Book excerpt: Parables of the Sages: Jewish Wisdom from Jesus to Rav Ashi is a ground-breaking work in the study of parables in late antiquity. For the first time ever, R. Steven Notley and Ze'ev Safrai provide a complete annotated collection of narrative parables found in the earliest stratum of Rabbinic Judaism, the literature of the Tannaim. These pedagogical gems are presented in their original Hebrew language with a fresh English translation. The authors' notes consider the historical, social and religious aspects of the individual entries, and when relevant their possible contribution to our understanding of the parables of Jesus.