A beautifully memoir a book of healing religion the study of this holy book tp the Jewish faithful.The author comes to Israel to study to heal from a divorce.We watched her struggle to adjust the solace she finds in the Talmud and the new life she creates.A moving open honest memoir I really enjoyed it.#netgalley#st.martinsbooks

When I was young, and even to this day, I loved to spend time, overnight to weeks, if I could, in other people's homes. It was interesting to see how other people lived. I learned how different and yet the same my life was to my friends. What rules applied? What was okay? How huggy or talky were the people?

As an adult that is less likely to happen. Slumber parties seem to stay in the child's world. Really close friends can share their lives. But it isn't the same as personal observation.

Autobiographies give that kind of insight. You live inside the person's world, hear their thoughts, see how they try to live up to their own standards. See how they feel when they don't.

Ilana Kurshan provides that kind of insight. I admire her determination and curiosity. She decided to study the Talmud in a seven-year quest to understand it and her relationship to it better. She lived it as best she could, all the easier for living in Jerusalem, all the harder as a single person, then newlywed, then young mother. But she did her best to apply what she learned along the way.

I was raised protestant. I have many friends of various religious leanings and love to learn their belief systems and how they work in real life. I have a friend who has moved to Israel and thought of her as I read. I don't know if she read this yet, but I bet she will glean from this person's challenge.

Rating autobiographies is harder than a piece of fiction. It is personal. I can't judge another person's life or their own memories. It was where they are/were and how they choose to live it. Ms. Kurshan's writing was compelling. I couldn't stop reading. Since this was an ARC or Uncorrected Copy, there were formatting issues that made my text-to-speech the best way to read it all. But I'm sure those issues were corrected in the retail versions. Other than that it was a delightful read and I highly recommend it to others. I doubt I will ever try the seven-year Talmud, though who knows? I've taken on lessor challenges. I was glad that Ilana included scripture so I could feel a part of the quest. And I'm proud of her for taking a feminist view on her religion. It makes it all more real and possible.

I can't wait to read other reviews about this book.

In this fascinating and engaging memoir Ilana Kurshan chronicles her move to Jerusalem from a successful career in New York City to accompany her new husband. However, the subsequent breakdown of the marriage within a short time of arriving in Jerusalem left her feeling bereft and bewildered and wondering how to re-build her life. A friend suggested she adopt the practice of Daf Yomi, reading and studying a page of the Talmud each day, a task that takes 7 and a half years to complete. This practice dates back to 1923 when Rabbi Yehuda Meir Shapiro of Poland inaugurated the Daf Yomi learning programme at the first parliamentary meeting of the Orthodox group Agudath Israel, in Vienna. For many Jews all over the world Daf Yomi study has become an integral part of their lives, as it does for Ilana Kurshan in Jerusalem. Her life unfolds against the backdrop of her studies which she continues through her new marriage and the birth of her children, and her reflections on what she reads and studies make for some really interesting reading, even, perhaps especially, for non-Jews. I felt that the book gave me new insight into Jewish ways of thinking and how that thinking impacts their daily life. A thought-provoking and insightful memoir and a glimpse into a different world.

If All the Seas Were Ink by Ilana Kurshan is both a memoir and an introduction to the Talmuld, or oral Law, of Judaism. This book is beautifully written. I lived reading about some of the arguments presented in the Talmuld regarding certain subjects. Interwoven in this book are the lessons learned through the study of daf yomi, or reading a tract (a page) of the talmuld a day for seven years in order to complete the reading of the Talmuld. In the lessons gleaned from daf yomi are the stories of the author's life and how the talmuldic lessons impacted her.

I loved this book so much I started my own daf yomi practice. This is a wonderful look at the talmuld and Ilana's life. Both memoir and introduction, this book is definantly worth a read. If you like memoirs you will like this book. If you are interested in Judaism and/or the Talmuld you will like this book. I highly recommend it.

"God's eternal glory could not be described even if the heavens were parchment and the forest quills; if all the seas were ink, as well as every gathered water; even if the earths inhabitants were scribes and recorders of initials."
--Rabbi Meir bar Yizhak

I really looked forward to reading this, and it is even more of a treasure than I anticipated it would be. While I have heard of the Talmud, I didn’t know anything about it before I picked up this book even though for a long time, I have been curious about the teachings Jewish men spend so many years studying and for many years, women have been discouraged from reading. The author has an almost lyrical way of describing her life. Interspersed with all that she has accomplished and experienced, are poems and fascinating bits and pieces from the Talmud. Ilana weaves all these details together so carefully that the book flows beautifully from one subject to the next.

While I read this on a Kindle, I would have preferred a softcover or hardcover edition. I highlighted my way through the book, so I could go back and revisit some of the stories and poems that truly resonated with me, that I found extremely interesting, or in some cases, laugh-out-loud funny.

I recommend this to those who love memoirs, would enjoy reading about an American Jewish female who moved to Jerusalem, and would like an introduction to the Talmud.

This book has opened a door for me into the study of Daf Yomi as I prepare to begin my own this fall. An absolutely thought provoking memoir and invitation to find balance between my spiritual/religious life and day to day.

If All the Seas Were Ink

A Memoir
by Ilana Kurshan

St. Martin's Press

Biographies & Memoirs

Pub Date 05 Sep 2017

I am reviewing a copy of If All the Seas Were Ink through St. Martin's Press and Netgalley:

When she is twenty seven, after a painful divorce, Ilana Kurshan joins the world's largest book club, learning daf yomi, (the daily page) of the Talmud, a book of rabionic teachings, spanning a period of six hundred years. Kurshan, a runner, a romantic she adapts to its pace.

Kurshan studied the Talmud wherever she went. The memoir is a tale of heartache, humor love, loss and marriage and motherhood. In this book Kurshan takes us on a journey through the Talmud, shedding the light into the stories.

If All the Seas Were Ink is a celebration of learning through literature.

I give If All the Seas Were Ink five out of five stars.

Happy Reading!

As a Jewish woman who is interested in learning more about my heritage I was completely amazed and excited by this wonderful story. Reading about how the study of Talmud changed and enriched Ilana's life has truly inspired me.