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Judah HaNasi

 
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Rabbi Judah haNasi, (pronounced Yehuda haNasi, "Judah the Prince"), also known as "Rabbi" and "Rabeinu HaKadosh" (Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
: ????? ?????, "our holy rabbi"), was a key leader of the Jewish community of Judea
Judea

Judea or Jud?a is the name given to the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel , an area now divided between Israel and the West Bank ....
 toward the end of the 2nd century CE, during the occupation by the Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
.






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First Century Palestine
Rabbi Judah haNasi, (pronounced Yehuda haNasi, "Judah the Prince"), also known as "Rabbi" and "Rabeinu HaKadosh" (Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
: ????? ?????, "our holy rabbi"), was a key leader of the Jewish community of Judea
Judea

Judea or Jud?a is the name given to the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel , an area now divided between Israel and the West Bank ....
 toward the end of the 2nd century CE, during the occupation by the Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. He is best known as the chief editor
Editor

Selfref|Every contributor to Wikipedia is called an editor; see...
/redactor of the Mishnah
Mishnah

The Mishnah or Mishna is a major work of Rabbinic literature, and the first major redaction into written form of Jewish oral traditions, called the Oral Torah....
. He was of the Davidic line
Davidic line

The Davidic line refers to the tracing of lineage to the King David referred to in the Hebrew Bible, as well as the New Testament. Though this is especially relevant to kings claiming royal lineage and to major leaders in Jewish history, it is also relevant in a general sense to anyone who claims descent from King David....
, the royal line of King David, hence the title nasi
Nasi

Nasi? is a Hebrew language title meaning prince, in Biblical Hebrew, or president, in Hebrew_language#Modern_Israeli_Hebrew....
, meaning Prince; the title nasi was also used for presidents of the Sanhedrin
Sanhedrin

The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel....
.

Biography

Ancient Galilee
Judah haNasi was born in 135. According to the midrash
Midrash

Midrash is a Hebrew language term referring to the not exact, but comparative method of exegesis of Biblical texts, which is one of four methods cumulatively called Pardes ....
, he came into the world on the same day that Rabbi Akiva
Rabbi Akiva

Akiba ben Yossef or simply Rabbi Akiva was a Judean tannaim of the latter part of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd century ....
 died a martyr's death (Midrash Genesis Rabbah lviii.; Midrash Eccl. Rabbah i. 10) The Talmud suggests that this was a result of Divine Providence: God had granted the Jewish people another leader of great stature to succeed Rabbi Akiva. His place of birth is unknown; nor is it recorded where his father, Shimon ben Gamliel II
Shimon ben Gamliel II

Shimon ben Gamliel II was a Tannaim of the third generation and president of the Great Sanhedrin. Shimon was a youth in Betar when the Bar Kokhba revolt broke out, but when that fortress was taken by the Romans he managed to escape the massacre ....
, sought refuge with his family during the persecutions under Hadrian
Hadrian

Publius Aelius Hadrianus , as emperor Imperator Caesar Divi Traiani filius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, and Divus Hadrianus after his apotheosis, known as Hadrian in English language, was Roman Emperor of Roman Empire from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoicism and Epicureanism philosopher....
.

On the restoration of order in the Land of Israel, Usha became the seat of the academy and Judah spent his youth there. His father presumably gave him the same education that he himself had received, including Greek (Talmud Sotah 49b). This knowledge of Greek enabled him to become the Jews' intermediary with the Roman authorities. He favored Greek as the language of the country over Syriac (Aramaic) (Sotah, ibid). It is said that in Judah's house, only Hebrew was spoken and even the maids spoke it (Meg. 18a; R. H. 26b; Naz. 3a; 'Er. 53a).

According to the Talmud
Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
 (Avodah Zarah 10a-b), Rabbi Judah the Prince was very wealthy and greatly revered in Rome. He had a close friendship with "Antoninus", possibly the Emperor
Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor or a woman who rules in her own right ....
 Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius

Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus , generally known in English as Antoninus Pius was Roman Emperors from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors and a member of the Aurelii....
, who would consult Rabbi Judah on various worldly and spiritual matters.

The Talmud records the tradition that Rabbi Judah haNasi was buried in the necropolis
Necropolis

A necropolis is a large cemetery or burial place . Apart from the occasional application of the word to modern cemeteries outside large towns, the term...
 of Beit She'arim
Beit She'arim National Park

Beit She'arim , also known as Beth She'arim, is the archeological site of a Jewish town and necropolis. The site is part of the Beit She'arim National Park, which borders the town of Kiryat Tiv'on on the northeast and is located close to the modern moshav of Beit She'arim....
, in the Lower Galilee.

Compiler of the Mishna

According to Jewish tradition, God gave the Jewish nation the Written Law - Torah
Torah

The term "Torah" , or Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch, refers to the entirety of Judaism's founding Halakha and ethical religious texts....
 - and revealed to Moses additional laws and customs, called the Oral Law. For centuries, only the Torah appeared as a written text. Fearing that the oral traditions might be forgotten, Rabbi Judah HaNasi undertook the mission of compiling them in what became known as the Mishna. The Mishna consists of 63 tractates codifying Jewish law, which are the basis of the Talmud.

Talmudic legends


In the Talmud
Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
 (Bava Metziah 85a), one of the most prominent rabbis is Judah haNasi, often referred to as "Rabbi." The title "Nasi" is often translated, in accordance with its historic meaning, as "Prince"; in modern Hebrew, it is translated as "President."

Various stories are told about Judah haNasi, to illustrate different aspects of his character. One of them begins by telling of a calf breaking free from being led to slaughter. According to the story, the calf tried to hide under Judah haNasi's robes, bellowing with terror, but he pushed the animal away, saying: "Go - for this purpose you were created." For this Heaven
Heaven

Heaven may refer to the physical heavens, the atmosphere or the seemingly endless expanse of the universe beyond. This is the traditional literal meaning of the term in English, however since at least AD 1000, it is typically also used to refer to an afterlife plane of existence in various religions and spirituality philosophy, often descri...
 inflicted upon him kidney stones, painful flatulence
Flatulence

Flatulence is the production of a mixture of gases in the gastrointestinal tract of mammals or other animals that are byproducts of the digestion process....
, and other gastric problems, saying "Since he showed no pity, let us bring suffering upon him".

The story remarks that when Judah haNasi prayed for relief, the prayers were ignored, just as he had ignored the pleas of the calf. Nevertheless, it goes on by describing him subsequently preventing his maid from violently expelling baby weasels from his house, on the basis that "It is written: 'His Mercy
Mercy

Mercy can refer both to compassionate behaviour on the part of those in power or on the part of a humanitarian third party .Mercy is a word used to describe compassion shown by one person to another, or a request from one person to another to be shown such leniency or unwarranted compassion for a crime or wrongdoing....
 is upon all his works.'" For this, Heaven removed the gastric problems from him, saying "Since he has shown compassion, let us be compassionate with him".

Rabbi Judah HaNasi also said "One ignorant of the Torah should not eat flesh" - possibly as a result of these experiences.

See also

  • Talmud
    Talmud

    The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
  • Mishna
  • Tannaim
    Tannaim

    The Tannaim were the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 70-200 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 130 years....
  • Amoraim