Scholars in Their Time

This book describes the spiritual leadership of Jews in Germany in the late Middle Ages through detailed biographies of many sages, some of whom are previously unknown. These findings allow for a renewed examination of the history of the Ashkenazi rabbinate.

The uniqueness of the work lies in examining the Hebrew sources in light of the German archival sources and in their complementary completion. In this way, Hebrew sources from the field of rabbinic literature are given their historical context, the chronology of central episodes is re-determined, and new aspects of the social history of the Jews are revealed.