Yohanan ben Zakkai
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Yohanan ben ZakkaiTemplate:Efn (Template:Langx; 1st century CE), sometimes abbreviated as Template:Script/Hebrew Template:Smallcaps for Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, was a tanna, an important Jewish sage during the late Second Temple period during the transformative post-destruction era. He was a primary contributor to the core text of Rabbinic Judaism, the Mishnah. His name is often preceded by the honorific title Rabban. He is widely regarded as one of the most important Jewish figures of his time, and his escape from the Roman destruction of Jerusalem which allowed him to continue teaching) may have been instrumental in Rabbinic Judaism's survival post-Temple. His tomb is located in Tiberias within the Maimonides burial compound.
Yohanan was the first Jewish sage attributed the title of rabbi in the Mishnah.<ref name="Hezser1997">Template:Cite book</ref>
Life
The Talmud notes that he was one of 80 students of Hillel and Shammai, the greatest of whom was Yonatan Ben Uziel. He showed incredible devotion to Torah study, and the Talmud reports that he never engaged in idle chatter nor walked even 4 cubits without engaging in Torah study. The Talmud notes the thoroughness of his study, encompassing all aspects of Torah, including all practical, analytical, and esoteric aspects.<ref>Sukkah 28a</ref>
The Talmud reports that, in the mid-first century, he was particularly active in opposing the interpretations of Jewish law (Halakha) by the Sadducees<ref>Menahot 65a</ref><ref>Baba Batra 115b</ref> and produced counter-arguments to their objections to the interpretations of the Pharisees.<ref>Yadayim 4:6</ref> So dedicated was he to opposing the Sadducean view of Jewish law that he prevented the Jewish high priest of his time, a Sadducee, from following the Sadducaic interpretation of the Red Heifer ritual.<ref>Parah (Tosefta) 3:8</ref>
His home at this time was in Arraba, a village in the Galilee, where he spent eighteen years.<ref name="ReferenceA">Jewish Encyclopedia, Yochanan ben Zakai</ref><ref>Jerusalem Talmud, Shabbat 16:8 (81b)</ref> Although living among them, he found the attitude of Galileans to be objectionable, allegedly exclaiming that they hated the Torah and would therefore "fall into the hands of robbers."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> During the outbreak of hostilities, he settled in Jerusalem.
Escape from Jerusalem (Gittin 56a)
During the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE in the First Jewish–Roman War, he argued in favour of peace: according to the Talmud (Gittin 56a), when he found the anger of the besieged populace to be intolerable, he arranged a secret escape from the city inside a coffin—helped by his nephew and Zealot leader Ben Batiach—so he could negotiate with Vespasian (who, at this time, was still just a military commander).<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref>Bavli Gittin 56a&b</ref> Ben Zakkai correctly predicted that Vespasian would become Emperor and that the Temple would soon be destroyed. In return, Vespasian granted Yochanan three wishes: the salvation of Yavne and its sages and the descendants of Rabban Gamliel, who was of the Davidic line, and a physician to treat Rabbi Zadok, who had fasted for 40 years to stave off the destruction of Jerusalem.<ref>Bavli Gittin 56b</ref>
Yavne and afterwards
Upon the destruction of Jerusalem, Yochanan converted his school at Yavne into the Jewish religious centre, insisting that certain privileges given by Jewish law uniquely to Jerusalem should be transferred to Yavne.<ref>Rosh HaShanah 4:1-3</ref> His school functioned as a re-establishment of the Sanhedrin so that Judaism could decide how to deal with the loss of the sacrificial altars of the temple in Jerusalem and other pertinent questions. Referring to a passage in the Book of Hosea ("I desired mercy, and not sacrifice"),<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> he helped persuade the Sanhedrin to—as the temple had been destroyed—replace animal sacrifice with prayer,<ref>Rabbi Nathan, Abot 4</ref> a practice that remains the basis of Jewish worship. Eventually, Rabbinic Judaism emerged from the council's conclusions.
In his last years, he taught at Bror Hayil, near Yavne.<ref>Sanhedrin 32b</ref> His habit was to wear his Tefillin (phylacteries) all day, both in summer and winter.<ref name= "PesiktaRabbati">Template:Cite book (reprinted from 1880 edition)</ref> However, during the hot summer months, he only wore his arm phylactery (shel yad).<ref name= "PesiktaRabbati"/> His students were present at his deathbed and were requested by him, in his penultimate words according to the Talmudic record, to reduce their risk of ritual contamination conveyed by a corpse: Template:Blockquote
More enigmatic were the Talmud's record of his last words, which seem to relate to Jewish messianism:<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Template:Blockquote
According to the Talmud, Yochanan ben Zakkai lived 120 years.<ref>Sanhedrin 41a</ref> Upon his death, his students returned to Yavneh, and he was buried in the city of Tiberias; eleven centuries later, Maimonides was buried nearby. As leader of the Sanhedrin, he was succeeded by Gamliel II.
