I haven't checked the weather, but I know it is a perfect day to chat about adult Jewish literature. I'm Sheryl Stahl. Thanks for joining me here at Nice Jewish Books.
I am really excited to be speaking with Nina Wachsman about a fascinating time in place in Jewish history. Welcome, Nina.
Hi, nice to see everybody. Nice to hear everybody.
Your latest book is The gallery of Beauties. And can you please set up the story for us?
Sure. The gallery of beauties takes place in the Venice of the Renaissance, the 16, early 1600s. And Venice, as people might not may not know, was the originator of the whole concept of the ghetto, the first ghetto ever invented, and it was in around the 1600s. But my story takes place in the ghetto of Venice in the 1600s. And it focuses on the daughter of the Chief Rabbi of Venice, who is approached by an artist in the marketplace. To paint her portrait to help because he wants to paint her portrait for commission he has to paint the most 12 most beautiful women of Venice, for a gallery of beauties for visiting English Lord. And this gives her the chance to get out of the ghetto. And it allows her to mix with the Society of Venice and the salons of Venice, which you can meet people that you would never have access to before. And also learn about things like art, which when the ghetto had access, because part is, in order to become an artist, you have an apprenticeship with an artist and no artists would apprentice with a Jew and know how to me or the cataloging to become a student at the academy. So art was really a closed world, the type of Renaissance art that we're all familiar with? Because that time is opposed? Well, we do because that's what intrigues her to go with the artists and get this portrait painted. And then they, the the but as she gets a painting that she gets a portrait painted, she encounters all the other illustrious women in Venice, because at that time, it was an unusual time for women and women were allowed to do things they not weren't not normally allowed to do. And in fact, when the first woman in the world to get a PhD from university was from Venice at that time, an d she's one of the characters and one of the portraits in the gallery beauties. And so but then one by one, some women are poisoned. And so the rabbi's daughter becomes the amateur sleuth and partners with an elite courtesan to try to find out who is behind these poisonings before she may become the next victim.
The book was just so fascinating. That was going to be one of my first questions was about the ghetto because we think of the Holocaust era Central European ghettos, which this was not so can you tell me more about what life in the Venice ghetto was about?
Well, the interesting thing that I found, which it now was, first of all, the ghetto was started as sort of a protected area for Jews. So Jews. At that time, Jews and non Jews were being threatened by hordes of like a raiding hords that was coming across from Europe and Asia. And so they actually settled in Venice, because they were islands. And it was kind of a natural way to protect themselves. And they particularly want the Jews to be a part of it, because they needed to do because the Jews would lend the money and they had international trade. So they wanted the Jews to be part of the cities events of Venice. But they wanted them also to be protected, because they knew they were very vulnerable. So they set up the ghetto which the ghetto was, given, the time was founded. And it was like that. Venice is made up of multiple islands, and this one little island was the foundry which was called ghetto. And so they set the Jews up in this ghetto, more of a protection to that. And although they did have gates, and together and Jews were not really restricted from leaving together, what night in the case of together was closed, the only other restriction really on the Jews of that time, where they didn't want us to intermarry with non Jews. So they had to wear distinctive clothing, a badge or a hat. So they'd be marked as Jews, but otherwise the Jews were less mingled in outside society. So the ghetto wasn't the way we see it. As the European ghetto was they were isolated. They weren't allowed to work. They weren't allowed to interact with the people. The ghetto was more of a protection and the gates were more protected because to do so with a completely different concepts than what we thought in later yeah.
Yeah, when you say that they were allowed to mingle, it seemed that people could go out to the marketplace. But were there other acceptable places, or avenues to interact with people?
