1. Teachers of the oral law were called Tannaim, a term derived from an Aramaic root meaning “to study,” “to repeat,” or “to teach.”

2. Mishna, the oldest authoritative postbiblical collection and codification of Jewish oral laws, systematically Compiled by numerous scholars (called tannaim) over a period of about two centuries

3. This work is an immensely learned and deeply creative interpretation of many fundamental Aggadot relating to the intellectual biographies of the Tannaim and Amoraim, including Hillel and Shammai, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Resh Lakish and Rabbi Yochanan, and many others.

4. Rabbi Ari Kahn's The Crowns on the Letters represents a major achievement in the study of the lives of our sages, as well as in the study of rabbinic aggada.This work is an immensely learned and deeply creative interpretation of many fundamental Aggadot relating both to the intellectual biographies of the tannaim and amoraim Hillel and Shammai, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Resh