This first English translation of the great Hebrew classic, the medieval history of Jews by Rabbi Abraham Zacuto, made possible by the benevolent generosity of the author's direct descendant in 25^th generation, Dr Vlad Rosenblit of Houston, Texas. As our Sages of Blessed Memory taught: Maasei Avoth siman lebanim, The deeds of ancestors are the guidance for descendants.

Rabbi Abraham Ben Samuel Zacuto

SEFER YOHASSIN

or

BOOK OF LINEAGE

Translated by Israel Shamir

AD1999-AM5759

The translation is based on 1926 edition, prepared by Abraham Haim Freimann, published in Frankfurt am Main, incorporating corrections done in the following years.

SEFER YOHASSIN

THE BOOK OF LINEAGE

COMPILED AND RESEARCHED

BY THE PHILOSOPHER SAGE OF PERFECT LEARNING

R. ABRAHAM ZACUT CALLED ZACUTO

OF BLESSED MEMORY

In order to present the tradition of the Law

From Moses our master, may he have peace

until the days of the author of blessed memory

Including question and answer by our master Rabbi Sherira

of blessed memory

On tradition of the Law of Torah

and some historical facts

about Kings of Israel and Gentile Kings

And the Prince which is called The Exilarch

And how he judged the people in the court of Sura

and in the court of Pumbeditha

And other things and separate events which occurred to our forefathers

And were found dispersed in various books

First of all in the great book of ben Gurion.

There is also a story of three sects of Israel

at the time of Destruction of the Temple:

One was called Pharisees, another called Essenes, the third was Sadducees,

Including customs and beliefs of the sects

So we can see that the Sadducees were not like Karaites of our days,

As Karaites believe in Paradise and Hell and Resurrection,

while Sadducees did not.

Printed through efforts of

The perfect sage and excellent doctor of medicine R. Samuel Sholem

in Constantinople, capital of the great King, our ruler,

mighty Sultan Suleiman,

God will return him peacefully to his capital and will crush all his enemies,

And all his deeds will succeed, amen, by God's will,

The printing started on Wednesday, 25 Siwan 5326 <=God rose>

From His Holy Dwelling

SEFER YOHASSIN

THE COMPLETE BOOK OF LINEAGE

COMPILED AND WRITTEN

BY THE WONDERFUL SAGE AND ILLUSTRIOUS SCHOLAR

RABBI ABRAHAM ZACUT

OF BLESSED MEMORY

KNOWN ALSO AS ZACUTO

A NATIVE OF SALAMANCA IN THE LAND OF SPAIN

A RESIDENT OF TUNISIA IN THE LAND OF AFRICA

IN THE YEAR 5264 SINCE THE CREATION

THE MEMORIAL TO ALL GENERATIONS

FROM THE DAYS OF OUR MASTER MOSES

MAY HE HAVE PEACE,

TILL THE DAYS OF THE WRITER�S GENERATION

INCORPORATING THE WORDS OF WIZE

RABBI ABRAHAM IBN DAUD

OF BLESSED MEMORY

IN THE BOOK OF QABBALAH

AND BIGGER PART OF SEDER OLAM ZUTA.

HE INCLUDED DESCRIPTION OF DAYS AND RULE

OF GENTILE KINGS

(WHICH ARE NOT OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL)

AND COPIED THEM FROM THE GREEK BOOKS

EVEN FROM THE GREAT BOOK OF JOSEPHUS FLAVIUS

AND BESIDE ALL THAT HE COLLECTED KNOWLEDGE FROM MANY OTHER SOURCES.

The first edition appeared in Constantinople in the year 5326

The second edition appeared in Krakow in the year 5340

The third edition appeared in Amsterdam in the year 5476

The first publisher cut the manuscript to pieces

The second publisher abridged the book mercilessly

The third one decimated what the first two left over

THIS IS THE FIRST COMPLETE PUBLICATION

OF THE WRITER�S MANUSCRIPT

AS FOUND IN OXFORD

Including the marginalia of R. JACOB EMBDEN

As found written on a copy of the first edition of the BOOK OF YOHASSIN

published in Constantinople

And extant in the House of Study in London.

Prepared for the print by the perfect man of knowledge

Rabbi Zwi Herschel Filipowski

LONDON AND EDINBURGH

ANNO MUNDI 5617

ANNO 1857

The Latin title of 1857 edition

THE BOOK OF YOHASSIN

OR

THE BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL LEXICON

INCLUDING LIVES OF

ALL FAMOUS SCHOLARS AND SAGES

MENTIONED IN THE BABYLONIAN AND JT,

IN MIDRASH RABBAH AND SIMILAR BOOKS

COMPILED BY ILLUSTRIOUS

RABBI ABRAHAM ZACUTO

Native of Salamanca in Spain (AD1504) who lived in Tunis in Africa.

With additions by the same author of lives of illustrious men

from the histories of Persian, Egyptian, Babylonian and Roman kings

This is the first edition based of the author's manuscript

Preserved in the Bodleian library in Oxford

Containing marginalia of

RABBI JACOB EMBDEN

On the margins of the Constantinopolitan edition

Edited by Herschel Filipowski

For the Society of Hebrew antiquities

DEDICATION

TO THE TEACHERS

Pull your bow and shoot your sharp arrows

unto me again

But you will not awake my anger

As flies prefer dead meat

And avoid live and wholesome

So you teachers are similar in your judgment.

You avoid all good and seek all bad things.

INTRODUCTION

TO THE COMPLETE BOOK OF YOHASSIN

By

Abraham Haim Freimann

1. LIFE OF RABBI ABRAHAM ZACUTO

The family of the author of The Book of Yohassin is known under names of Zacut or Zacuto, Zakuto, Zakudo in various spellings. At first Zacut family resided in France. When in the year AM 5066 the Jews were expelled from France, they moved their tents to Spain. The Rabbi Abraham Zacuto the Elder was the descendant of those refugees, and he left his good name to his grandson R. Abraham Zacuto the Second. The latter's son R. Samuel Zacuto was the father and teacher of the author of the Book of Yohassin.

R. Abraham Zacuto, the author of the Book of Yohassin, refers to his ancestors as to people that "withstood the Castilian persecutions for their faith in the Blessed Creator and His Torah".

In the days of the persecutions in the year AM 5151, there was R. Moses Zakudo. His teacher, R. Judah, son of R. Asher , The Saint of Toledo, who was martyred for his faith, dispatched R. Moses Zakudo to Rabbi Isaac Ben Sheshet , the author of famous Responsa of that name. His mother's family was of noble descent as well and "never left the study of the Torah since the days of old".

Among his maternal ancestors there was renowned R. Samuel Balansi the greatest in knowledge and wisdom of the R. Isaac Abuhab's disciples. He died five years before the Expulsion from Spain, being 52 years of age.

R. Abraham Zacuto ben R. Samuel ben R. Abraham was born in Salamanca in Castile about AM5200. In his youth, he studied Torah under guidance of his father Samuel, who was apparently a rabbi and received the tradition from the late ancestors and rabbis of blessed memory. R. Abraham quotes his father as the source, why sons of R. Papa are mentioned after completion of a tractate? His father told him: he heard it is good for memory to invoke their names seven times, as we mention Elijah of blessed memory following the end of Sabbath.

When R. Abraham was six or seven years old, he saw in person the old R. Isaac Kanfenton, the chief rabbi of the Castilian community, who was called 'Gaon' by his contemporaries (the usage of the title was not common in those days). The outlook of "the meek pious man with the Holy Spirit of God" impressed the child greatly. In the old age he wrote, "Whoever saw him saw the face of Divine Presence". But the real teacher of R. Abraham was R. Isaac Abuhab, "the sharp-wit innovator". He had many disciples and authored a book on the Four Columns, which remained uncompleted. He was the source of R. Abraham Zacuto's knowledge of the Talmud, of Posekim and of the Qabbalah wisdom. R. Abraham Zacuto knew inside out all Babylonian and JT, as we see in the Sefer Yohassin. His greatness and wit are seen in his own replies in the discussion on Rambam .

His native Salamanca was the capital of learning of his days. R. Abraham read astronomy and mathematics in the Salamanca University. He succeeded in his studies and became a famous astronomer. The bishop of Salamanca, an adept of astronomy, became aware of his abilities and nominated him a professor of the Salamanca University. R. Abraham taught in the University and many of his disciples, Christians and Jews, became prominent scholars. One of them, Augustine Ricci, gained renown as a famous astronomer.

In those days R. Abraham Zacuto compiled his great work on astronomy by orders of the Bishop of Salamanca. His astronomic tables seemed miraculous to his contemporaries. His first publisher R. Samuel Sholem wrote in his introduction: "All preceding tables of Gentiles were as naught, and the Gentiles broke and discarded all previous tables, and adopted his wonderful creation forever and ever". R. Abraham Zacuto also improved the astrolabe and made it of copper instead of previously used wooden astrolabes that were not precise enough. His innovations and discoveries made him well known.

It seems R. Abraham Zacuto had dealings with Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of America. Columbus stayed in Salamanca and apparently, R. Abraham Zacuto showed him some astronomic books including the book supposedly written by R. Abraham Ibn Ezra. R. Abraham Zacuto was among the very few scholars who believed in successful completion of Columbus' journey. The contemporary scholar Gaspar Correa quoted in his book the following opinion of R. Abraham Zacuto: "The Land of India is exceedingly remote and seas and lands separate us from it; still whoever will risk the journey unavoidably will reach it". R. Abraham Zacuto's tables always accompanied Columbus in all his travels and once, during his last voyage to America in the AM 5264 they saved his life.

Columbus visited Veragua, where he found plenty of gold. After leaving Veragua, his fleet suffered from a terrible hurricane, and in terrible plight, he reached Jamaica. Caciques (native chiefs) were hostile and did not want to provide him and his people with food so they were on the edge of starvation. Columbus conceived a trick to save his life. R. Abraham Zacuto's tables told him there would be soon (on 29 of February 1504) a lunar eclipse. Columbus assembled the Caciques and promised he will put a spell on them by withdrawing the moonlight. During the eclipse the Cazics were frightened and prayed to Columbus to remove the spell. Columbus pretended praying to his God, the eclipse passed and since then the Caciques respected him and provided with all he needed. It is written in the book on Columbus' voyages.

The copy of R. Abraham Zacuto's tables with marginalia of Columbus could be found in the Colombian library in Portugal.

Besides his astronomical investigations, R. Abraham Zacuto dealt also with astrology that he trusted and believed in. He was not above belief in demons and other superstitions. In his book, he wrote about a Gentile, whom he met in Salamanca. The Gentile's voice was heard from the roof of the building though he sat quietly inside the house. He also reported that certain Jewish women could prophecy in his presence.

Later R. Abraham Zacuto apparently moved to Saragossa and taught in the University, while his wisdom and knowledge grew.

