The Mishna and the Talmud are the books that are the backbone of Jewish tradition, faith and history. Though the principles of the Oral Law were given to Moses on Sinai, the transcription, development and expansion of it was accomplished over a millennia beginning with Ezra (c.400BCE) and ending in Babylonia with the advent of the period of the Geonim (c.585CE). All of this work was done by people - great men who built the eternal Jewish world. As people, they had families, responsibilities, disappointments and tragedies. This series highlights the lives of some of these great men and will give the listener an insight into their personal lives and their world and into the creation of the great works of the Mishna and the Talmud.