The Wonder-Working Lawyers of Talmudic Babylonia The Theory and Practice of Judaism in its Formative Age

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 presented: 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.