Well, the interesting thing though, the story, I was attracted to the story because the Rabbi of my synagogue talks about this chief rabbi of Venice at the time, now who's Leon de Modena, my character's father in the story, that I read his autobiography. And what's interesting about him is that he would, he became, he's an addicted gambler, and he would patronize gambling casinos. So Jews were 100% allowed to sit at the gaming tables. And one of the attractions I think, was him from his even his autobiography was that he didn't have to wear the distinctive clothing to go with the arm, arm and arm with other noble men with merchants. And he said, gamble there freely. So although Jews were restricted professionally, they were allowed to those you know, to go pretty much anywhere in the city, and during the time evolved, and he allowed Karneval and celebrate, and also non Jews would come to the ghetto as well. And what's interesting is that there was some to the ghetto like, today, when you have ..., like the show houses where people were putting their houses out to show how beautiful their houses are, in people would come together during some time for us some of the big holidays. Because the Jews were known to have these beautiful homes. There were a lot of very wealthy people who had beautiful fabrics and textiles, because a lot of them were trading. It became like a show Palace when people would come outside the ghetto to actually see these homes of the Jews in the ghettos. And there also was another character, ... salon. And she actually ran a salon out of the ghetto. So non Jews were allowed to have a salon, she has the ethical performances in the first salon, so non people come to VCs for performances, and Jews would participate in that we can choose a Jewish woman during the shooting stars or production, and then land on my dad as a rabbi who would give sermons. They weren't in support of the of the services, so we can separate, we give services and invite outside people, you know, much today that we do say in a lot of temples, so invite outside people, ministers, so he would invite Cardinals ambassadors who come to listen to his, his speaking. So there was the sharing of culture. And his, his son in law was a dance instructor, who worked with not only Jews, but also non Jews, teaching them how to dance and Jews was very much inter inter woven into society. It was just professionally, they were more restricted on now they can belong to the guild, but couldn't do certain professions. But in terms of socially, as long as they were marked and they didn't marry, that was the big thing. They did not want to infiltrating and intermarrying within their culture.
When Diana does venture out, she meets up with Belladonna, who's one of the courtesans who wants to make Diana her protege. And her previous protege, Juliana was one of the women who had been murdered. And this puts her in the middle of a conflict between two of the major families in Venice, the Morosini family and the Contarinis family. Right. And they're also connected to this council of 10. Which I always hate admitting my ignorance, but I had never heard of. So. Could you talk a little bit about the council of 10, and kind of the conflicts between these families?
Sure, we have to talk about Belldonna. Right? Well, the interesting thing about the council of 10 really was did exist. And in fact of the new friend of mine, who is from Venice, who tells him he's from Venice. He also said to me, how did you know about the council, but if you go to Venice, which I go very frequently, and you go to the Doges Palace, they had a separate chambers of Venice was very unusual at the time because it was not a monarchy. It was we were not inherited positions, who are the rulers of Venice. And in fact, the doge who was considered like the president event, it was more of a figurehead, even though he was, you know, he was appointed. So they were run by a Senate of our country's people who were representative of both the noble and the merchant class. And among that Senate, they elected 10 people to be the magistrates and the enforcers of the law. So they weren't legislators, but they were kind of the magisterial arm. So they were the judges and they had a special chamber, which was called the council's head where you would appear anybody whose transcripts they would appear between public and magistrates, and then among the 10 that disappeared If it was free, who would actually set so the manager strives to judge you whether or not you're guilty or not. And the these three out of the council 10 would actually sent into to the prisons which were right very conveniently attached to the council fan, there was a secret door that set you right over the Bridge of Sighs into the doge's prison. So and these, what was interesting about these councils hands if they had a lot of power, and they will also have the authority they were kind of like the CIA, also of Venice. And they were kind of looking for him spies or any kind of enemies to Venice, they will also known to hire assassin, and they also concocted their own choices. So they were considered masters and poisoned. They were also masters assassin, and they made Venice, the captain poison. So every court, every assassin from every other court, including the court of Charles second, and the court of Louis, the 14th, which were rife with poison, basically, their poisons came from Venice.
Wow.