In AM 5252, the Castilian king Fernando ordered to expel all Jews of Spain. R. Abraham Zacuto was forced to leave his home country. He saw those righteous people who preferred to kill themselves and their children rather then be forced to transgress the commandments of the Lord. R. Abraham Zacuto moved together with his teacher R. Isaac Abuhab to Portugal and settled in Lisbon the capital of the country. Seven months later his teacher died and R. Abraham Zacuto lamented him by quoting the verse "See, I am sending an angel ahead of you" (Ex 23:20).

The fame of R. Abraham Zacuto preceded his arrival to Portugal and King Joao II who was a keen adept of astronomy and engineering provided him with a university cathedra. The king liked R. Abraham Zacuto and gave him the honorable title The Royal Astronomer. When the king visited Turi di Tombo in AM 5254 he presented "Abraham the Astrologer" with ten golden coins.

It is written in the book of Neshmat Haim: once the King Joao came to try R. Abraham Zacuto's wisdom by riddles. He said he intended to travel to Iborra and demanded to read by stars through which gate he will enter Iborra. R. Abraham replied, "Whatever I'll say, you will enter by other gate". The King said, "No, put your divination in writing and seal it with your own seal". He brought clean sheet of paper and wrote, "The King will open a new gate and enter through it". So it was - the king wanted to prove that his fortune telling is false, and broke a new gate into the city and entered through it. As he entered he opened the R. Abraham Zacuto's letter and read it out loud, and it was a miracle in his eyes.

Another time the King invited R. Abraham Zacuto to his room and enquired what is the distance between earth and heaven. He gave the answer. In a year time the king raised the roof of the room by one and a half amah and asked R. Abraham: tell me, Astronomer, what is the distance between the earth and heaven, as I forgot . The wise man replied, the earth was raised or the heaven descended.

After demise of Joao II his grandchild, Dom Manuel sat on the throne of Portuguese kings. He nominated R. Abraham Zacuto to be his astronomer and secretary. In AM 5256, the tables of R. Abraham Zacuto were published in Liria, in the printing house of Master Samuel di Ortas. They spread in all lands of East and West, 'in the countries of Edom and in the lands of Ishmael'. R. Abraham Zacuto wrote about it: 'I have been in the kingdom of Spain and in other Christian kingdoms when my books on Astronomy were published, and people said ' R. Abraham Zacuto of Salamanca. I am entitled to be proud of it as our Sages of blessed memory said: 'What is the wisdom that the Gentile nations appreciate?' and they meant the calculations of stars of Zodiac and of periods of time. I bear witness to heaven that they glorified Israel for it' It was said that R. Abraham Zacuto's advice on wisdom of stars to the Gentile nations and their kings is as good as Ahitophel's advice of old.

During his sojourn in Portugal R. Abraham Zacuto came to new conclusion about the origin of storms and gales in the equinoctial regions. His investigations proved it is possible to reach India by circumventing Africa. In AM 5257, King Manuel equipped the fleet under command of Vasco di Gama to search for the way to India. Before his departure, Vasco di Gama sought R. Abraham Zacuto's advice in presence of his sailors. King Manuel invited R. Abraham Zacuto to the city of Beja and the astronomer told him that India soon would belong to Portugal. It became true, as we know.

In AM 5257, the Jews of Portugal were expelled as well, and R. Abraham Zacuto left the country together with his son Samuel. R. Abraham Zacuto wrote about it: 'God granted me and my son Samuel the privilege (zechut) to glorify and sanctify His Name. We came to Africa, twice we were made prisoners. God in His great mercy to His pious ones will provide me and my offspring's posterity to worship His blessed Name'.

R. Abraham Zacuto went with many other exiles to Africa and settled in Tunis, there was 'a big community, rich people and great believers in the tradition of Torah'. Among the Portuguese exiles in Tunis, there was R. Moses Alaskar as well. The troubles and destitution caused by exile wore down the strength of R. Abraham as he admitted: "For my sins, for all these destruction and captivity and lack of food I have nor strength, no wisdom, neither sense of distinction".

In Tunis, R. Abraham Zacuto completed his Sefer Yohassin, but he was short of books, as there were no books in Tunis but whatever the exiles brought with them. R. Abraham Zacuto stayed in Tunis for a few years, but apparently he could not find peace for his soul and left for the Middle East, to Turkey and in the end of his days to Syria. He settled in Damascus and died there in AM 5275.

Among friends of R. Abraham Zacuto there was the perfect scholar R. Abraham Halevy Bokart, mentioned by R. Abraham Zacuto in Sefer Yohassin. It appears he is identical with R. Abraham ben R. Eleazar Halevy, R. Abraham Zacuto's brother in law, who wrote a few books on Qabbalah, including Galya Raza (Disclosing Secrets) and Sefer Zikaron (The Book of Memory). Among his better-known disciples, there was R. Joseph Vecinho, the physician to the King Joao III and a member of the Lisbon Junta. The Junta was the group of scientists, astronomers, and navigators. R. Joseph was a friend and an adviser of Columbus. He translated the explanation of R. Abraham Zacuto's Tables into Latin. R. Abraham Zacuto's grandson, R. Abraham Luzitanus, was a great physician and a wise man.

2. R. Abraham Zacuto's books

A. Almanac Perpetuus

B. Tashlum Aruch

C. Otzar Haiim

D. Mishpatei Haetztagnin

3. THE BOOK OF YOHASSIN - GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The Hebrew medieval historical literature is rather lean and mean. The historiographers described events and tales, marked years and dates, but they could not present events and personae dramatis within the whole historical and spiritual context of their times. They couldn't express the rise and fall of spiritual movements, or show us some great historical personage by making him alive through exaltation of their own spirit. They couldn't integrate the details into a united and live presentation. Such purposes were foreign to the historiographers, as they did not consider history as a separate independent branch of knowledge. The historiography was not writers' art, they thought. They intentionally limited their scope: some described the miracles to enhance the faith and arouse the spirit of believers, some preferred to dispute with Christians and free thinkers by compiling the traditions of transmission of the Oral Law and Qabbalah. They usually considered their work as subsidiary to the establishment of the Halacha, the Rule of Law. It was necessary to know the lives and times of the sages of Talmud and Mishna in order to determine who preceded whom and whose judgment prevails according to the rule of the oldest decision.

The Book of Yohassin conforms to the rule. The main intention of Rabbi Abraham Zacuto as the author of the book was to help the Talmud scholars, as he states openly in his foreword. That is why R. Abraham Zacuto concentrates his attention and efforts on the first articles in the book dealing with the Talmud personalities. He writes at length about the scholars called The Late Sages of Israel (HaZaL) and tries to establish rules of preferment of Judgment. His second aim was to support the Jewish side in disputes with Christians, and he frequently refers to the opinions of Christian laity and clerics and of Jesus himself. Chapter six of his work is dedicated altogether to the Jews-versus-Christians polemics.

The Book of Yohassin exceeds all previous historiographic writings by its completeness and perfection of the first chapters dealing with the Mishnah and Talmud personae. R Abraham Zacuto invested huge effort in it and succeeded to lay a sound foundation to the structure of the Talmudic history. Rabbi Moses Haggis was right saying, "If you wish to quench your thirst and to find the origins and descent of the Sages of Mishnah and Talmud and to learn everything about them, their names and their virtues, keep close to your heart this pleasant book and it will encourage your spirit to study the Oral Law" (Mishnat Hahamim, 625).

The author named his book Sefer Yohassin "the Book of Lineage, but his provisional title was Sefer Hasidim - the Book of Pious, or Sefer Kedoshim - the Book of Saints. In his Conclusion he writes, "That is why I compiled together The Book of Saints and the Book of Lineage, to pay tribute to the wise and holy people of Israel".

R. Abraham Zacuto invested "many labors", and worked for many years. The scientists are still divided as to the year when the book was written. Zunz presumes the book was completed in the year AM 5262, but the majority of experts prefer the year AM 5264 (Graetz, Keizerling, etc). The author of Zemach David gives the year AM 5263. Lev considers the chapter 6 being written in AM 5264, while previous chapters were written in preceding years. In the chapter 3 there is a reference, which was missed by scholars. On p. 204a, R Zacuto writes, "This year is a thousand-year anniversary of the completion of Talmud and 73 years since the demise of R Ashi". By R Zacuto's counting, it is the year 5259. Still there is no need to choose a specific year, as it appears that Rabbi Zacuto wrote some chapters in Portugal before the Expulsion, while other chapters were composed in Tunisia.

The best proof can be found on p 22a, where he states that in Tunisia he had just a few books, namely Nezikin of the JT and the Midrash Leviticus Rabbah etc. In his first chapters, he freely quotes all tractates of the JT and all Midrash Rabbah books. It proves that he wrote his book over number of years. Various chapters were composed at different dates. Answer that is more precise we can find by checking his other books. In the introduction to his Astronomical Tables or Perpetual Almanac R Zacuto promises to compose a book on the Sages of Mishna and Talmud. The introduction to the Book of Yohassin also states that he considered the book as a certain supplement to his previous books on astronomy. He writes: "This book is similar to the books on wisdom of numbers and stars, and a virtuous deed causes other virtuous deeds." It means that R Zacuto started this book after completion of his Opus Magnum in the year 5238. In the year 5270, Rabbi Abraham of Trotial composed his book of Qabbalah, and he uses frequently the Book of Yohassin.

It proves the Book of Yohassin was composed between 5240 and 5270. During those years R Abraham Zacuto collected the vast material for the book and carefully presented it in the first three chapters on the sages of Mishna and Amora. The following chapters were written hastily after the Expulsion and the author had no time to arrange them properly and left it as an uncompleted compilation of various and contradictory sources.

R. Abraham Zacuto tried to correct the errors of preceding scholars on Qabbalah and related topics, and frequently argued with Rambam and with R. Abraham ibn Daud, the author of Qabbalah book. He modestly assesses his efforts in this field: "Sometimes a small candle is better to look for holes and cracks than a great luminosity".

The last chapters of the Book of Yohassin have great historical value, as for instance the narrative on Book of Zohar. The Book of Yohassin is our only primary source on the matter as the other writers just quoted the book of R Zacuto. But the first chapters dealing with the Mishna and Talmud scholars are also important as R Zacuto compared various manuscripts and printed books to present the reader with correct versions. The latter glosses are also important, especially those by the first publisher R. Samuel Sholem, who quoted many old and otherwise lost, books.

For many years, the Book of Yohassin was the most important of historiographic Jewish books. The previous generations of our forefathers in the darkness of the Diaspora read this book to enliven their souls. Despite the reassessment of modernity, the Book of Yohassin remains the important step on the road from the mist of tales and legends to the light of scientific exploration.

