"This book contains Tract Sabbath, which discusses what can and cannot be done on the Jewish Holy day. This tract has a wealth of information on everyday Jewish life in late Classical times, including, for some reason, a great number of medical recipies. Because almost everything is done differently on the Sabbath, this contains an incredible level of ethnographic detail about a wide range of household activities including livestock, clothing, meals, horticulture, hunting, and other more obscure topics, such as firefighting and feminine hygene.
Rodkinson makes the point in an appendix that many of the Talmundic regulations which seem to be arbitrary were developed as a response to political persecution. He also includes a prayer which is offered upon the conclusion of studying any tract."
