Rabbi Akiva: Sage of the Talmud

243 Pages·2017·2.76 MB·English

by  Barry W. Holtz

rabbi akiva

Rabbi Akiva
Sage of the Talmud
BARRY W. HOLTZ
New Haven and London
Copyright © 2017 by Barry W. Holtz.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in
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Set in Janson Oldstyle type by Integrated Publishing Solutions.
Printed in the United States of America.
Frontispiece: A page from the “Rylands Haggadah” (mid-fourteenth century)
containing the debate about the number of plagues at the time of the Exodus.
Rabbi Eliezer is represented seated above in the right-hand margin, and Rabbi
Akiva is below. Akiva’s face is obscured due to flaking of the paint over time.
(Copyright of the University of Manchester)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016951997
ISBN 978-0-300-20487-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Art Green
For fifty-five years of friendship
Long may it continue
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There’s the story, then there’s the real story, then
there’s the story of how the story came to be told.
Then there’s what you leave out of the story.
Which is part of the story too.
—Margaret Atwood, MaddAddam
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contents
Acknowledgments, xi
Introduction, 1
1. Akiva’s World, 19
2. A Self-Created Sage, 36
3. A Love Story, 55
4. The Growth of a Scholar, 83
5. Among the Rabbis, 106
6. In the Orchard, 130
7. The Last Years, 145
Epilogue: The Afterlife of Akiva, 173
Notes, 193
Index of Subjects, 215
Index of Primary Sources, 221