Land of Truth

Jeffrey L. Rubenstein is Skirball Professor of Talmud and Rabbinic Literature in the Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies of New York University. He is the author of numerous books, including Stories of the Babylonian Talmud and The Culture of the Babylonian Talmud.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: Of Stones and StoriesPart 1: The Human ConditionChapter 1: The Surreal SleeperChapter 2: What to do with an Aged (and Annoying) Mother?Chapter 3: Forbidden Fruit, or How Not to Seduce Your HusbandChapter 4: Men are from Babylonia, Women are from the Land of IsraelChapter 5: Sufferings! Not Them and Not Their Reward!Part 2: Virtue, Character, and the Life of PietyChapter 6: The Ugly VesselChapter 7: An Arrow in the Eye of SatanChapter 8: The Land of TruthChapter 9: Torah for Richer and PoorerChapter 10: Heroism and HumorPart 3: The Individual, Society, and PowerChapter 11: Showdown in CourtChapter 12: Alexander the Great and the Faraway KingChapter 13: The Carpenter and His ApprenticeChapter 14: Standing on One LegBibliographyIndex by SubjectIndex by Biblical and Rabbinic Sources

"This book will be an invaluable resource for pulpit rabbis and Jewish educators in search of texts that will inspire and speak to their congregants and students."-Ilana Kurshan, Forward "For those seeking, if not absolute answers, a rabbinic perspective on the questions of our day, Jeffrey L. Rubenstein's The Land of Truth: Talmud Tales, Timeless Teaching . . . is a great place to start. . . . Eminently readable."-Sandee Brawarky, Fall Literary Guide "I don't think that I have ever studied the legends in the Talmud in quite the way that Jeffrey Rubenstein does in his book, The Land of Truth: Talmud Tales, Timeless Teachings. . . . I suggest you join Jeffrey Rubenstein on his journey, as he juxtaposes the wisdom of the Sages with the teachings of their neighbors in the Greco-Roman world, and then as he shows us how their insights compare and contrast with the values of our time. This journey will enable us to see the past in a new light, and to see the present in a new perspective as well."-Rabbi Jack Riemer, Jewish Advocate “Rubenstein is arguably the leading scholar in the world on Rabbinic stories. In this original book for a popular audience he takes that scholarship into new arenas by relating the stories to issues in our time and explicating the stories within their original contexts.”-Barry W. Holtz, Theodore and Florence Baumritter Professor of Jewish Education, Jewish Theological Seminary “Talmud stories are valuable repositories of meaning for anyone who desires a deeper connection to the past. Yet today’s readers are at a lengthy remove from this rhetorically technical, often inaccessible world. A master teacher is necessary to guide us toward understanding the text. That is the strength and value of Rubenstein’s volume: opening up to modern readers a heretofore closed text.”-Beth Kissileff, author of Reading Genesis: Beginnings