From Rabbi Yosef Syracusty to Rabbi Nissi al-Nahrawani

This chapter presents eight historical accounts and stories of rabbis or a group of rabbis who served as third-party peacemakers in medieval and early-modern rabbinic literature. The chapter is divided into three subsections based on the status and degree of success of the third party. The first section focuses on successful third-party rabbinic peacemakers with high social status, the second on unsuccessful rabbinic peacemakers who possessed less social status, and the third explores exceptions to this assertion. The chapter also includes a discussion about the responsibility of the rabbi to serve as a peacemaker or mediator in Jewish law and tradition.