Because they Venice was known for their poison. So among the families, so on this council of 10, it will be some of the families it was an elected position, and it changed over every two years. And from the council of 10, they would elect to doge. So different families would vie those who has the most power, and the seed of power was really among these councils 10 Because they will be authorities and the magistrates. And among those counselors can they will do the selection for the doge. So two of the major families and their these are two real, families that had villages among them the country news who were not as bad as I portray them here and the Morosini. And so I set up their rivalry because they're both trying to show that they're the preeminent, they're the most they're they're looking for power, an Contorini really wants to be the next doge and Morosini has different interests that he wants to propose. Venice was also the ship-building capital of the world. And Morosini is involved in a lot of ship-building events, who has the most you know, Venice was a big sea power at the time this was there. It's given golden age. So the ship-building industry was the primary industry and what everybody loves to Venice for their power came from their their shipbuilding and their their commerce, their sea commerce. These two families were very much rivals in my story, I concocted an additional rivalry between them because they both were lovers of both Niccolo Contorini and Marcini were lovers of the courtesan Belladonna. And they also vied for the hand of the woman who became the wife,of Moracini, Teresa Morrisini, because she had a great fortune, and, and Teresa Morasini chose Moracini instead of Contarini and so that adds to the rivalries. So there was a lot of this kind of power mongering going on behind the scenes. And they would use anything like their wives, their mistresses, whoever, these were all pawns in the game of who becomes the most thought of power.
So another thing that drew Diana and her family into this mess was that her father had a medical book, a very rare book with recipes for antidotes. And so all those poisoners out there wanted to make sure they had antidotes and all the people who were afraid of being poisoned. So, right, that kind of drew her into this situation, too. So was that book real? Were there antidotes to all these horrific poisons?
Yes. Yeah, so the book was, there were poisons along with poisons. Venice was also known for its medicines and remedies. And most of this came because they were like I said, they were center of commerce. And it was the Arab physician who brought a lot of these medicines, herbal remedies to Venice. And so the book of my story is a true book written by an Arab physician inside the medical Compendium it was used, it had poisons in it, and it had remedies and it just like I depict, the remedy that I put in here was a real remedy that they use for poisons, it was called Venice treacle. They said it was like 40 Different ingredients. It combined a million different things here of some kind of animal and then we can say since and a little bit of a little bit of everything and was supposed to work on almost every poison, including the poison that I chose in the story, which is also a real pain poison, called the Aqua Tofana. It was also a remedy for the ... the Mediccis also concocted their own poison. And it also worked for that most of the poisons they use had an element of arsenic into in it. So they think that the Venice treacle had some kind of an anti-arsenic property to it. But it was a very difficult thing to make. So that was one of the points in the story is that just because you had the book and you had the recipe couldn't necessarily concocted on your own, you had to have some experience with trial and error, because they said it could take 40 days to make, make th antidote. So obviously, if they're, if the Council of 10, knew that poisoner was afoot , they'd want to have a lot of antidote at hand to help.
Absolutely. So I want to go back to Diana, she's a very smart young woman who's a widow, with this very active curiosity about the world, I should say, a hunger for more knowledge than she can get in the ghetto. And she's really struggling, because if she decides to put herself in the outside world, and that necessarily means that she cuts off ties to her family in the ghetto. So can you talk a little bit more about that struggle?
Yes, I found that very interesting that as Jews of that time, we're very similar to modern Jews in that they tried to be in both worlds. And a lot of them did, a lot of them were able to retain their identity, a lot more of them felt that they would they would be able to gain more advancement if they discarded their background and their beliefs. So Belladonna is, is one of those who says that obviously they would have she would want to have Diana become her protege. However, relations between Jews and non Jews were absolutely prevented. So she could not become a Jew at all, she could not, she could not remain a Jew and become a courtesan, essentially, so she could not have relations with a non Jew. So because of that, she did not really desire to become afforded to him. But she desired some of the knowledge, the access, to courtisans were women who had access to all kinds of knowledge. So she desired that kind of knowledge as well. And so that was her struggle. But she does, she'd secretly believe she'd be able to accomplish it. Because there were a lot of women doing unusual things. Like I said, this woman who was able to go to university, there was another woman who was able to inherit the glassmaking business and become an inventor. So there were women pushing the boundaries. So she's hoping she will be able to straddle both worlds. And you know, her husband and her father both allowed her to learn to study become a Talmudic scholar, which also was unusual for the time, but now absolutely outlandish. In fact, recently there was discovered a haggadah that was created by a woman scribe from that time.
