ok, so mm is reading the red tent, a novel by anita diamant, whose other books include the new jewish wedding, and choosing a jewish life.......this book is about dinah, sole daughter of jacob, whose 12 sons became the tribes of israel..........i was familiar with the story of jacob, who was forced to mary the elder daughter of laban, leah, before he could marry rachel, his beloved........he ends up also having children with the handmaidens of both leah and rachel.......at the point i laid down the book, jacob had just wrestled with god, and was recovering beside the river.........the wrestling with god thing is a passage we have covered several times in the 15 years that i have taught sunday school.........it was just never covered like this book covers it....pure fiction makes it leap from the page.............the book has been suggested by many of my favorite danville 'readers', and i am just now getting around to it...............quite earthy and evocative.........especially the parts about the wives suckling each others babies..........i know that this was custom, but this is a custom we have gotten so far away from as to shock and cause minor dismay............