- Yochanan ben Zakai
Yochanan ben Zakai ( _he. יוחנן בן זכאי c. 30 BCE - 90 CE) was one of the
tannaim , an importantJew ish sage in the era of theSecond Temple , and a primary contributor to the core text of rabbinic Judaism, theMishnah .There is a paucity of information about his early life and family, but the Mishnah divides his life into three divisions of a symbolic 40 years each, portraying him as a merchant in the first third, as a student in the the second third, and only teaching for the final third ["Rosh haShanah" 30b] . To the Mishnah he is an important link in the chain of religious teaching, passing on the wisdom of both Hillel and
Shammai [Pirkei Abot " 2:8] ; generally, though, he is considered to have been more in favour of Hillel's views than of Shammai's [Sukkah 28a] , and is said to have been Hillel's youngest pupil.The
Talmud reports that, in the mid first century, he was particularly active in opposing theSadducee 's interpretations of halakah ["Menahot " 65a] ["Baba Batra " 115b] , and produced counter-arguments to the Sadducees' objection to thePharisee s ["Yadayim " 4:5] . So dedicated was he to opposing the Sadducee view of Jewish law, that he prevented the Jewish high priest, who was a Sadducee, from following the Sadducee interpretation of theRed Heifer ritual ["Parah " (Tosefta ) 3:8] His home, at this time, was in 'Arab, a location in theGalilee ["Jewish Encyclopedia ", "Johanan ben Zaccai"] . However, although living among them, he found thesecular attitude of Galileans to be objectionable, allegedly exclaiming that they hated thetorah and would therefore "fall into the hands of robbers" ["Jewish Encyclopedia", "Johanan ben Zaccai"] . During the siege ofJerusalem in theGreat Jewish Revolt , he argued in favour of peace; when he found the anger of the besieged denizens to be intolerable, he arranged to be snuck out of the city inside a coffin, so that he could negotiate withVespasian (who, at this time, was still just a military commander) ["Jewish Encyclopedia", "Johanan ben Zaccai"] . Johanan (correctly) predicted that Vespasian would become Emperor, and that the temple would soon be destroyed, in return, Vespasian granted Johanan three wishes; Johanan was granted his desire to resettle inJamnia , and was given permission to continue teaching religious law ["Jewish Encyclopedia", "Johanan ben Zaccai"] .Upon the destruction of Jerusalem, Johanan converted his school at Jamnia into the Jewish religious centre, insisting that certain privileges, given by Jewish law uniquely to Jerusalem, should be transferred to Jamnia ["Rosh haShanah" 4:1-3] . His school behaved as a re-establishment of the
Sanhedrin , and he soon established theCouncil of Jamnia (70-90 AD), so that Judaism could decide how to deal with the loss of the sacrificial altars of thetemple of Jerusalem , and other pertinent questions. Under his leadership the council replaced animal sacrifice (korban ) with prayer, a practice that continues in today's worship services; eventuallyRabbinic Judaism emerged from the council's conclusions.He was buried in the city of
Tiberias near whereMaimonides would be buried 11 centuries later.He is quoted in the
Midrash Avot D'Rabbi Nathan (31b) as saying "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 greet the Messiah."A
synagogue in modernIsrael , named "the Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai Synagogue", is held by Jewishspecify legend to be sited at the place of Johanan's final prayers, prior to his escape fromJerusalem . A moshav in central Israel,Ben Zakai , is also named after him.ee also
References
External links
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=362&letter=J JOHANAN B. ZACCAI] Jewish Encyclopedia
* [http://www.campsci.com/iguide/rebbi_yochanan_ben_zakkai.htm Rabbi Yochanan ben Zaccai] Israel Guide
* [http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/zakkai.htm "Rabbi Yochanan ben Zaccai"] Orthodox Union
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