^ That “conversion” scene was disturbing – as was everything leading up to it in the plague-ridden streets of London. What a horrific time in history. (Although Lord knows, looking at recent headlines, future historians may say the same thing about us one day.)
“What does the written word mean to you?” A whole lot, or else I wouldn’t be here. 
There are lots of quotes out there about the written word, but today I’ll go with Emily Dickinson: “I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it until it begins to shine.”
I think the written word was more precious in the 17th century–a skill that not many had acquired and was openly permitted for only a few. However, I believe the written word is more powerful today, or at least more dangerous. So much of it is unfiltered, untrue, hateful, and exposes the baseness and stupidity of human beings, rather than their extraordinary intellect and ability to debate the finer points of Spinoza’s metaphysical and epistemological principles.
Rachel Kadish mentioned in an interview that she loved how the behavior of iron gall ink acted as a metaphor for the power of words. (She also talks about this in the short video @author posted in #30.)
I thought that they agreed to be converted was very much a parallel with the Masada story. So I like that very much. I hadn’t thought of Rivka as a parallel to the Patricia’s and I am really intrigued by that idea.
I have been sing the praises of this book to my family this weekend. (Mini reunion - we’ll see if they take me up on it.) I got my husband to start reading it. He’s more a sci-fi/thriller guy, but he’s also really interested in the intersection of biology and religion so I think he’ll like it. He’s actually taken a bunch of philosophy courses unlike me. (Well I took a philosophy of art course pass/fail as a grad student. It was painful, but I passed.)
John was weak. But if I look at my first boyfriend. I wonder what I was thinking. Interestingly enough he was Jewish and I think that would ultimately have been a problem, though it never came up when we were together.
I loved the moment when Rivka revealed she could read. Suddenly Esther looked at her differently. I think their relationship changed subtley after that.
Yes, and I think that moment was a reminder that we all have prejudices, even those who are victims themselves: Ester was pre-judging Rivka based on class and gender.
One thing I learned from this book is that, during this time period, the Sephardic Jews were considered classier than the Ashkenazi Jews.
During the early part of the 20th century, when many Russian Jews were coming through Ellis Island, German Jews considered themselves classier – they had been here longer (since the 1860s) and generally came with some means. The Russian Jews came to escape the pograms and came with nothing at all. Both the Russian Jews and the German Jews are Ashkenazi Jews.
Shifting to the 21st century….
Did Helen die of a stroke? I looked up Parkinson’s, and though complications can lead to death, it’s not fatal in and of itself.
It appears she had a small stroke in the elevator, and then another one before her trip to the Post Office–“brain-lightning”:
Since Helen had her affairs so perfectly in order, and died in her own bed, I wondered briefly if she helped things along a bit, but then her letter to Aaron indicated that wasn’t the case. (“If you’re holding these papers, it’s because I’m no longer able to…I did wish very much to work with you on these documents.”) She just had a powerful premonition that the end was near.
Helen was sweet. I wanted to give her a hug. Well, maybe not sweet – but sincere and earnest. She erred by walking away from Dror, IMO.
I got the sense that perhaps she died peacefully in her bed from a massive stroke while envisioning herself going to the post office.
It was very kind of her to gift Aaron the priceless documents and her letter to him.
I don’t think Ester fears love. I think she realizes that a proper Jewish woman in 17th century London would have too many expectations and obligations with her family to pursue learning to the depth that Ester requires.
I really thought that it would end with Aaron discovering that he was related in some way.
With a character named HaLevy and another named HaCoen, does the “Ha” have any significance in Jewish/Hebrew surnames?
At the end of the book, Helen was trying to mail an envelope to an unnamed person (I’m guessing the deceased Dror), with no address and no idea how much it would cost. If she had really collapsed at the post office she would have been hauled off to the hospital. Since she was found in her bed, I figured she just dreamed the post office sequence before dying in her bed.
I looked up the “Ha” because I’m Jewish and I’ve never seen it before. Apparently it means “the.” Weird.
Could be. It certainly had a dreamlike quality about it, as she wasn’t able to speak. I took it literally–that Helen couldn’t talk because of a stroke, but managed to make it to the Post Office because she so wanted to send off the undeliverable letter to Dror for “closure.” That would mean she then went home with everything imaginable taken care of, and died in her bed. That seems too pat. I like your interpretation better.
Still haven’t reread the book but…
I’m Jewish and familiar with Ha as a prefix. Cohenim and Leviim are the priestly tribes. Theoretically Cohenim are direct descendants of Aaron (from Exodus) and Leviim are direct descendants of Levi, the third son of Jacob. Everyone else is just one of the other ten tribes of Israel, the Yisraelim, the hoi polloi, so to speak.
I admit I just looked up the details but always knew Cohen and Levi are big deals in certain religious observances for Orthodox and Conservative congregations. For example, when DS became Bar Mitzvah, the first two guests called up to read Torah were considered Cohen and Levi and therefore desired so yay or something. There’s also a prayer during Yom Kippur where the Cohenim are called up to the front to give the priestly blessing.
. So back in the day, such surnames probably contained extra value in Jewish society. And why there are so many people with variations of the names today.
Anyway, presumably Ha is then an honorific to distinguish the person’s priestly caste.
It was…and yet I wonder if Aaron will be able to retain possession. He muses, “And when he’d finished all his work on the documents, assuming patrimony laws hadn’t taken them out of his hands before then, he’d sell them to the university” (p. 555).
Since Bridgette is the heir, and she was of sound mind when she sold the papers to Helen, I don’t know why it would be a problem – although I read that the U.S. has laws to prohibit private citizens from collecting certain types of cultural artifacts, so maybe there’s something similar in the UK.
Upthread, @pilot2012 had mentioned beauty patches (one of Mary’s affectations). Below is a fun article about that, plus links to a variety of other topics I looked up in the course of reading, in no particular order:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/sexy-face-stickers/
A couple of short and interesting videos about repairing and conserving old drawings and documents— no doubt similar to what Conservationist Patricia was doing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yi7PbN7AmQ&list=PL45A1787B3689E523&index=7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw6NOFJCI8Q&list=PL45A1787B3689E523&index=2
The book that Ester studies while in the bindery, Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton:
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/burtons-anatomy-of-melancholy-1628
Cool facts about the Great Fire of London in 1666:
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Great-Fire-of-London/
And a little bit about Masada and the story of the two women who chose not to be martyrs, to the benefit of history:
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/masada
In any case , I’m sure Aaron will receive compensation when he relinquishes the valuable documents he was given by Helen. He should also be able to write a fascinating dissertation. If there are laws that make the documents a national treasure, he should still receive just compensation, which would probably be no less than Helen paid and perhaps considerably more.
Random thought: I hope Aaron gets in touch with Derek Goodwin. The discovery of Ester’s papers just blew a hole in that poor young man’s graduate thesis on Thomas Farrow.
I agree but hope that it can be worked to make Goodwin’s thesis even more important - as in “see what everyone missed.” After all, without Goodwin, Aaron and Helen would, at the very least, have been slowed down. It’s all in the spin.