The oven of Akhnai is the story Judaism tells about its own authority. Rabbi Eliezer proves his case with miracles — a carob tree uproots, a stream flows backward, walls lean — and finally a voice from heaven declares him right. Rabbi Yehoshua stands and answers: it is not in heaven. The majority prevails, revelation is closed, and interpretation belongs to the court. The coda is the point: God is reported laughing, saying my children have defeated me. The story also records the human cost, since Eliezer was excommunicated.