Theodore Steinberg illuminates many aspects of medieval Jewish life, not as historical curiosities but as living history. He follows two major themes - the survival and accomplishment of Judaism in a world that became increasingly hostile and the survival of rabbinic Judaism - but also attempts to capture what life might have been like for Jewish men and women as they went about their ordinary activities. Despite popular misconceptions, Jewish life in the Middle Ages was not merely a succession of horrors. There were horrors aplenty - massacres, oppression, absurd accusations, expulsions - but Judaism during what we call the Middle Ages must not be defined by those horrors. The survival of the Jews in the face of those horrors is, on one level, miraculous; but on another level, mere survival may not in itself be significant. What is more so is that in the face of those horrors, Jews created a vibrant personal, moral, intellectual, artistic culture.In the Middle Ages, philosophy and religion were often intertwined. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of medieval Jewry, however, and a major theme throughout this study, is the creation, transmission, and development of rabbinic Judaism. Even though Judaism continued to develop after the Middle Ages, that medieval construct continues to exercise a powerful influence on modern Judaism.