Really?!
Yeah, so in order to be a scribe, you have to be quite learned. So there was never any prohibition against women learning. So it's very likely that, you know, a rabbi will teach his daughter and in reality, pointing to Leon Medina's autobiography, his daughter, Diana did become part of Judaism, he did publish a lot, and she did help him, he did help, she did help him with his work. So she's hoping that gaining the knowledge and going outside in the world and learning more about it will open opportunities, because going back to the dreariness of resistance, to the way she was without a husband, living, you know, just with the limited books that she can get from her father and the drudgery of that kind of existence, you know, for younger woman who lost her husband is this kind of, you know, go back to that, when you have the opportunity to get out in the world, this struggle that I think a lot of Jews have faced in general, you know, I come from advertising, I was in the advertising profession. When I started in advertising, there was nobody who took off for any Jewish holidays at all. And it was always a struggle. And I would have to leave big meetings, I was at a meeting at Procter and Gamble, and I had to leave. Because, you know, it didn't matter that it was Rosh ha-Shanah. That's, you know, who cares? They didn't even barely knew what it was. But having to stand up and walk out and leave in the middle of meeting is a very big struggle. And I've had I've learned it, and I wanted my character to have a little bit of that conflict of wanting to do things and outside world and wanting to continue the traditions, which are brothers did not his brothers just discarded it. And she feels that loyalty to her family, and also because she's learned so much, and she had that loyalty with her husband. That was something that drew them together. They're learning. She can't just throw it out, even though she wants she's hungry for new, new knowledge. So that's kind of the concept of striving, her struggle to get out of the ghetto. And the choice to become a courtisan is not what she wants. But it is She is attracted support a sense lifestyle and her salons and her ability to learn so much from so many different people
I was going to ask about her brothers. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is her oldest brother a pirate? Yes.
And that's also based on truth. Because if you read his autobiography, his oldest son went off to sea. And if you read between the lines that were very common, there were a lot of Jewish pirates at the time. And the reason there were Jewish Corsairs are pirates was because they were they kind of banded together with the Moors, who were the Barbary pirates. They had a common enemy, which was Spain. You know, Spain kept a lot of prisoners, and they captured a lot of prisoners who moved to the Knights of Malta in Malta also captured a lot of Jews and ransom them. So this was something that it was a group of pirates called the brethren, real pirates, Jewish pirates, and they were funded by the king of Morocco and the king of Holland, for the same purpose to really attack Spanish ship ships. So her brother sees the opportunity. He's driven by that. And in fact, he has a past with Belladonna, who was captured once by pirates. And he had rescued her from becoming part of a Turkish harem at the time, so she has some loyalty, that's her connection to Diana's family. And her other son, the other son, son, Reuven, also wants to go to Spain. And he's also based on reality, because in real life, the rabbi Medina's youngest son was involved in some kind of smuggling operation, and was at the end murder. And he actually witnessed the murder, who was murdered by some thugs in France who tricked him into coming out. And he was involved in with a prostitute report exam. And that's how they tricked him, and were able to murder him. So a lot of what I built into story came from reality, because it came from this autobiography that we have leftover from this man who lived in the early 1600s, who was really a renaissance man, and just seeing you know, his children all but his daughter really left him. His oldest son, who is not in the story was in truth in real life was a Alchemist who died as a result of experiments. So so they were kind of you can see there was that Jews were living somewhat in the modern world if he was an alchemist as well, because that was something from outside as well, too.
Is his autobiography available in English? Because that sounds fascinating.