D. The sources of Sefer Yohassin.

E. The editions of Sefer Yohassin.

 The Author's Introduction

Thus says Abraham bar Samuel bar Abraham Zacuto: the people of Israel are compared to stars by name and number, as best gold objects incrusted with precious stones. Even more so the wise and pious men, for it is said, "The wise men will shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who lead others to righteousness like stars for ever and ever". That is the great difference between those who provide themselves with merit, and those who lead others to righteousness and provide others with merit. The star in heaven is similar to the soul in the body, being its most important part. They, I mean the sages of Mishna and Talmud, and those who came after them who wrote books to dispense virtues among us, they illuminate our souls.

In order to lead myself and others to virtue and righteousness and to provide with merits I rose to compile this small book and present by name and dates the sages of Mishna and the Babylonian Talmud as we have it, excluding the sages of the Baraitha, as I do not know them and their dates. I shall mention the Gaonim and the authors of books and their dates, whenever I'll find it. I shall not glorify myself by saying "that is great wisdom" as due to persecutions and captivity and need for food I lost my strength for my sins. I have nor wisdom, neither knowledge, nor taste neither distinction. But in order to obtain merit I shall remember the rules of Law and the important implications of the Law as done and quoted by the sages.

I wrote this book and I deserved to write it, as it maps the generations from the Creation, when the world was created, and it is the most important thing in the Torah, as it contains all miracles which explicate the Creation of the world, and the True Force which alone makes miracles, and it helps in the hard times. It is true, there are angels present, but they are sent by Him and they depend on Him and His presence, and one cannot speak properly of presence but of presence of the Blessed Creator, whose presence is certain. This book is similar to astronomy, as one good deed causes another good deed.

At first, I contemplated on the title for the book. If I'd call it The Book of Righteous, it would hurt the honor of the Pious, who were wise, and weren't ignorant natives. Rashi explicated and he was a pious man, and stayed away from sin, but he was a merchant. Even Prophet Samuel is called Samuel the Righteous (in the end of chapter "Bame Behema" in Sabbath). There is also Simeon the Righteous. In the beginning of chapter Techeleth Rashi explained that pious are those who haste to do good deeds (mitzvoth). In Bava Batra in the chapter Hamaniach it is said: "Who is Pious? Pious observes the rules of damages". They asked, and what about benedictions? They said, "it comes from their fathers". In the chapter Kol kitvei Rabbah says, "Who is God-fearful? One who avoids using others free". Rashi explicated: Pious men are those who are ready to give away their own in order to avoid even touch of transgression.

SEFER YOHASSIN

PART ONE

I SHALL START TO DESCRIBE GENERATIONS WITH HELP OF

GOD, THE HEAVEN DWELLER

SINCE the Creation till the Flood 1656 years, as Torah shows (and as we know in detail). Rambam (in the book of Judges, chapter 9 on Rules of Kings and their Wars) wrote: Adam was given six commandments: idolatry, incest, bloodshed, robbery, blasphemy and to do justice etc. [Though all of them we received from Moses our master, it appears these were the commandments to observe. And to Noah it was commanded part of a live animal, as it is said "do not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it". So, it is seven commandments]. In the chapter "Gid Hanashe" end of page 92 , "Children of Noah were given 30 commandments but only three are observed: a marriage contract (ketubah) is not written for the male, dead meat is not weighted in a slaughterhouse, and the Torah should be respected" (see the Rashi's commentary).

So it was till the days of Abraham. Abraham came and received commandments of circumcision and he prayed the Morning Prayer (Shaharit). Isaac gave the tithe and added another prayer, which is the Afternoon Prayer (Mincha). Jacob added the thigh sinews and prayed the Evening Prayer (Maariv). In Egypt Amram (father of Moses our master) was given even more commandments. [And then came Moses and the Torah was completed.]

In the chapter Osin Pasin Adam was very pious, 130 years he abstained from intercourse with his wife, after that he bore Seth. Before that, only demons and spirits were born from his semen, due to involuntary emission. Methuselah the Righteous was a son of Enoch, who turned into living fire, according to tradition, like Elijah the Prophet of blessed memory. It is written in Tosafoth in chapter Ele Trefoth: God took him and named him Metatron. He died seven days before the Flood, I mean Methuselah the Righteous. Then Noah was 600 years old.

Since the Flood till the birth of our forefather Abraham, beginning of our lineage, ancestor of many nations, 292 years passed. When Abraham was 48 years old, 10 years before Noah's death came the Generation of Division. They settled in different countries and spoke different languages. It was in the end of days of Peleg, as it is said in first chapter of Sabbath and in Seder Olam. He was called Peleg <="division">, as in his days life of men was divided. Their life span was just half of their ancestors. He died after living half as long as his father Eber, but Shem son of Noah saw change of 12 generations. He lived until Jacob was 50 years old. Eber, great-grandchild of Shem, lived until Jacob was 79 years old. The court of Shem banned the prostitution, as it is said, "Judah said: bring her out and have her burned to death". Thus, it is written in AZ and Sanhedrin.

Noah died 58 years after Abraham's birth, and R. Abraham Ibn Ezra of blessed memory marked it saying: Our father Abraham was 58 <=Noah> years old, when Noah died. Abraham was circumcised at the age of 99. It coincided with the destruction of Sodom, which happened 51 years after the Generation of Division, almost 52 years. Zoar was established one year later than Sodom, and it is said: "let us <=51> escape", (see first chapter of Sabbath).

Our father Abraham, may he have peace, observed all commandments of the Torah, as it is said: "Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws". His tractate AZ contained 400 chapters. In the chapter Omar lahem hamemune" he observed even the rule of holiday cooking, and it is connected to the secret tradition. Why they did not mention another commandment ? In order to imply that he, may he have peace, announced of the Creation of the world, as it is said "I have raised my hand to etc - Creator <=owner> of Heaven and Earth". That is why it is said "Abraham is the first property of God". By saying "Creator <=owner> of Heaven and Earth", he stated that they are property of God, be His Name blessed. It is similar to saying "Whoever says on Sabbath eve 'The heavens were completed' becomes a companion to God, be His Name blessed, as it is Creation". He , may he have peace, taught people , as it is said in Genesis Rabbah, the portion of Melchizedek.

Though in "Pesahim" on Hosea it is said "three things are created by <and belong to> The Holy One, blessed be His Name", there Abraham is not mentioned. Referring to Heaven and Earth, they said "Creator of Heaven and Earth". All that Abraham taught people. The reason for the rule of holiday cooking is well known: it is written, "remember Sabbath". In case of feast, which causes man to forget Sabbath, there comes the rule, so he would choose goodish portion for Sabbath as well. So happened that people forgot the Creation of the world, and our forefather Abraham, may he have peace, reminded them.

In Genesis Rabbah in the portion of Toledoth Isaac, it is said about the rule of connecting courtyards: he didn't take from a courtyard of one owner to the public territory. It means that he, , may he have peace, announced that there is One in the world. He read astronomy in cathedra in Egypt in order to prove by movements that there is the first and only Creator in the world Who created them. It is made clear in the Christian chronicles. It is the most important thing in the Torah and miracles.

He , may he have peace, established times for three prayers. The Torah does not explicate whether he established Morning Prayer, while Isaac the Afternoon prayer and Jacob Evening prayer, or each one of them prayed each prayer diligently and early according to his qualities. Though, it is said that Abraham was very diligent and started early the Afternoon prayer, and it is said that each one established the prayers, as it is suitable. Abraham observed even the rules by Sages, so naturally he observed the rules for prayers, which are based on Torah.

In the beginning of the chapter Omar lahem hamemune²⁸ on prayers of Abraham it is said shadow darkens the wall. Rashi explained: Afternoon prayer is prayed after noon, but Abraham was very diligent and started the prayer as soon as possible . That is why we know it is more commendable to pray the Big Afternoon Prayer (in early afternoon). Small Afternoon Prayer is always prayed in the dusk, but on the Eve of Passover. Aruch explicated: Isaac learned the Afternoon prayer from Abraham. The words "prayers of Abraham" mean just "prayers of forefathers", and Abraham is mentioned because he is the most important one. It is written in the article on Sunrise. R. Zemach explained: "prayers of Abraham" mean the Additional prayer, as it is also a part of Morning Prayer established by Abraham. This explanation is not valid, as in the chapter Ein Omdin R. Jose Bar Haninah is quoted saying that our forefathers did not establish the Additional prayer. In the beginning of chapter Morning Prayer Isaac established the Afternoon prayer. So, when people say "prayers of Abraham" they mean "after was established by Isaac".

It appears our explication is preferable. There is a sign for it: each prayer's title starts from the second letter of forefathers' names, so Boker (morning) for ABraham, Sohoraim (Afternoon) for ISaac, Arvit (Evening prayer) for JAcob. He, , may he have peace, taught Noah , though he was 10 generations later and he was 58 <=Noah> years old, when Noah died, as it is written above. He was born 52 years before the completion of second millennium since chaos. Then he started to teach Torah. It means that he was 52 years old at that time. He was detained in Kuta and Cardo for ten years (as is said in the end of chapter Hamoher et hasfina) and then the king expelled him from his kingdom.

He was only 3 years old when he became aware of his Creator. That is the amount of letters A, K, B in the text "shamA aBraham bKoli", (Abraham obeyed me), as it is explicated in Yoma and Nedarim. Rambam, of blessed memory, says in Mada, that Abraham was 40 years old when he became aware of his Creator. It was already refuted by R. Abraham ibn Daud and by R. Moses HaCohen. It is also said in Genesis Rabbah the portion Vaigash Yehuda and in Midrash Hazit that " three years old". In Genesis Rabbah the portion Toledoth of Noah and in Midrash Hayut it is said: "He was 48 years old, and it was in the year of Division, when he became aware of his Creator". That is the source of Rambam, but he had a faulty copy.

We explain: began when he was 3 years old and became perfect when he saw the Division and the wonderful deeds of The Holy One, blessed be His Name. Then he was 48 years old. When he was 52 years old, he started to teach Torah, as we said previously. So the words "and the people they had acquired <=converted> in Harran" became fulfilled. He was 70 years old at the Covenant between the pieces. He came back to Harran and was punished for it. When he was 75 years old, The Holy One, blessed be His Name, told him to leave Harran and go to the Land of Israel, as it is said in Seder Olam. He was meek, and good willing, and poor of spirit, and broken of heart and a generous giver. Blessing upon him and blessed are his descendants after him.

Our forefather Isaac was born, when Abraham was 100 years old, in the year AM 2048. He was tied up at the age of 36 [Publisher's note: our forefather Isaac was tied up on the Mount Moriah, and it is well known that is the place where David and Solomon built on the threshing floor of Arawna. That is the place where Abraham built the altar and tied Isaac . That is the place where Noah built as he left his Arc. That is the altar where Cain and Abel brought sacrifices. Adam the first man sacrificed there as he was created. There he was created. So says Rambam in second part of the Temple Rules. In the chapter Haba al yebemato it is said in Tosafoth, Sifri: Rebecca was 14 years old when she married Isaac, but Seder Olam says: three . The Midrashim hold various opinions.]

