The Wonder-Working Lawyers of Talmudic Babylonia

by Jacob Neusner

This book examines the relationship between the beliefs of the Judaic system and the life of the Jews governed by rabbis who shaped and executed those beliefs in everyday life. Four statements are the relationship between the people and the law of the Torah as sages taught and applied it; the definition of the rabbi as a holy man; the rabbi as a holy man and the rabbinical institution and estate as a center of supernatural power in Israel, the Jewish people, in Sasanian Babylonia; and the rabbis as political figures who actually exercised not merely influence but coercive authority in enforcing Israel's public policy. Co-published with Studies in Judaism.

372 pages, Hardcover

First published May 20, 1987

About the author

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Neusner was educated at Harvard University, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (where he received rabbinic ordination), the University of Oxford, and Columbia University.

Neusner is often celebrated as one of the most published authors in history (he has written or edited more than 950 books.)Since 1994, he taught at Bard College. He also taught at Columbia University, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Brandeis University, Dartmouth College, Brown University, and the University of South Florida.

Neusner was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University. He is the only scholar to have served on both the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. He also received scores of academic awards, honorific and otherwise.