Essential Figures in the Talmud

May 1, 2013

More than 2,000 rabbis are mentioned in the Talmud (the collection of the teachings of the major Jewish scholars between 200 and 500 CE), and while standard comprehensive reference works, such as the 22-volume Encyclopaedia Judaica, include at least brief references to most of them, searching for more detailed information about these figures can be difficult. Now, Eisenberg, a radiologist at Harvard who has also studied and written extensively on Judaism (his What the Rabbis Said: 250 Topics from the Talmud, Praeger, 2010, is an excellent companion to the present volume), has chosen the 250 rabbis, from the fourth to sixth centuries BCE, who he feels are most important to the text of the Talmud. The alphabetically arranged profiles provide basic biographical information about each man, and then offer illustrative quotations from the parts of the Talmud in which they appear or write. Also included are a glossary, maps, a chronological listing of the 250 rabbis, and a short bibliography. VERDICT This is an invaluable desk reference for readers of the Talmud, but its lively and accessible narrative style also makes it an edifying and enlightening title for general readers interested in the rabbinic foundations of Judaism, who will want to open and peruse it again and again. Highly recommended.--Marcia G. Welsh, Dartmouth Coll. Lib., Hanover, NH

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2013
Although Essential Figures in the Bible and Essential Figures in the Talmud were not published as a set, they complement one another nicely. The first presents information on roughly 250 individuals named in the Bible whom Eisenberg considers most important to understanding the text. Though useful, this tool is highly selective. The entry for Hilkiah, for example, does not indicate that many other individuals mentioned in the Bible have the same name. And it is important to note that Bible here refers to the sacred texts of Judaism, known to Christianity as the Old Testament without the books of the Apocrypha. The Talmud is the masterwork of rabbinic Judaism, comprised of the Mishnaha written compilation of rabbinic oral commentaries and discussions on the first five books of the Hebrew Bibleand the Gemarra, a rabbinic commentary on the Mishnah. Eisenberg's handy volume brings together information on more than 250 of the more than 2,000 rabbis and scholars mentioned in the Talmud. Entries usually include passages from the Talmud that nicely introduce the wisdom of these Jewish sages in their own words. These A-Z volumes are concise and informative and are recommended for theological and research libraries as well as academic and large public libraries with extensive Judaica collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)