Our forefather Jacob was born when his father Isaac was 60 years old, year AM 2108. He studied in the House of Study of Eber and Shem. We do not know when his children were born, with exclusion of Joseph the Righteous Jacob was 91. How come? Jacob entered Egypt being 130 years old. Then Joseph was 39. It means Jacob was 91, when Joseph was born. Then the 14 years he slaved for Rachel and Leah were completed.

Apparently, Levy was born when Jacob was 86, five years before Joseph's birth. It follows from the words of our Sages of blessed memory. How come? Joseph was born when Jacob was 91. He worked 6 more years at Laban's flocks until the age of 96. On the way to Shechem, he tarried a year and a half in Succoth, as explicated Rashi of blessed memory in the corresponding chapter. When Jacob was 99, they came to Shechem. Then Levy was 13, as he is called "man with his sword". It means Levy was born when his father Jacob was 86, in the AM 2194. Levy died in the AM 2331, he was 130. Cohath was 133 years old. Amram lived 130 years, like his grandfather Levy. He was one of four totally sinless men, together with Benjamin, Jesse, and Chileab, who was so similar to his father King David.

Our teacher Moses, may he have peace, was the seventh in the line of our saintly forefathers. He was born on Sabbath, 36 years after Levy's death, in the AM 2368, on seventh day of Adar in 3d hour of the day, as explicated Rabbi Abraham Bar Hiya of Spain.

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We have the tradition that the count of 400 years of captivity in Egypt starts from Isaac's birth. This is also the opinion of Gentile sages and of their history books. Why starting from Isaac? As it is written: "Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own". It is said also in the Aramaic translation of JT that Children of Israel spent in Egypt 30 seven-year periods and thus completed 400 years. In the Aramaic translation of Talmud on "Leaping across the mountains" "due to their fathers' merit they skipped 190 years", and then remained 210 <=descent to Egypt> years.

As Isaac was born in AM 2048, Exodus took place in AM 2448 or year 16 of the <19 year calendar> cycle. That is opinion of R. Hiya of Spain and of the Yesod Olam. The second year in the desert was year 17 of the cycle, which is with two months of Adar. So The Holy One, blessed be His Name commanded: "celebrate Passover at its time" etc. R. Simeon Doran says it was year 17 of the cycle when the Exodus from Egypt took place. Then was year 18 of the cycle, meaning an ordinary year. The commentary to Hagadda says, "it makes sense that it was year 16, the leap year, as the new moon was on Tuesday". But according to Rambam it was on evening of Wednesday and on Thursday the new month began, as in Seder Olam. Here is the proof it was a leap year: the springtime was over with the hailstorm, as it is said "barley in spring". In the year 16 the spring was over on the second day of Passover.

Still it is not too difficult even if it was an ordinary year. It is known that in Egypt spring comes one month before it comes in the Land of Israel, as sometimes there is new wheat in Passover, but our explanation works even without stretching too much. In the year 2448 the Salvation and Exodus took place, then Moses was 80 years old. In the 3d month, that is Siwan, on Sabbath, 6^th of Siwan they received Torah from The Holy One, blessed be His Name. R. Akiba says it was on Sabbath.

Moses added three rules: blessing of manna, when manna was falling, and the custom of asking questions and expounding the rites of Passover during Passover, and he established the Eleazar and Ithamar as we find in the end of Taaniyot. Rambam of blessed memory wrote in the chapter Aveloth and in the first chapter of Ketuboth in the JT and in Torath Haadam, that Moses also added seven days of mourning and seven days of feast.

He wrote his book, and the story of Balaam, and the obscure book of Job (see first chapter of Bava Batra). In this part of Talmud it is also written, that Job lived from the year of arrival of Children of Israel in Egypt and until Exodus, and it is written: 210 years. It is written, that he lived in the days of Jacob. When asked: "is there a tree or not" he meant Job. As Job died, his shadow was gone, but God is with us. In Genesis Rabbah chapter 57 "his firstborn son Uz" are explained by R. Jose ben Halafta: he was born as they went <"descended"> to Egypt, and he died as they left Egypt. So he lived 210 years. So it is said in the first chapter of Ketuboth of JT that Moses our master established it (see Torath Adam). It is also written in Christian and Greek historical books, that our master Moses wrote and that Job was Yovav ben Zerach of Basra, one of Edomite kings. It also follows from some words of Ramban of blessed memory that he and his friends Elipaz, Eldad, Elihu ben Berachel Habuzi were descendants of Abraham, from the Ram family. They were also descendants of Esau, and Job lived in Arabia and in Sabah and in Edom to the south of the Land of Israel. And still the Aramaic translation says: the Land of Uz is Armenia, meaning part of Greece, and some people say his tomb is located in Constantinople.

[Publisher Samuel Sholem says: Job which is buried in Constantinople is Job el Ozari, who came to Constantinople in the first year after death of Hussein ibn Ali, with Abdallah ibn Abbas and Abdallah ibn Zeid, with three thousand men and 500 boats. He was killed at the gate called Igri Kapi. King Constantine son of George made his tomb, and it happened in the year 50AH, check their dates and forget about them.]

In the days of Moses our master, may he have peace, the prophets of those days established the fourth rule, that is the rule of reading from Torah on Monday, Thursday and Sabbath. Our master Moses, may he have peace, received Torah and its explication from One Who gave it at Mount Sinai and in the Tabernacle and in the wilderness of Moab. He died an easy and sweet death by God's will in the fortieth year in the month of Adar, on 7^th of Adar in the high noon, in the middle (etzem) of the day, as it is said "in that very (etzem) day". It was Sabbath. There is a Midrash saying: in the eve of Sabbath, and it was AM 2488. And so it was.

Joshua received the Torah from Moses at 82. He was born in the year AM 2406. He established ten rules as we see in the chapter Meruba and the Blessing of the Land. Though we said Moses our master, may he have peace, established just three rules, it is said in the chapter Bame Madlikin, that he established many rules and laws, but Rashi quotes just one of them. There is a Midrash story about an Emperor who forbade to lit fire in Rome just for one day, and his prohibition was broken, and Moses prescribed "do not lit fire etc". It appears they did not distinguish between rules, laws and commandments of Torah.

Joshua belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, as it is said in the Chronicles, and his line ends with him, as he had no son. It is said in Pesahim: he didn't bless the wine cup, and he was not blessed with son. Wife of Joshua, Rahab did not belong to seven nations, see Mizvoth, 112. Among Joshua and Rahab's descendants, there were 8 prophets, as they had daughters. It is said in the first chapter of Megilah. He judged Israel 28 years, as it is said in the Seder Olam, and he died in AM 2516. R. Simeon bar Zemach Doran in the third part of Magen Avoth concerning prophecy says that Joshua judged 14 years. It does not suit the tradition of Seder Olam according to R. Jose by the opinion of R. Akiba.

It makes sense that the Writ says that all spies were equal, not that one was 40, and another one almost sixty. It is said explicitly that Caleb was 40, when Moses sent him to his mission. It makes sense that Joshua was 42, not 57. To achieve the amount of 300 years until Jephthah, as Seder Olam counts, Joshua judged 28 years. Seder Olam and Rashi say: 28 years, but does not say explicitly, so it is the tradition.

About the rest it is written: Othniel judged 40 years, Ohad - 80 years, Shamgar - 1 year, Deborah - 40 years, Midian captivity - 7 years, Gideon - 40 years, Abimelech - 3 years, Thola - 23 years, Jair - 22 years, Ammonite captivity - 18 years, so it amounts up to 300 years until Jephthah. [Publisher: the sanctuary was 14 years in Gilgal and 369 years in Shiloh, till the death of Eli].

The Elders received from Joshua. One of them, and the most important one, was Caleb, as explicated in the chapter Kohen Gadol veNazir. Also the descendants of Itamar, from Phinehas until Eli the High Priest, and the Elders before Eli, they lived longer than Joshua. He judged Israel for 17 years according to Seder Olam, but it is not mentioned by Rashi or by Commentators. It seems Othniel Ben Kenaz, brother of Caleb, was one of the Elders. By his < Seder Olam's> system, Othniel ben Kenaz, brother to Caleb, began in AM 2533, and he led Israel for 40 years. That was "the court of Yavetz", mentioned in Talmud, meaning Othniel ben Kenaz.

Ehud ben Gera began in AM 2573 and he led Israel for 80 years, which were completed in AM 2653. Shamgar one year. Deborah began in AM 2654 and she led Israel for 40 years. Gideon began in AM 2694 and he led Israel for 40 years. He is Jerub-Baal. His son Abimelech began to rule in AM 2734, and he led for 3 years. Tola ben Puah judged for 23 years, Jair of Gilead judged for 22 years. Two years are lost in the count, it makes 48 years. Jephthah began in AM 2779, and he led for 6 years. Since they came into the land they conquered, the land of Sihon and Og, and until Jephthah, passed three hundred years less nine, and that is the meaning of Jephthah's words to the Ammonite king: "for three hundred years Israel occupied Arnon until now".

After him Ibzan began , he is Boaz, as it is said in the end of the chapter Moher et hasfina, and it is said by the Aramaic translation of Ruth: "Salmon was the father of Boaz, who is called Ibzan". All his sons and daughters died. When he was an old man of 80, he took Ruth, 40, the mother of Royalty. In the days of Solomon she sat beside him in the royal throne together with Bathsheba, that is according to Midrash. He began in AM 2785 and led Israel for 7 years. Rashi explicated the Chronicles, saying: Boaz was apparently 300 years old as he fathered Obed, and he died immediately after his union with Ruth.

His father Salmon died when entered the Land. But R. Abraham Ibn Ezra explicated in his commentary to Ruth, that the old men Salmon, Boaz, Obed and Jesse were alive at David's birth. And the Gentile Sages explicated: there were some generations between them. It appears they got from the Sages of Israel. As we see in the lineage of Ezra, seven generations are missing from Ahitub till Ahitub in the book of Ezra, but they are mentioned in the Chronicles. But here is a difficulty: they are not mentioned anywhere, as opposed to the Ezra's lineage. It seems it was the holy and miraculous family indeed, as the Traditionalists said that Obed was 400 years old, and Ruth was alive in days of Solomon, as explicated in Tanhuma, portion VaIhi. Then Obed was more then 400 years old, as it is said in Qabbalath Hahassid, and in Genesis Rabbah, chapter VaIhi⁷¹.

After Ibzan, Elon the Zebulunite led Israel from AM 2792 for ten years. Abdon son of Hillel from Pirathon began in AM 2802, and led for 8 years.

After him, Samson judged. He was the son of Manoah from the tribe of Dan, and his mother was Hazlalphonith from the seed of Judah. He began to judge in 2810 and judged for 20 years. In JT it is said that according to their Writ he led for 40 years, but even they think it was 20 years. They said he judged for 20 years. So why the Writ says "for 40 years"? It implies that for 20 years after his death the Philistines still were afraid of him, and he was of Dan <=judge>.

