Essential Figures in Jewish Scholarship compiles thorough but manageable entries on the figures most vital to an understanding the scholarship of the postTalmudic era. Despite the fact that these scholars have been of great importance to the continued interpretation of religious texts for more than a millennium they are typically not given as much attention as their Talmudicera predecessors. In this valuable reference Dr. Ronald L. Eisenberg catalogs and explains the importance of more than two hundred figures who are most vital to an understanding of the teachings of the postTalmudic rabbis. For these figures who fall into the categories of Geonim rabbis writing from 600ampndash1100 Rishonim 1100ampmdash1500 and Acharonim 1500ampndashpresent day Eisenberg provides summaries of major teachings and scholarly contributions as well as biographical information and illustrative quotations from relevant writings.