Yes, it is. It is. And what's interesting also about there is a lot of information about the use of Italy, because I guess, the Nazis when they came to Italy, they didn't have time to destroy all the records. So there is a lot of records leftover and I had gone when I go to Venice, I had family in Venice. So I did find out about the archives and what they have leftover and Napoleon also, he kept a lot of the archives when he came into that. So there is a lot of information. And that's why this diary, this autobiography of the Modenas survive. A lot of writings of rabbis and famous people in that time, including Sarah Sophia salaam, who's supposed to protest also survived. So it's very interesting to read, there is a lot of background information, you can find out which I subscribed to like a academic newsletter, and I get all these publications. There was a lot of interest at that time also in the Kabbalah. And so there was a lot of publications by different rabbis for or against the Kabbalah at that time was a big point of controversy, which is also survived. But I would definitely recommend Leon de Medina's biography because it's, it's very moving. For me, it was very moving reading about a father, who really is concerned over his children. He has an unhappy marriage, he's chafing to be somebody who was considered a genius as a younger man and his, and as you know, his diaries written in his 50s. And you can see that feeling of being forwarded and he didn't achieve his life's goals or the promise that he thought he would have. So it's a very interesting piece of literature to read as well.
I'll definitely add that to my to be read pile. So how did you put yourself into the mindset of 17th century characters?
That was a tough thing, but I have to say, first of all, reading a lot about like recently on demo Dana's book, I also read from a different character. I don't know if you've heard the memoirs and political of Hamelin, which is you know, a little bit later 1640s But, and I also the other thing I did is I studied art. So I been to a lot of galleries and looked at a lot of portraits and read about a lot of women at the time. I also read Anthony of Fraser has a book called the weaker vessel, which is about women of this 1600s Mostly in England. And in reading some of these other biographies and reading a lot of the source materials from the Italian ghetto, like Cecil was a lot about the Italian ghetto. There's a man named Ricardo Pella monta who still lives in the ghetto. He writes a lot about to get out. So understanding and I had to understand, like, what food did they eat? Where did they walk? What shoes do they wear? What was it like in their houses? My editor, in fact, asked me I haven't seen her Diana's walking through the ghetto, and she's smelling the baking of the challahs. On a Friday. My editor said to me, well, when women bake on their own, why would they why would she have to walk by a bakery? And I did. I said, no women at that time, you didn't have an oven in your house, it was very unlikely you had an oven in your house unless you were very wealthy. And in fact, it was a guild of bakers. So they didn't even encourage people to bake on your own. And what's interesting is that I found out the Italian Baker's has patented, this kind of what we call polpark challah. It's like a braided kind of Challah where you where you pull each section apart. So that was their thing. So I believe that Jews probably learned a lot of those traditions of challah came from these Italian bakers, also, so the bakers were part of life. So learning about that, and understanding that and also the other thing when you go to Venice today, and you walk through the ghetto today, the great thing about it, is that it hasn't changed much in a year. And there were times that I would be walking to narrow little chalets. And I would almost think I was my character. And it was because you know, it was it's nighttime, it's required that there's no cars there. No, you know, even though a lot of these places, there's not even electrical lights. So you it's very, very dark as you're walking to these areas, and the grounds is the same that my characters walk and the canals are pretty much the same. And we stay in one hotel that's called Wakanda del ghetto, which is in the ghetto is under. Actually, I believe that was the runes of Rabbi random organic because it's hundreds of synagogues, and he practiced them. And when you look up at the ceiling, you can see there are timbers with painted faces on there that are leftover from that time. So you kind of get the feeling of what it was like to live in those. You know, like I said, the houses haven't changed, the streets hasn't changed, the sounds haven't changed, the lighting hasn't changed. So that adds to a lot of the food hasn't changed to the Jews really ate chickpea. That's the thing now, which was very chickpeas and lentils were the mainstays of their diet and fish. I mean, they did not have meat, like we did very few people ate meat in those times, or even chicken. It was really seafood. And you know, seafood and lentils and chickpeas, because if you think of no refrigeration, and you're on an island, you know, that's what they had access to. So that helps to build the ideas and be in that zone, understanding what it's like, and listening to the sounds of that laughing water hitting the sides of the cobblestone through the canal. And since you've been there a lot, that's in your mind, that helps.
