Rabad of Posqui`Eres: A Twelfth-Century Talmudist

Rating:
Summary: A must for the medieval & Jewish Historian
Review: The late Isadore Twersky of Harvard, an internationally reknowned scholar and walking repository of countless disciplines of knowledge paved the way for a particularly grand level of scholarship in his Rabad of Posquieres. With a keen sense of language, a broad and sweeping grasp of history, an all encompassing awareness of the medieval mind and the protocols and methodology of its legal writings, Twersky portrays a multifaceted medieval legal thinker and the many tensions in the writings and thought of this pivotal figure of 12th century Provence. Twersky's treatment of Rabad reveals an extraordinary mastery of intellectual history and serves to illuminate through the Rabad, the life and history of the Jews in southern France in the 12th century. The work is a supreme specimen of Twersky's style and multifaceted approach toward the study of religious thinkers.His historic thrust, halakhic focus and analytical methodology are not for the intellectual faint hearted and will require serious and proficient knowledge of Jewish texts, legal sources and medieval history to appreciate the profundity of Twersky's analysis and contribution to Jewish thought and intellectual history. Twersky's work is a must for the Jewish historian, Talmudist, Halakhist and philosopher.