Yochanan's encounter with Vespasian
Template:Over-quotation The following story is told in the Jewish classic Avoth deRabbi Nathan (version B) 4:5, about the war with Rome.
Enactments
Jewish tradition records Yohanan ben Zakkai as being extremely dedicated to religious study, claiming that no one ever found him engaged in anything but study.<ref>Sukkot 28a</ref> He is considered to be someone who passed on the teachings of his predecessors; on the other hand, numerous homiletic and exegetical sayings are attributed to him<ref name="ReferenceB">Jewish Encyclopedia, "Johanan ben Zakkai"</ref> and he is known for establishing a number of edicts in the post-destruction era:<ref>Bavli Rosh HaShana 31b</ref>
- After the destruction of Jerusalem, the shofar shall be blown in beit din when Rosh HaShana falls on Shabbat (prior to the destruction, it was only blown in Jerusalem and its environs on Shabbat)
- After the destruction of Jerusalem, the Four Species shall be taken in the hand for the entire Sukkot (prior to the destruction, it was only taken for the entire holiday in Jerusalem and on the first of the holiday elsewhere)
- After the destruction of Jerusalem, eating of chadash (new grain harvest) shall be prohibited for the entire Day of Waving or yom haneif (i.e. the day that the omer sacrifice was traditionally offered, on the sixteenth of Nisan). Prior to the destruction, the new grain harvest could be eaten on the 16th day of the lunar month Nisan, immediately after the omer was offered in the Temple.<ref>Template:Cite book, s.v. Template:Script/Hebrew (Lines 14Template:Ndash17)</ref>
- After the destruction of Jerusalem, witnesses for the new moon shall be accepted all day (prior to the destruction, witnesses were only accepted until the afternoon tamid offering)
- After the destruction of Jerusalem, witnesses for the new moon shall only go to the place of assembly, and not follow the Nasi or "prince" (prior to the destruction, witnesses were only accepted at the location of the Nasi in Jerusalem)
- Kohanim (those of the priestly caste) may not go up{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B=
Template:Fix }} to bless the people while wearing footwear
- After the destruction of Jerusalem, witnesses for the new moon may not violate the Shabbat except for the months of Nisan and Tishrei (prior to the destruction, witnesses were allowed to violate the Sabbath for all months)
- After the destruction of Jerusalem, converts no longer separate monies for their conversion sacrifice (prior to the destruction, part of the conversion process was to bring a sacrifice in the Temple in Jerusalem)
- The identity of the ninth edict is disputed:
- After the destruction of Jerusalem, the Second Tithe was permitted to be exchanged for money within a day's journey of Jerusalem (prior to the destruction, exchanges were only permitted for those living farther than a day's journey)
- After the destruction of Jerusalem, the red string associated with the chatas of Yom Kippur was sent with the ish iti (designee) to Azazel (prior to the destruction, the red string was maintained on the premises of the Temple)
Quotes
If you are holding a sapling in your hand and someone tells you, 'Come quickly, the Messiah is here!', first finish planting the tree and then go to greet the Messiah.<ref>Rabbi Nathan, Abot, 31b</ref>
If you have been studious in learning the Torah, do not take credit to yourself, since it is to this end that you were created.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Pirkei Abot 2:8</ref>
Some of Rabbi Yohanan's comments were of an esoteric nature.<ref name="ReferenceB" /> On one occasion he advises that mankind should seek to understand the infinity of God, by imagining the heavens being extended to unthinkable distances.<ref>Hagigah 13a</ref> He argued that Job's piety was not based on the love of God, but on the fear of Him.<ref>Soṭah 5:5</ref>
He was challenged to resolve several biblical curiosities by a Roman commander, who was familiar with the Torah, but whose name has been lost in confusion. Among the issues were the fact that the numbers<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref><ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref><ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> in the Book of Numbers didn't add up to their totals,<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref><ref>Bekorot 5b [1]</ref> and the reasoning behind the ritual of the red heifer;<ref>Bemidbar Rabbah 19:8</ref> on this latter question the answer he gave didn't satisfy his own students, so he decreed that the ritual was one that shouldn't be questioned.<ref>Bemidbar Rabbah 19:8</ref>
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Burial place
He is buried in HaRambam compound / complex in Tiberias / Tveria.
Other notable rabbis also buried in HaRambam compound / complex:
See also
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- Yochanan ben Zakai Synagogue, located in Jerusalem's Old City
- Ben Zakai, a village in central Israel
Notes
References
External links
- Video Lecture on Yohanan ben Zakkai by Dr. Henry Abramson
- JOHANAN B. ZACCAI Jewish Encyclopedia
- Rabbi Yochanan ben Zaccai Israel Guide
- "Rabbi Yochanan ben Zaccai" Orthodox Union
- "Was Yohanan ben Zakkai a Priest?" by Daniel R. Schwartz (translated from Hebrew at WholeStones.org)