During "the Concubine in Gibeah" crises one thousand Benjamites left for the Roman Isles and until now we do not know where they are. They did not want to fight with their brothers. But at first they were counted with the rest.

Afterwards Eli the High Priest received the Oral Law from Phinehas and began in 2830. In that year the prophet Samuel, may he have peace, was born. Eli judged Israel in Shiloh for 40 years and died in 2870. That was the year of great wars, and the Ark was captured.

And immediately Samuel the prophet, of blessed memory, began to judge Israel in the year 3871, at the age of 41, and judged for 11 years, as it is written in Temurah. He died in the year 2885 on the 28^th day of the month of Iyar in Ramah, according to the received tradition.

King Saul reigned for two years after Samuel. However, our masters, of blessed memory, claim that Samuel and Saul died in the same year, as it is said "when he sat with the ghost-raiser it was the last year of his life", and "Samuel had died four months previously". Rashi interpreted thus (in Temurah): following Samuel's death David dwelt with the Philistines for four months, and for one year, Saul and Samuel were together, and after Amalek, Samuel separated from Saul for two years, see end of Zebachim. It seems Samuel was 39 years old when Eli died, for Eli started to judge Israel at the time when Hannah came to pray. The Holy Ark came from the Philistines six months after Eli's death. It came to Bet Shemesh, and immediately afterwards to Kiriat Jearim and remained there for 20 years, as it is said in the scriptures, until King David settled in Jerusalem and ruled over all Israel, and sent for it from Avinadav. Out of these 20 years - seven years and six months King David reigned in Hebron. The remainder is twelve and a half years: add the six months when he stayed with the Philistines. The result is 13 years. Add 39 years of age and it amounts to 52 as Samuel's age. Then Saul and Samuel died. It does not agree with the opinion of Joseph Ben Gurion, who claimed that Saul reigned for twenty years, eighteen years during the lifetime of Samuel and two years subsequently. This is not possible, as we have said. It does not agree with the calculation of time from Jephthah until the reign of Solomon - 200 years. Our sages, of blessed memory, were always right. It fits even less the version of Jesus and his followers, who wrote that Saul reigned for forty years.

King David commenced his reign in the year AM 3886. 37 years later Absalom reigned. It is written: "after 40 years", but these are counted from the time they requested a king. He received from Samuel and his court - and he was the sixth recipient of following Moses, Joshua, Phinehas, Eli, Samuel David. David was taught by Mephibosheth the son of Saul, (see in the beginning of Berachoth), and Ahitophel as well. But main teacher was Ira the Jairi the priest, and he gave to him and to no other of his tithes. It was said that this was the cause of the famine, which is mentioned immediately afterwards "and there was a famine in David's days." And he would teach reclining on cushions and carpets, as is mentioned in Moed Katan, and he was a relation . It is said, "May those who fear you turn to me, those who know your statutes, it is written "know" to imply he was a relative (see in the Midrash Samuel).

David reigned for forty years. He forbade "yechud" even with unattached women, after the incident with Amnon and Tamar. The Torah forbids sexual misbehavior. Mothers are excluded. David died in the year 3924, and commenced the reign of King Solomon, may he have peace.

He began to build the Temple on the 4^th year of his reign, year AM 3928. Then the 480 years since the Exodus were completed, as they left Egypt in 3448, and so says the Bible: "480 years". Solomon ordained eruvin and purification of hands for kadesh. The schools of Hillel and Shammai ordained it for teruma as well. Hamizvoth says Solomon ordained the statutes, which are not valid in wartime, as in his days there was no war, but peace. He also forbade the semi-incest, and Rashi comments on chapter Osin Pasin, that he forbade semi-incest, see first chapter of Yabemoth. He also ruled that in the summer days a man is allowed to walk the paths in fields under private ownership, as the fruits are over, until the first rain, as Rambam wrote in Nezikin, chapter 5. In chapter Meruba it is said in name of Solomon: Do not withhold the best from their owner. In Tosafoth in chapter Keizad Eshet Ahiv, and in second chapter of Eruvin it is said: when Solomon ordered eruvin and purification of hands, Divine voice said etc. It is not said "and semi-incest", as perhaps he ruled on it after the Divine voice spoke.

The 7^th to receive was Ahiah the Shilonite, who was a Levite. It is said: Ahiah takes care of treasures. He participated in Exodus, and knew Amram (see Batra chapter 8). He received from David and his court, while R. Abraham ibn Daud of blessed memory wrote that he belonged to the court of David, and he anointed Jeroboam son of Nebat. Then he was more than 500 years old, very old indeed.

Elijah of blessed memory received from Ahiah the Shilonite, and he was the 8^th to receive . It reminds of the 8^th day - the day of circumcision, when he is present. [Publisher's note. Samuel Sholem says, he was a priest, see chapter Hamekabel, as Raba bar Avoha said on such occasion, "Aren't you a priest?"]. Our masters of blessed memory said in chapter Esh Nohlin in Batra: seven men embraced the world: Adam, Methuselah, Shem, Jacob, Amram, Ahiah the Shilonite, and Elijah, who is still alive. It means he is not Phinehas. Elijah received from Ahiah the Shilonite at the end of King Solomon's reign, in 3962. There are many opinions and guesses in Midrash, who was Elijah. In BM chapter Hamekabel there are many Tosafoth (additions) on this subject. Some people say: he is of Gad, as it was said by Leah "Here is Gad" meaning to get rid of the evil-doers. So is said in Midrash of Psalms. The proof: he is from Gilead, and that is Gad's country. Some say: his father is of Gad, while his mother is of Benjamin. And chapter Ki Tisa teaches he was from the tribe of Benjamin, and stayed in the Chamber of Hewn Stones. He was from Jerusalem, and his legacy lay within the legacy of the two tribes.

In Chronicles we find this name two tribes, and specifically of Benjamin, and the Temple was on their territory. He also said himself: "I am one of sons of sons of Rachel". And the Sage R. Levy ben Gershom decided that he is Phinehas, and all Israel used to say that he is Phinehas, so the outcome is drawn , and he will come soon and tell us. Elijah of blessed memory was gone in 3047, the 18^th year of Jehoshaphat's reign, in the days of king Jehoram , a son of Ahab.

It appears Elisha received from Elijah. It is said in the Chronicles that Elijah sent a letter to Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat about AM 3061, but at that time he already departed. We know that because Jehoshaphat, his father, and Jehoram, son of Ahab, visited the prophet Elisha. [In Seder Olam it is said: the letter of Elijah arrived in the beginning of Jehoshaphat's reign, after it was hidden for seven years]. It seems it was in the days of Jehu, it was year AM 3055, that Jonah and the High Priest Jehoiada received from Elisha of blessed memory. It is seen in the text, that Elisha died in year 37 of Joash king of Judah's reign, year AM 3098. It means Elisha lived 51 year after the departure of Elijah of blessed memory. In the same year died his disciple the High Priest Jehoiada, in the age 130. It means Elisha lived long life, and he was the ninth to receive . [In Seder Olam it is said, it was 10^th year of reign of Joash king of Israel, and 7^th year after the death of Joash king of Judah, that Elisha died. If it is so, it means Elisha lived 61 year after the departure of Elijah of blessed memory, and then the High Priest Jehoiada and his son Zechariah died before Elisha's death. In Seder Olam it is also said that Elijah will be revealed at Messiah's coming, and immediately will be hidden again, and revealed again at Gog and Magog's coming].

Elisha, his best disciple, was two times more important, and he received , as some people think, in AM 2990. But my opinion is that he received in AM 3047, as it is seen in the text, as I said. In Pesahim chapter Elu Hadvorim it is said that Elisha was son of a judge in Bashan, of the Gad tribe.

The High Priest Jehoiada was tenth to receive , he received from Elisha and his court in 3015. According to my opinion he received in 3055, as in 3015 Elijah have not departed yet, and the High Priest Jehoiada was 130 years old.

The High Priest and prophet Zechariah, who was killed in the Temple by king Joash, received from his father the High Priest Jehoiada. By others' opinion, it happened in 3047, by my opinion in 3070, despite the fact that his father's teacher Elisha died in 3098, as maybe the High Priest Jehoiada died before that. He is the 11^th to receive .

The prophet Hosea received from Zechariah in 3090, ten years before his death, as king Joash died in 3101, while Zechariah died one year earlier. Hosea belonged to the tribe of Reuben. As Reuben was the first to repent, he was granted the favor and became the ancestor of the prophet who said "Return (Repent), o Israel". There were four prophets at the same time: Isaiah, Amos, Micah, and Hosea. Amos began with <"The words of> Amos", but Hosea was first as he started with "The word of the Lord". All prophets prophesied in his time, as it is said in the Prophets, that Hosea prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Amos prophesied only in the days of Uzziah, and he received from Hosea.

Isaiah received from Amos. He also prophesied in the days of Uzziah, but Amos prophesied before the earthquake, which remained unequalled until the days of Herod at the end of the Second Temple . Then only in Jerusalem, beside other cities, more than ten thousand men and women died. Isaiah prophesied in the day of the earthquake, as it is said, "Whom shall I send". The pillars and the walls shook when King Uzziah entered to burn incense, and leprous sign shone on his forehead. He was leprous for 25 years, as we read in Tosefta.

Afterwards Micah of Moresheth received from Isaiah the prophet during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, all of them in the same time. It means Hosea was the 12^th, Amos - the 13^th, Isaiah - the 14^th, Micah - the 15^th. Amos was from Tekoah, from the tribe of Asher, and he was psilusa meaning his tongue was cut off, as it is said in Leviticus Rabbah chapter 96. Father of Isaiah was Amoz, the prophet, and a brother to king Amaziah. Micah was from the city of Morasha, a city in Judah, and though the Midrash refers to Micah the saying "Whom shall I send", he was beaten on his cheek, as it was said "the judges of Israel will be beaten by a stick on their cheek". I sent them Amos, and they called him psilusa. It appears he preceded Isaiah, according to the simple meaning of the text.

It can not be said about Micah, as Micah did not prophesy in the days of Uzziah, unless we consider the Midrash on Miciahu ben Imla, who was beaten on his cheek by Zedekiahu ben Chanaana in days of Ahab. In the commentary to Seder Olam it is said that in the days of Isaiah there were Hosea and Amos and Zechariah, who knew to fear God (see in the end of Sanhedrin, chapter Kol Israel). It means Amos received from Hosea in AM 3110, and Isaiah received from Amos in AM 3140. Isaiah lived after that at least 90 years, as Manasseh reigned in the year 3228, and he killed him, as it is said in Yabemoth. Micah received from Isaiah in AM 3160. That is the order of Rambam of blessed memory.

