Saturday, January 03, 2015

Steinberg, Shimon

NEW NOVEL: Op-Ed: Book Review: "Shimon", the Story of a Talmudic Giant. A book about a gladiator turned Talmudic Sage, which inadvertently shows the greatness of the Torah's attitude to human failings (Rochel Sylvetsky, Arutz Sheva).
"Shimon" is the story of the life of third century Talmudic scholar Resh Lakish, whose real name was Shimon ben Lakish, gleaned from the few fascinating episodes about him as related in the Talmud.

John Steinberg has used the few available personal glimpses of Resh Lakish's biography to create an historic novel that brings to life the period of cruel Roman rule over Jews struggling to preserve their society intact, skillfully employing much literary license to fill in the story of an unusual man who set his stamp on the Talmud.

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