If All The Seas Were Ink

For Jewish and non-Jewish readers, If All the Seas Were Ink is a celebration of learning through literature how to fall in love again.

After an unexpected divorce, Conservative rabbi’s daughter Ilana decides to embark on Daf Yomi – the cycle of daily Talmud study. Over the next 7-1/2 years, she completes the Talmud, embarks on a new relationship, marries, and has children. The memoir is organized by the tractates of the Talmud, and like that work, the organization in each chapter is a little loose as she dips between discussion of the tractate, her life, and other religious and literary digressions. But she’s a good writer, and the detours are interesting.