Yeah, that's so interesting. It makes perfect sense, but I hadn't really thought about it that. And I assumed that the chickpeas also and lentils would have have to have been imported.
Right from the mainland. Yeah, there were a lot of dudes in the mainland surrounding there too, like in Kona, at certain times, the ghetto where the Jews live was leased land, it still is today. It's owned by the Borromeo family, even today. And so Jews had an extended lease to it, and it would come up every couple, you know, every 20 years, 25 years, the lease would come up in front of the council 10 Again, and they'd have to vote on whether or not they'd extend the lease. So at one point in time in the about 1580s, they voted against they had enough votes against the Jews to knock them out. And the Jews has to pick up and leave the city events. And where did they go, they went to nearby and Kona for a period of time, and then till the vote went back again, and they were able to come back. So there weren't Jews on the mainland, so and then that that was and also the other big thing is Venice was the city of Port. Well, the trade came in there. And they had the Jews, particularly but people in Venice had access to foods that the rest of Europe didn't. So they had access to a lot of spices and seasonings from the Far East, from the new world that they didn't have they had coffee very early. And they even had tea very early. Because there was such you know, there was ships coming from all over the place. And don't forget Marco Polo who opened up the door to the east was a Venetian, so started from there.
Yeah, I guess if my main diet was chickpeas and lentils I would really want those spices,
saffron and all those kinds of things.
It's wonderful. So, obviously, you've done a lot of research on this. What in your research surprised you?
Well, from a Jewish point of view would surprise me with some modern people at the time. I expected just because I know everybody expects Jews really ghetto, they will walled off, they weren't intermingling with society. And then I learned that wasn't true that they were at they were in musics, they were had Jews coming in the ghetto. They were involved in gambling, they were involved in pretty much the they went to carnivalle. So it was very interesting to me to see that they were very much similar to modern Jews today. And I And they, one of the things that said is the Jews weren't the only ones who lived in the ghetto. There were a lot of Moors and they had their own section two, it was Moorish quarter. So everybody kind of had their little quarter. And it was kind of their own quarter, just like we have today. Like we have Chinatown. And we have, you know, Little Italy, it was very similar to that. In Venice. It was a very modern city in that way. And that's why I think the the erasers have kind of these stigmas against Jews against women, they were a little bit more flexible in those kinds of things. And people were allowed to mingle more. So that was interesting to me. The other thing that was surprised me was I, like I said, I looked at a lot of the artwork to learn about the city in this time period. And when things I found in a very small foundation in Venice, were paintings of Carnival. And at carnival, they used to have a running of the bulls across the reactor Bridge, which was in a painting, which that was surprising. And they also had both bites in the sand in Piazza San Marco as part of this was how they kicked off Karneval. And then another scene, which is in the book is they had a it was called the flight of the Turk for the flight of the angel and they had a Acrobat who'd go to the top of the company Hill in San Marco and we'd go on a zipline to the balcony of the Doges Palace, like you know, Disney World, they have the Tinker Bell goes down the front of the tower. So these were kind of events that kicked off Carnegie Hall, and I wouldn't have known about them. They're not written up anywhere. And the way I found out about them was looking at these paintings that depicted them. And then afterwards, when I asked about what happened to the running of the bulls, why did they do it, and they explained in next to the painting, that the running of the bulls was done by and the bull fight was done by the butcher guild, because it was their way of showing they're honoring the doge and honoring the government with a demonstration of there were so that's why they did it. And they stopped doing it because people complained that too many people were getting gored by the bull. So they stopped it. So that was also interesting too, is that Venetians, the average person had to say somewhat in government, because they had this suggestion box, which is still there, if you go by the Palazzo the Doges Palace, there's a little mouth. It's called the boca de Lyon, it's the mouth of the lion. And you could put a suggestion, it's like a suggestion box, you could put a note in Wow. So evidently, they got a lot of notes about the Goring of the bull. And then the other thing they got a lot of notes about was they had another practice which was which they just restarted again right before COVID They had it at Venice, pretty opening up Kearney bow, they would have a parade of the 12 most beautiful women in balance, they would parade through the streets because there are 12 sectors within Venice. And every sector would would select a girl and it had to be a commoner couldn't be from the nobility. And then the government would give like dresses and jewels and things to this girl to make her beautiful. And then she parade to the city and they discontinued that also because of notes that came into the Boca Lyon because there was so much rivalry that people were getting into fights about whose daughter got chosen to be in this because you get a dowry from all these things, you know, that you've got is being selected. So they discontinued it, but now, right before you know COVID I was in Venice, and I saw that port opening a carnivalle started it again. And they were doing that parade through. They were selecting somebody to do it. And they even had, they'd select the queen of carnivalle and they had the queen of Karneval is the girl who went on to zipline down to villages power. Wow. So it's back. So if you go to Venice for Carnival next year, you may see it again.