As for Joel, Nahum the Elkoshite and Habakkuk it is not mentioned when they prophesied. of blessed memory said: they prophesied during the reign of Manasseh, but as he was an evil-doer, his name is not mentioned in their prophesies. He reigned 55 years. For 22 years he was an evil-doer, but during 33 years he repented, as it is said in Sanhedrin. In 55 years after his death (equal to the years of his reign) the First Temple was destroyed. Chapter Chelek says that Manasseh taught R. Ashi in a dream how to break bread for the blessing, and he learned it from King Hezekiah. It stands to reason that as in the Minor Prophets Joel is placed before Nahum, and afterwards Habakkuk, it means they received in that order. Joel received from Micah in 3190, and the ten tribes were exiled in the 6^th year of King Hezekiah's reign in AM 3206. First were exiled Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and Zebulon and Naphtali.

 Nahum the Elkoshite received from Joel in 3240. Habakkuk (he was a son of the Shunammite according to Zohar, beginning of chapter Shalah) received from Nahum in 3254, and he was the 18^th to receive . In Tosephta chapter Hamekabel, it is said that the son of Zarephath whom Elijah brought back to life was the Messiah son of Joseph, as it is explicated in Seder Elijah Rabbah.

Zephaniah prophesied in the beginning of king Jashiah's reign. He received from Habakkuk in 3280, and he was 19^th. It was in the days of Huldah the Prophetess. In chapter 14 of Semachot it is said that her tomb is in Jerusalem, and nobody ever touched her.

Jeremiah the Priest received from Zephaniah. He prophesied 40 years until the Destruction of the First Temple. He closes the first half of 40 recipients, as he was the 20^th recipient. He received from Zephaniah about AM 3316. The Temple was destroyed in 3338 <= Shalah = send away>, as in "send away", and they went away. It was on Sunday, 9^th day of Ab, first year of Shemitah . And the same in the days of the Second temple, during the shift of Jehoiarib, the verse of damnation got on their lips "He will repay them for their sins... God will destroy them". It is the verse from the Wednesday psalm, as we learn from Arachin. They were then at pulpit , and Rashi explicated, "duhan" meaning "duhta" .

Baruch son of Neriah received from Jeremiah in Babylon in 3380, 42 years after the Destruction. Baruch son of Neriah died in Babylon and he was buried there. Ezra could not leave Babylon until his master Baruch died, as it is explained in Megilah. Ezra came in 7^th year of the reign of Artaxerxes. Commentators identify him with Darius, son of Esther. After Zerubbabel and Jeshua the High Priest built the Second Temple, the work was completed in the 6^th year of Darius' reign, in the month of Adar. Ezra came to Jerusalem next year, when 70 years since the destruction of Jerusalem were completed, including eight years of construction of the Second Temple. Then Baruch died. It was in 3413, and then Zerubbabel returned to Babylon. They say Ezra the Priest and the Scribe received from Baruch in 3470.

Ezra was very pious and meek as Moses, and so they said about Hillel, "oh meek, oh pious, the disciple of Ezra". He was worthy to receive the Torah, but he did not overestimate himself or the good things he did for Israel, as written in chapter Chelek. That is why the Book of Ezra is named after him, and not after Nehemiah son of Hacaliah, called Hatrashta, who was cup-bearer to the King, and he was permitted to taste the King's cup. In Sanhedrin, in chapter after Mamonoth it is said that Zerubbabel is Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. It is said in the tractate Megilah, chapter 4, that he is Malachi who prophesied about foreign women, meaning he is Ezra. He established ten rules, as it is written in Meruba in Kama. Many other rules were ordained by Ezra and his court, which was called The Great Assembly (Knesseth ha Gdola), and they returned the crown of glory to its old fame. As Moses said: Great and Mighty and Awe-inspiring God. It is written in Yoma and elsewhere.

They ordained holy prayers and Havdalah, and all kinds of good things. Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi belonged to them , but the rules witnessed in Talmud, for instance "the daughter's rival" are rather based on words of Haggai, than on the rest of them. There were also Daniel and his friends and above mentioned Nehemiah. He ruled on mukze, but allowed three utensils, as in his days they profaned the Sabbath, as we read in chapter Kol Hakeilim (All utensils). Among other members of the Great Assembly, there were Srayah, Raamiya, Mispereth, Bigwai, Nahum, Baana, Mordecai, Bilshan, and the pious Zerubbabel, the ruler of Judah, son of sons of King Jehoiachin.

In Sanhedrin, chapter Mamonoth, it is said that Zerubbabel is Nehemiah Hacaliah, and they say he is the ancestor of Hillel the Elder, the Prince of Israel. It does not seem so according to Ketuboth. It appears he was a descendant of Shephatiah son of Abital, King David's wife. In JT, and in Genesis Rabbah, chapter "But God remembered Noah", it is said that Hillel on his mother's side was a descendent of Judah, and on his father's side - of Benjamin, and Rabbi is his descendent. It is said that Hippocrates the Physician lived in the days of Mordecai and Esther in 3401. And his son Euclid, creator of engineering (geometry), and Plato the Philosopher.

Mordecai lived more than 400 years. In Mishnah, he is mentioned among 15 pious men as "Pethahiah of pigeons" in the tractate Shekalim. He was called so as he knew 70 languages, and he could explain things even to mutes, apparently by signs and hints, and so it is said in Menachoth, chapter Rabbi Ishmael, in Omer and shnei lehem. It was in the days of Hasmoneans, during rule of Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, in the end of Hasmonean times, over 300 years after the Second Temple was built. Rashi explicated that it was the same Mordecai who lived in the days of Artaxerxes, but in Tosafoth chapter Meruba they doubted it, as so many years passed, and proposed different explanation: whoever was a person of such great understanding, was called "Mordecai" after him.

In Tosafoth, they repeat the story about "Pethahiah of the pigeons". Three women came to him and said: That is for onati, that is for yamati, that is for zivati, and he explicated: the first was endangered by ona , the second one was endangered by the sea, while the third woman's son was stolen by a wolf. He was the same Mordecai, as proved by JT, tractate Shekalim and Menachoth. Rambam of blessed memory in his commentary to Mishna in chapter 5 of Shekalim gave the same explanation.

They are the Great Assembly who tried to exterminate the Evil Drive (the temptation of flesh) and blinded his eyes. Some people say they blinded one of his eyes, meaning they made him weaker, so he would not tempt them by incestuous proposals (see Yoma, and in chapter 4 Mithoth). Rashi explained: mother and sister, but he will tempt to enter relations with a married woman or a niddah. I can support his words, as it is said in chapter Ein Dorshin, that illicit carnal knowledge and lawless acquisition are the main stock of the Evil Drive.

After the demise of Jeshua the High Priest, apparently Ezra became the High Priest and he sacrificed the red heifer. It seems according to the book of Ezra, that his son Joiakim, and Jeshua's son Eliashib, and Joiada son of Eliashib, and his son Jonathan, and his son Jaddua all were High Priests, while Ezra was not a High Priest. It seems according to the beginning of the book of Mada that Ezra was the High Priest prior to Simeon the Righteous. It is not plausible, as according to Chronicles, as the high priests were descendants of Jeshua, his sons and sons of his sons, that was the lineage of high priests. So explicated Rashi on the book of Ezra, saying that all six High Priests were descendants of Jeshua.

Simeon the Righteous was a High Priest in Ezra's days. Perhaps he was a prefect , or the head of a family and not the High Priest. A heifer is accepted as such even on the authority of a regular priest and is given his name, as was the case with the heifer selected by Eleazar the deputy High Priest and called after Moses our master, may he have peace.

However, Ezra was the leader of them all. He was the 22d recipient . His court numbered 120 elders, and the last of them was Simeon the Righteous (who is included within the 120). However, Rashi's interpretation is that he was of the remnant of the Great Assembly, for at the end of the Second Temple period they were called "the remnant of the Great Assembly". This does not seem plausible, for Simeon the Righteous lived at the beginning of Second Temple period, when Alexander arrived, forty years after the construction of the Second Temple. Then they started dating , and he was the High Priest long time after the High Priest Joshua.

In the days of Simeon the Righteous, there lived Geviha ben Passissa (called Gevia ben Kosem in the Genesis Rabbah, portion 61 �The children of the concubines�). He is also referred to in Aruch as Gevia, who said, �I will go to defend our case etc�. At the beginning of the chapter Chelek Sanhedrin> his name is spelled Geviha ben Passissa, meaning he was wise and he was a hunchback. A heretic said, I�d kick you and straighten all your deformities. He answered: then you will be called a great doctor, and you will be able to charge a large fee.

Some say that Geviha means �tall and of upright posture� and he guarded the temple. , Gevia ben Kosem is the name of a sage, who stated main principles of the resurrection of the dead, namely, �He who wasn�t, now is, how much more so, �.

It was he who won the dispute in the seventh year against the Africans, the children of Ishmael, the children of Keturah and the Egyptians, while Alexander the Great judged the case. It also seems that he was a contemporary of Rabbi Dosa ben Horkenos, and he lived for more than four hundred years � until after the Destruction of the Temple in the current exile. It appears that he lived in the time of Rabbi Joshua and his falling out with Rabban Gamliel concerning the appearance of the new moon, and in the time of R. Akiba. Rambam, of blessed memory, wrote it in his commentary on the Mishna in the introduction to chapter four. It seems (the first chapter of Yevamoth) Haggai the Prophet was referring to the case when he spoke of �the daughter�s rival�. However, this is difficult to accept since it is written in the chapter Hazorek get that Rabbi Judah ben Ilai held that the early generations are the school of Shammai and the later generations are the school of Rabbi Dosa. He was the son of Horkenos, see chapter 3 of Eduyoth. If he antedated the School of Shammai he would not be referred so. Maybe what he said with regard to the prophet Haggai was a tradition that he had received, for he did not say that he actually saw Haggai.

It is also written in Yevamoth that he had a younger brother who was very sharp-witted. Jonathan ben Horkenos was his name, and he was a disciple of the School of Shammai, and he called him �the firstborn son of the Satan�, meaning very sharp-witted. R. Zemach explained this term as �the firstborn son of his mother�, probably for the following reason. Talmud calls the firstborn son of his mother �the lightheaded (silly) firstborn son� .

R. Eleazar ben Azariah and Rabbi Akiba were with him then, but it would seem that he was very old. If this is so, why were the commentators of Tosafoth so surprised that Mordecai live for 300 years? And it was R. Dosa himself, the son of Horkenos, who said in the name of Rabbi Judah ben Ilai who said that the captive may eat of the tithes, see chapter 3 of Eduyoth.

