An outstanding Talmudic scholar, born in Lithuania, he served as Professor of Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York from 1902 un_til his death. His important works are Gaonica, The Legends of the Jews, and Students, Scholars, and Saints. Ginzberg was also one of the editors of the Jewish Encyclopedia published in 1901-06. His studies of the history of the Palestinian Talmud are valuable aids in understanding the course of the development of Jewish law and life during the Second Temple.