So the subtitle of your book is a Venice beauties mystery. So does that mean that we'll see more of these characters in the future?
Yes, actually, I'm in the middle of the second book right now. The second book is more focused on Belladonna story. It's called the courteson's secret And she has a secret passed which she, you know, she took on the name Belladonna, which is not a real name. And Belladonna is in fact a name for a poisonous plant of foxglove. And she took it on for a reason because she doesn't want to be beholden to any man and she wants any man to know that if they cross her they'd be in danger. But so the courtesan secret is kind of her backstory, what happened to her? How did she come to Venice? How did she meet Isaac, and in the courtesan's secret, a long lost brother comes back comes to Venice in search of her. And the brother has a key to a treasure that the Spanish, the English, and various other people want. So they're after him, he disappears in Venice. And so because he's gone there after her, they find out she's his sister. So she has to hide in the ghetto where no one will think of finding her. So she's hiding in open sight. So gave me the chance. So in, in this book, we have Diana going into the outside world and seeing what the outside world was like, in the next book, it's being done Madonna's going into the world of the ghetto. So I wanted the reader to understand to look at the ghetto, from that outside looking in, what are the strains customs that these people are doing? How are these people living their lives? And that's part of what I'm trying to show in the second book. And then the third book, I'm not sure yet. But there is a third book coming to.
Wonderful, I can't wait to read the next one. So is there anything that you'd like to talk about that I haven't thought to ask about?
Yes, I'll just tell you one other very interesting part, which a lot of people were intrigued by the gallery beauties itself is a real thing. And it didn't exist. And there are a number of them that still exists. And the reason that the whole concept of the gallery beauties came from I saw it first in Munich, and the palace of Ludwig the first who was deposed he was known as Mad King Ludwig. And he had commissioned his court painter to paint the most beautiful women of Munich from all walks of life. And he put it into a gallery in his palace of Nymphenburg Palace, which is in the middle of Munich, about 36 of them have survived. He had hundreds of them up there. And it was very interesting to see one of them was Jewish woman also, who was the daughter of his account. So he'd any woman he'd see from any walk of life, somebody delivering toys to his palace, he was one of the ones who was selected. And then I and he did it because he said, the picture of beautiful women looking at the faces of beautiful women, made him feel more noble and suit his soul. And then I went to Hampton Court Palace. And sure enough, in the bottom level of Hampton Court Palace, there's a room that was created by William the first William of Orange, which features the paintings of all the noble women at court. And he used to go in that room also, because he was mourning his wife. And anytime he got depressed about being embattled, go to this room, and he'd see these beautiful pictures of these beautiful women and it would also suit his soul. And then I went upstairs and King Charles the Second, had pictures and entire gallery of beautiful women who I think they were all of him, his mistresses. And they're famous as the Windsor beauties. So this was an ongoing practice of noblemen, that they would have gallery of beauties in their palace. It was like their man cave, instead of having sports stars on the wall, they had beautiful women on the wall. So I thought, What a great idea, this character in English, when it comes to Venice was a real person. I found him in the National Portrait Gallery in London. And he had come to Venice to collect things. And I figured if he's going to come selecting, what better way to collect the most, one of the things they're famous for, which is beautiful woman. So that's how I put the two together. And it was very interesting. Then I found another book about these unusual women and feminists that there were so many of these unusually beautiful and accomplished women in Venice at the time women composers, within glassmakers, women scholars, you know, and later on, there was a very famous woman portraitists, who lived in Venice in late 60s 70s. So it was just very interesting to see that the whole gallery beauties concept really was an unusual thing to learn about.