In the time of Simeon the Righteous Alexandria had a lot of people of Israel, twice as many as in the days of Exodus, and there were seventy golden seats with pulpits in the great synagogue, as is brought to us in the tractate of Sukkah. Alexander, who enacted upon them the curse of Jeremiah the Prophet, killed them all: they transgressed the prohibition �do not come back once again�. After that Alexandria was once again settled in the days of Honio son of Simeon the Righteous, who built a large temple and an altar, and all the people of Egypt would go there. Thus was fulfilled the saying �...and on that day there will be an altar to the Lord in Egypt and with great glory�. It lasted for two hundred years, according to Rambam. However, it would seem that it stood throughout the time of the Temple, for Joshua ben Perahiah fled there, and also in the time of Hillel, and they accepted the authority of the sages of Jerusalem and also brought sacrifices . Furthermore, people brought Hillel their wives� marriage contracts, who were said to be bastards (mamzerim) and he permitted the marriage.

It was a big community, twice as numerous as before the Exodus, until after the Destruction of the Second Temple, when the emperor Hadrian came and killed them all at the time of the fall of Beithar, as is written in the tractate of Gittin. It is written in the Tosafoth, that Alexandria was settled again, and this is corroborated in the chronicles of the Christians. In the JT, in the chapter �Hahalil�, it is written that the story of the seventy golden seats etc took place after the Destruction of the Second Temple during the lifetime of Yorkanus, the father of the wicked Hadrian, and he brought about their destruction, and Alexander is not mentioned, as he is in our Talmud. Then Beithar was crushed, and Israel�s glory shall not return until the arrival of ben David.

There are those who claim that Simeon the Righteous were Iddo ben Joshua, the High Priest, but the book of Joseph ben Gurion does not support it. [Samuel Sholem says: I read in the great ben Gurion, that the priest who was at the time of Alexander was called Iddo the priest, see there] In the opinion of our rabbis, of blessed memory, he was the High Priest during the time of Alexander, the King of Greece who killed Darius. Then the kingdom of Persia and the Media ended, 52 years after the end of the Kingdom of Babylon.

Aristotle was his contemporary. It is stated in the chapter Elu neemarim that the Divine voice (�bat Kol�) was heard speaking in Aramaic from the Holy of Holies saying that the decree had been made void and that the enemy had been killed.

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When Alexander came to Jerusalem to conquer it, Simeon the Righteous came out to meet him and Alexander bowed down to him to the amazement of his servants. He told them that his image appeared to him in battle and made him victorious. In the chronicles of the Gentile kings it is written that he saw on his forehead the Name written on his diadem: it is called in Greek �tetragrammaton�. This means a name of four letters.

The Cutheans were delivered into his hand , and he killed them. The siege of the city was lifted. He requested that all boys born during that year would be named �Alexander� after him, and that the calendar should be counted from that year. Since then years are counted from the month of Tishrei being coincident with the month of October. Thus it appears in the Talmud, and thus wrote our master Nissim, of blessed memory, that a year begins from Tishrei for this reason. This is how Israel counted the years, according to the Torah, for the purpose of the seven-year cycle and for the purpose of counting the years since Creation, �from the month �yerach eitanim�<=Tishrei>. [The Alexandrine era commenced one thousand years after the Exodus of Children of Israel from the land of Egypt.] That year was the year one thousand since the Exodus from Egypt. Ezra the Priest and the Scribe died on the tenth day of the month of Tevet, also Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, and from then the prophecy ceased in Israel.

When Alexander traveled from Jerusalem, he met Sanballat the Horonite, with some Israelites and with the sons of Joshua the High Priest, who had intermarried with the Cutheans (they were expelled from The House of the Lord by Ezra the Priest and by Nehemiah). He requested from Alexander that the priests � his sons-in-law � be permitted to build a temple on the Mount of Gerizim. The King commanded that this should be done and they built the temple.

Then Israel was split into two. Half of the people followed Simeon the Righteous and his disciple Antigonus and their school in accordance with the traditions received from Ezra and from the prophets, and half followed Sanballat and his sons-in-law who offered peace-offerings and burnt-offerings outside of the House of the Lord . They invented statutes out of their own heart, and in this temple served as priest the son-in-law of Sanballat, Manasseh son of Joshua, son of Jehozadak the High Priest. Then Zaddok and Boethus, the pupils of Antigonus assumed leadership, and this was the beginning of the heresy. They went during the time of Antigonus their teacher, to the temple of the Mount of Gerizim and became the leaders. This temple stood for about two hundred years, for it was built forty years after the Second Temple was built.

In the year 212 after the building of the Second Temple, corresponding to the year AM 3621 Mattathias son of Johanan, the High Priest, who was called Hasmonean, rebelled against Antioch, the King of Greece. He and his sons rose up against the viceroy of the King of Greece, who was ruling in Jerusalem, and killed him and all his army. He was Phillip the minister, who killed one thousand souls of Israel for they observed the Sabbath, by setting fire at the entrance of the cave.

Antioch killed the seven righteous children of Hannah, and she collapsed and died after their death, and the things that these righteous people said were a great praise to Israel. Then the old Eleazar the Pious was severely beaten, and his soul departed.

This Eleazar was one of the 72 elders who translated the Torah for Ptolemy, the King of Egypt and the King of Greece. They altered 18 things, see first chapter of Megillah and in Sofrim, for five elders wrote the Torah for Ptolemy in Greek. He later convened seventy elders and they altered 13 things for him. This Ptolemy was a wise and pious man, and he gave many gifts to the elders and to the Temple. In the chronicles of the Christians it is written that there were 300,000 philosophical books, and his sages told him �all the books you have are useless stories, and the important thing is to translate the divine Torah of the Jews�. Then he sent immediately to Jerusalem for the old Eleazar and the seventy-two elders and he honored them greatly and he rejoiced greatly.

After the old Eleazar died, Mattathias reigned for one year and then he anointed his son Judah the Warrior, as the anointed commander of the army. In his lifetime, Nikanor came to Jerusalem and was killed, and also Antioch the King of Greece came, and Judah defeated him. He fell from his chariot and broke all his bones, for he was very heavy. The Lord punished him an additional strike, and he stank as a rotting corpse and his own men fled from him. He swore to circumcise his flesh - the oppressor who had banned circumcision � but the Lord did not listen to his prayer. His innards fell to the ground and he died.

Judah and all the pious people came, and they purified the Temple, and they brought wood, but they did not find the sacred fire. They called out to the Lord, and fire came out of the stone on the altar, and they added wood, and this fire lasted until the third exile. The court of the Hasmonean forbade the union with gentile women as they are prostitutes, slaves, and do not observe the laws of purity. The schools of Shammai and of Hillel forbade yechud with a gentile woman in addition to the other statutes. They consecrated the altar in the month of Kislev on the 25th day thereof. They placed the shewbread and lit the light, and a great miracle occurred with the oil, as our rabbis, of blessed memory, received, see chapter Bame Madlikin. They praised the Lord for eight days.

Judah reigned for six years, and he was killed in a holy war the World to Come. After him, his brother Jonathan reigned, for his brother Eleazar had already been killed during the lifetime of Judah in a war. A large elephant fell upon him. He was a great hero. Jonathan ruled for six years. After this, his brother Simeon son of Mattathias reigned for eighteen years. These three brothers ruled for thirty years. They were righteous men, and Zechariah said of them, �so they paid me my price: thirty pieces of silver�. However, according to the chronicles of the Romans, Judah reigned for four years, Jonathan for nineteen years, and Simeon for eight years, and so it is according to the book of ben Gurion.

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Then the Romans began to conquer Israel and to subjugate it, as Judah befriended and advanced them. Indeed, they are the fourth beast of Daniel�s vision. Since Judah vanquished the Greeks, they made a covenant and stood by it for 26 years, and then for 128 years until the Destruction of the Temple, see AZ and the first chapter of Sabbath. Then they broke the covenant and from then onwards they (Israel) were enslaved to the Romans, and then the exile of Edom began.

After this, Johanan son of Simeon son of Mattathias reigned � he is also called Hyrcanus, and in the language of the Sages of blessed memory, Jannaeus. He went up and destroyed the temple of the Cutheans and killed the heretics. Upon his safe return, he made a feast for the sages. It was at that feast that the incident with Eleazar ben Poira occurred, as is mentioned in Kidushin, in the chapter Haomer, and he killed the sages. The king was extremely old, and after he served as High Priest for eighty years, according to our rabbis of blessed memory, he became a Sadducee.

In the opinion of Rashi, his wife was a sister of Simeon ben Shetach. Joseph ben Gurion disagrees with him. Rabbi Simeon Doran wrote in the third part of �Magen Avoth�, in the fourth chapter, as I have written, that the wife of his son Alexander was a sister of Simeon ben Shetach. Johanan died, and in his place reigned his son Alexander, also called Jannaeus by our Sages, of blessed memory. His wife was a sister of Simeon ben Shetach. Maybe she was the Queen Shelzion who is mentioned in the first chapter of Sabbath and in chapter three of Taanith. In the Taanith, it is said that Shelzion, the wife of the wicked Jannaeus, was a righteous woman.

He hated sages. On the Day of the Willow-Tree, he was hit on the forehead with a citron by one of their disciples, as was their custom, and he raised his hand and said �A sword!� and the sages were killed, except for Simeon ben Shetach. Then Joshua son of Perahiah fled to Alexandria in Egypt, until Simeon ben Shetach pleaded with the king for mercy on his behalf and he returned. It was at the time of these kings that the Karaites sect came to being, and they were called �Sadducees� and �Boethussians�.

We will return to our matters concerning Simeon the Righteous who was the High Priest for forty years. Five particular things occurred during his lifetime: the shining ribbon was bleached white, the lot fell on the right, the Western light was not extinguished and the altar fire burned well, but in the twilight hours, two logs of wood were added, as it was said �Burn wood upon it�. When he died, the strength of the altar fire weakened. Also the blessing of the Omer, and the two loaves of bread, and the shewbread. No Nazirite offering was accepted , except for that of the Nazirite with beautiful eyes from the South.

The Midrash Rabbah asks, �why didn�t they partake ? If you should say: �For a Nazirite commits sin since he causes himself sorrow by abstaining from wine,� �Didn�t Simeon the Righteous ever partake of fat sin offerings or of blood sin offerings?� : Simeon the Righteous was of the opinion that people take Nazirite oaths in anger, and since they take the oath in anger, they eventually regret it, and since they regret, they bring offerings as one who slaughters for profane purpose in the temple courtyard. But a Nazirite who vowed after careful consideration, and his mouth and his heart are as one, he is comely, . We further add that the others brought guilt offerings to release themselves for the mundane joys of drinking and rejoicing. They were holy, as the Holy One said, �The sign of his dedication to God is on his head�. Furthermore, it is said, �I also raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazirites from among your young men�.

