35 Facts About Judah HaNasi

Judah ha-Nasi or Judah I, was a second-century rabbi and chief redactor and editor of the Mishnah.

Judah HaNasi was a key leader of the Jewish community during the Roman occupation of Judea.

Judah HaNasi the Prince was born in 135 CE to Simeon ben Gamliel II.

Judah HaNasi is said to have been born on the same day that Rabbi Akiva died as a martyr.

Judah HaNasi favoured Greek as the language of the country over Jewish Palestinian Aramaic.

Related searches

Judah HaNasi devoted himself to the study of the oral and the written law.

Judah HaNasi studied under some of R' Akiva's most eminent students.

In later years, Judah HaNasi described how in his childhood he read the Book of Esther at Usha in the presence of Judah HaNasi bar Ilai.

Judah HaNasi felt especial reverence for R' Jose ben Halafta, the student of Akiva's who had the closest relations with Simon ben Gamaliel.

Judah HaNasi studied from R' Shimon bar Yochai in "Tekoa", a place some have identified with Meron.

Judah HaNasi did not study with Rabbi Meir, evidently in consequence of the conflicts which distanced Meir from the house of the patriarch.

Judah HaNasi was taught by his father ; when the two differed on a halakhic matter, the father was generally stricter.

Judah HaNasi himself says: "My opinion seems to me more correct than that of my father"; and he then proceeds to give his reasons.

Nothing is known regarding the time when Judah HaNasi succeeded his father as leader of the Palestinian Jews.

Judah HaNasi had chosen Sepphoris chiefly because of his ill-health, and being induced to go there because of the place's high altitude and pure air.

Judah HaNasi had a close friendship with "Antoninus", possibly the Emperor Antoninus Pius, though it is more likely his famous friendship was with either Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus or Antoninus who is called Caracalla and who would consult Judah on various worldly and spiritual matters.

Authority of Judah HaNasi's office was enhanced by his wealth, which is referred to in various traditions.

Simeon ben Menasya praised Judah HaNasi by saying that he and his sons united in themselves beauty, power, wealth, wisdom, age, honour, and the blessings of children.

Year of Judah HaNasi's death is deduced from the statement that his student Rav left Palestine for good not long before Judah HaNasi's death, in year 530 of the Seleucid era .

Two of Judah HaNasi's sons assumed positions of authority after his death: Gamaliel succeeded him as nasi, while Shimon became hakham of his yeshiva.

Judah HaNasi exclaimed, sobbing, in reference to three different stories of martyrs whose deaths made them worthy of future life: "One man earns his world in an hour, while another requires many years".

Judah HaNasi began to weep when Elisha ben Abuyah's daughters, who were soliciting alms, reminded him of their father's learning.

Judah HaNasi was frequently interrupted by tears when explaining Lamentations 2:2 and illustrating the passage by stories of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple.

Judah HaNasi would recite Kiddush, and others would thereby discharge their obligation to hear Kiddush.

However, Judah HaNasi is more correctly considered redactor of the Mishnah, rather than its author.

Related searches

The Mishnah is based on the systematic division of the halakhic material as formulated by Rabbi Akiva; Judah HaNasi following in his work the arrangement of the halakot as taught by Rabbi Meir .

The volume of tannaitic statements not included in the Mishnah shows that Judah HaNasi had no small task in selecting the material that he included in his work.

Judah HaNasi did the same for the cities of Kefar Tzemach, Caesarea and Beit Gubrin.

Judah HaNasi forbade his students to study in the marketplace, basing his prohibition on his interpretation of Song of Songs 7:2, and censured one of his students who violated this restriction.

Judah HaNasi's exegesis includes many attempts to harmonise conflicting Biblical statements.

The contradiction between Genesis 1:25 and 1:24 Judah HaNasi explains by saying that this expression designates the demons, for whom God did not create bodies because the Sabbath had come.

Judah HaNasi interpreted the words "to do the evil" in II Samuel 12:9 to mean that David did not really sin with Bathsheba, but only intended to do so.

Rav, Judah HaNasi's student, ascribes this apology for King David to Judah HaNasi's desire to justify his ancestor.

Judah HaNasi said that the Book of Job was important if only because it presented the sin and punishment of the generations of the Flood.

Judah HaNasi proves from Exodus 16:35 that there is no chronological order in the Torah.