.

Maggie Anton is the award-winning author of "Rashi’s Daughters," historical novels set in the household of the great medieval Jewish scholar, whose daughters studied Talmud when these sacred texts were forbidden to women. The first book of her new series, "Rav Hisda's Daughter: A Novel of Love, The Talmud and Sorcery," was selected for 2012 National Jewish Book Award in Fiction and Library Journal’s choice for Best 2012 Historical Fiction.

A native of Los Angeles, Maggie worked for over 30 years as a clinical chemist for Kaiser Permanente before becoming an author. Raised in a secular, socialist household, she reached adulthood with little knowledge of her Jewish religion. All that changed when David Parkhurst, who was to become her husband, entered her life, and they both discovered Judaism as adults. That was the start of a lifetime of Jewish education, synagogue involvement, and ritual observance.

“True to her mission as a historical novelist, Anton offers a woman's take on what has been a mostly male enterprise,” says Jonathan Kirsch of the Los Angeles Jewish Journal.

For more information about this or other programs at Midbar Kodesh Temple, please contact Rabbi Bradley Tecktiel at 702-454-4848 or RAVT@midbarkodesh.org. Even if you haven’t been in a synagogue in a while (or ever), Midbar Kodesh Temple welcomes you to learn, worship and celebrate together.