The Tales of the Sages in Late Midrash

How should we read tales about rabbinic sages unique to post-Talmudic works? What theological, poetic, and social changes do they hide? Who could have authored them? The Tales of the Sages in Late Midrash, reveals these narratives’ hypertextuality. Their characters, phrasings, and themes only invert, expand, and mimic other tales. In their own words, they are mosaics of cherished stories set into new narrative tapestries– What Acher thought of R. Akiva’s death? How was Akiva buried? Who was Resh Laqish before he met R. Yochanan? Analyzing twenty little-known such stories from fourteen compositions and discussing many others, Sivan Nir shows how medieval scholars use their stories to explore tensions between rabbis and laypersons, men and women, God and history, medieval culture and the Talmudic past.