So interesting, I had no idea. So if someone were to use your book, or to use anything in your life that you would like to mention, as a call to action for Tikkun Olam for repairing the world. What would it be?
Well, I think one of the things that I in my book that I talked about, is that beauty. It's actually in the next book because beauty there were four most beautiful women in the world that are noted in the in the Talmud. The four most beautiful women noted in the Talmud, were no did not for their outward for beauty, but for their inner beauty, it was the beauty of their souls. And I think beauty of the souls and caring about other people and wanting to give back is a very important concept. And for me wanting to give back is for people with rare diseases. And people with rare diseases, we have a family member or two family members who have rare diseases. Rare diseases affect mostly children 50% of people with rare diseases or children 95% of rare diseases have no effective treatment. So a lot of these kids are not expected to live. And meaning people with rare disease as I have and seeing the incredible valliant resilience and their the valiant effort they live, and how much they owe, you know, it just gives me a lot of belief in the human spirit. Now you can look at the evil of mankind for what's happened with the Holocaust. And some of these, you know, some of the terrible things that have happened and currently happen across the world. But when you see people who are struggling daily with the most incredible odds, to try to do good and help others. And I think that's the big thing is that, that inner beauty, no matter how compromised you are, that you're trying to help others, and that's something that we try to do. And we have a blog and a company and a business we call no rare my son and I started it after my daughter's friends came to us and asked us for help to get into clinical studies, because we had done work in health care. And so we try to help people who have rare diseases to connect to researchers to find something for them, to help them, you know, survive even some of these, these diseases are life threatening. So that's kind of to me, inner beauty is when you do something for other people, which is very important, which is like you said, Tikkun Olam.
That's wonderful. I'm sorry about your family situation. But how lucky they are to have you as an advocate. And so just to point out when you say no rare, it's k n o w? not? No, correct. So I think you sent me the link. So I will put that in the show notes if people are interested in connecting to that. Right. So in general, is there a way if your readers want to connect with you? What's the best way?
Yes. So I have a website, Venicebeauties.com. And if you go on the website, I have all these tidbits of an event that Venice, such as it being the capital of poison, you can actually see a little background on the Poison bottle is on the poison itself, which I, my editor found the Poison bottle and some archives of real poison. And you can also download the first six chapters. If you you know, put in your contact information, I'll send you the first six chapters, so you can get a taste of the book, and see if you like it
wonderful. Well, I highly recommend that because you will be sucked in and want to read the rest of the book.
Thanks very much. I appreciate that.
So thank you, Nina Waxman for speaking with me about the gallery of beauties.
Thank you, and it was a pleasure talking to you. And thank you very much for the opportunity to talk about my book. It was my
pleasure.
If you are interested in any of the books we discussed today, you can find them at your favorite board and brick or online bookstore or at your local library. Thanks to die Yan kee for use of his fraleigh which definitely makes me happy. This podcast is a project of the Association of Jewish libraries. And you can find more about it at WWW dot Jewish Library's dot org slash nice Jewish books. I would like to thank ajl and my podcast mentor Heidi Rabinowitz. Keep listening for the promo for her latest episode.
This is Tracy Lopez. And I'm Pamela Ehrenburg. Authors of detour ahead. We'll be joining you soon on the Book of Life podcast. We'd like to dedicate this episode to transit workers and bus drivers in DC and everywhere.
The Book of Life is the sister podcast of nice Jewish books. I'm your host, Heidi Rabinowitz and I podcast about Jewish kidlet. Join me in August 2022 to hear my conversation with Pamela Ehrenburg and Tracy Lopes about detour ahead at Book of Life podcast.com