OSNAT AND HER DOVE

One woman takes her love of Jewish religious learning to exalted heights.

Born the daughter of a learned rabbi, Osnat Barzani convinced him to teach her Hebrew and the holy texts of Judaism. This was indeed a rare occurrence, as Osnat was born in Mosul, in today’s Iraq, in 1590. She embraced her studies and, after her father’s death, began teaching in his yeshiva. Her freedom to choose a husband who supported her passion for study was just as unusual for the time. Her wisdom was so great and so respected that everyone accepted and honored her. The students called her “Tanna’it, a title given only to the most respected teachers.” Samuel tells about Osnat’s extraordinary life and seamlessly weaves in some of the many legends and miracles that were part of her life story. Healing her injured pet dove and saving a synagogue and its Torah scrolls from a fire were but two of them. Mintzi’s layered gouache paintings beautifully convey this long-ago time with street scenes, yeshiva interiors, and starlit roads. In one evocative double-page spread, Hebrew letters dance across the pages, many taking the shape of stylized animals in Osnat’s imagination.

Fact and legend become one in an inspiring story of an exceptional woman.