However, the intention was the opposite, one who swore the Nazirite oath must shave off his beautiful long hair at the end of the period of the Nazirite oath and sacrifice it to God. He should not retain it and be proud of his hair that was dedicated to God. In the Tosephta (chapter four of Nazir) it is written that he partake of the guilt offering of the defiled Nazirite who came from the South etc. In the chapter Hahovel in the Tosephta , Rabbi Eleazar Hakappar said that a sinful Nazirite transgresses the laws of purity, as is the simple meaning of the verse. If he is pure he still sins but to a small degree, and he has to observe as in case of daylong fast on Sabbath, caused by a dream.

He sacrificed two red heifers, while Moses sacrificed the first and Ezra the Priest the second red heifer. Every Day of Atonement an angel would enter with Simeon the Righteous, and leave with him, but in the year of his death the angel entered with him and did not come out. Then Simeon said immediately that he would die in that year. He fell ill on the seventh day after the Feast of Pilgrimage and died, as written in Yoma. He was the 23d recipient of the Oral Law. He left two sons, Shimei, and Honio. The Gaon spelled Honei, as is explained in Aruch. Honio was the wiser one of two, and his father wished that he should become the next High Priest, and there was an argument between them to such an extent that Honio fled to Alexandria, as we have said, and there he built a temple similar to the Temple. That is the reference to �Those who serve in the temple of Honio, etc� as written at the end of Menachoth, and in longer form in the commentary of Mishna at the end of Menachoth.

The building of the Second Temple commenced in the year AM 3408, and it stood for four hundred and twenty years. In the 40^th year after it was built, which was the year AM 3448, exactly 1000 years since the Torah was given , the prophecy ceased in Israel. Alexander came to Jerusalem, and commenced the dating from the month of Tishrei, as we have already said, that was the beginning of Alexander�s reign . We made it known that due to his very good deeds he is remembered as Simeon the Righteous, of blessed memory.

Antigonus of Soko received from Simeon the Righteous in the year AM 3460. Zaddok and Boethus, his pupils, were the leaders of the heretics who erred regarding the words of their teacher when he said �Be not like slaves etc�. The priests who did three things according to the opinions of the Sadducees died a sudden death, as it is written in the JT. The three things were the libation, the day purification by the red heifer, and the incense burning on the Day of Atonement. It should not be prepared outside and then brought inside. In the first chapter of Yoma in the Tosefta, it is expanded upon. There was a Boethussian priest, who told his father that he did so on the Day of Atonement, and he died within three days. In �Avoth deRabbi Nathan� all the deeds of Zaddok and Boethus can be found. They used silver and gold utensils all their days.

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In his generation lived Rabbi Eleazar ben Harsom. His name is mentioned to condemn the rich who don�t study Torah. Nobody saw him but sitting and studying the Torah day and night. In the chapter �Omar lahem hamemune � he was very rich and famous, he owned one thousand cities and one thousand ships. He was a very pious man. He served as High Priest for eleven years, see the first chapter of Yoma.

Antigonus received from Simeon the Righteous and his court in the year AM 3460. He was the 24^th to receive .

Jose b. Joezer of Zeredah and Joseph b. Johanan of Jerusalem received from Antigonus, and from Simeon the Righteous. Therefore, it is written in the Mishna, they received from them (in plural). This is also the interpretation of Rabbi Meir the Levite son of Rabbi Todros from Toledo, in his commentary on the Avoth. Alternatively, maybe wished to say �From Antigonus and from his court�, like Rabbi Eliezer ben Harsom. Thus says the Rambam at the beginning of Mada.

That was the beginning of �pairs�, which followed them, until Hillel and Shammai � altogether five pairs. This is what it means �received from the pairs�. In each pair, one was the Prince and the other was the Head of the Court. This is with the exception of Simeon ben Shetach and Judah ben Tabai. Regarding them there is a difference of opinion � Rabbi Meir says that Judah ben Tabai was the Prince and Simeon ben Shetach was the Head of the Court, and the sages say the opposite, and it would appear that the sages were right. Although Hagigah and Avoth state, that the Mishna is in accordance with Rabbi Meir, it means only that an anonymous Mishna is attributed to Rabbi Meir.

We see that he acted as the Prince, when he sent for Honi Hameagel. After this, he built the Chamber of Hewn Stones. At the end of Taanioth and in chapter three of Sanhedrin, it is said that he was the Head of the Sanhedrin and judged King Jannaeus. Furthermore, he was the brother of King� wife, see Berachoth. In addition, he hanged eighty witches in one day in accordance with a special order, and it is unnecessary to expand on this.

The Head of the Court would not rule for judgment before the Prince, but would addend his own opinion, see chapter Ein Dorshin. Alternatively, if the Prince judged before the Head of the Court, as was the case with Rabban Gamliel in the case of his servant Tevi (whose eye he wounded), then he ruled before Rabbi Joshua, the Head of his Court. The Head of the Court was like the viceroy to the King, who was the Prince, I mean the Prince was like the King, and the Head of the Court sat to the right of the Prince and the two passed judgement together.

However, regarding the title of Sage, it is quoted in tractate Horayoth in the name of Rabbi Meir that he did not see the value of it. Maybe this was only with regard to Rabbi Meir. However, at the end of the Moed Katan there is reference to a Sage who performed the rites of Halizah on the right, the Head of the Court to the left and the Prince on either side. Rashi explains that there is a preference to rending on the left, on that day the sage was also on the right. The sage of a city is one who is asked for his ruling, but the Head of the Court is better.

In the first chapter of Kidushin, it is said that when a Sage passes by, one stands up and looks up and when he has passed by, one may sit. In the case of the Head of the Court, one remains standing until he has passed by four cubits and only then may one sit. In the case of the Prince, one may only sit when he himself is seated. Our master Asher wrote that this only applies in public places. The order of things given at the end of Horayoth is applicable within the house of study, and likewise wrote the Tosafoth.

All of these pairs were called by their names, like the prophets, and not prefixed with Rabban and Rabbi. This is the first pair, says Mishna in chapter nine of Sotah, when Jose b. Joezer and Joseph b. Johanan died, no many-sided men remained. It means they had all good qualities and wisdom, and Rashi interprets as Torah, the fear of sin and acts of kindness. In Temurah, chapter Esh Korbanoth Rabbi Judah says all the many-sided men which were in Israel from the days of Moses our master until the death of Jose b. Joezer would study the Torah like Moses our master. People say, but he disagreed on semicha, and so he did, and was wrong (see the argument in Mishnat Hagigah).

Jose b. Joezer established rules, see the first chapter of Sabbath. He was the pious of priests, see in the Mishna, chapter Ein Dorshin. It seems to me that in the Midrash of Psalms and in the Genesis Rabbah, chapter �When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes� I read that Jose b. Joezer was killed in the Greek persecutions. Ioakim of Zerudoth, his sister�s son told him �Look at my horse� and he replied, �If this is His wish regarding transgressors, how much more so with regard to His adherents�. He replied �Is there an adherent more devout that you?� He replied �If it is thus with regard to His adherents, how much more so with those who transgress His will?� This entered the heart of Ioakim, and he killed himself with four deaths for his atonement and for full repentance. Jose b. Joezer dozed for a while, and saw his deathbed floating in the air and he said, �For a moment this one preceded me to the Paradise etc�.

At that time there was Johanan the High Priest, the father of Mattathias, who laid down many regulations, and ordained two heifers, as did Simeon. See on �Johanan� in the alphabetic order.

These received from Antigonus, in the year AM 3500, which is 92 years after the Second Temple was built. In the chapter Esh Nohlin, it would appear that it was in the days of Jannaeus, he consecrated all his possessions to the Temple, as his son was of poor behavior. They were the 25^th recipients.

In the year 126 after the Second Temple was built there was Abrakus the astronomer.

Joshua ben Perahiah and Nittai the Arbelite and Mattathias ben Johanan received from them in the year 3560. It was 152 years after the Temple was built, about 60 years before the Hasmonean wars with Greece.

Joshua ben Perahiah lived for many years until the time of Jannaeus, who is called Alexander ben Hyrcanus the First, and who has been mentioned above: he was called Johanan and killed the sages, and also, before that, this is the same Hyrcanus who killed the Cutheans.

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In the chapter Tefilath Hashahar, there is a disagreement between Abbaye and Rava, whether Jannaeus was Johanan, and it would appear that both the father and the son were called Jannaeus, according to the Talmud. Hyrcanus was the same Johanan who served as the High Priest and became a Sadducee and killed the sages. His son Alexander was also called Jannaeus, and he was married to the Queen Shelzion, the sister of Simeon ben Shetach. It is found in the chapter Haomer in Kidushin: Jannaeus, who was called Hyrcanus, killed the sages who came to find him unfit to serve as High Priest, for he wished to be both High Priest and King, and he got heretical ideas regarding the Oral Law.

Later Simeon ben Shetach came along and returned the Torah to its old glory during the time of Alexander his son. He was married to the sister of Simeon ben Shetach (see in Berachoth, chapter Shelosha sheochlu), and he said the Grace after Meals for Jannaeus who had killed the sages because of citron, as we have said above. His sister, who was the wife of the King, hid Simeon ben Shetach.

At that time Joshua ben Perahiah fled to Alexandria in Egypt, which is also called �Amon Manu�. When they took Simeon ben Shetach out of his hiding, he was well received by the King. Simeon ben Shetach begged the mercy of the King that he should return Joshua. He wrote to him: �from Jerusalem the Holy City to Alexandria in Egypt, My husband stays with you and I sit desolate�, and he said, �It means I can return in peace�, and he came back (see at the end of Sotah).

Similar story told in Sanhedrin in the JT. Judah ben Tabbai fled to Alexandria so he would not be appointed a Prince. On the way, he had an encounter with his disciple, as happened to Judah ben Perahiah with Jesus the Nazarene.

The true tradition is that the Nazarene was his disciple. That was the third heretic sect, the sect of the pupils of Jesus the Nazarene, the Meshuamadim, who entered the teaching of Ma�amudiya and hence the term Meshumadim which really means Meshuamadim. The Ramban wrote, that meshumadim was the term used for those who turned aside to idol-worship, who by their deeds alienated themselves from the ways of their Father in Heaven, translated as �every son alienated from Israel�. In the translation it is clear that the letter �ayin� is missing, it is meshumada�, for meshumad. (This is also the case with the word �dorkati� which is from two words �dor katua�) According to the chapter Omar Rabbi Akiba in Sabbath, it seems Ramban is right, and according to the commentary of Rashi, it means �every son alienated from his Father in Heaven�. Ma�amudiya is the sect of Jesus who baptized by water: this is the interpretation of our master Hai. In Yavne, they proclaimed the Anathema to Heretics against them.

The truth is that the Nazarene was born in the fourth year of the reign of Jannaeus the Second (Alexander), which is the year 263 after the Temple was built, and the year 51 of the Hasmoneans, which is the year AM 3678. But Christians claim that he was born in the time of Herod, servant of the Hasmoneans, in the year AM 3760, and that he was hanged 35 years before the Destruction of the Temple at the age of thirty two. They say so in order to shame us and to tell us that we were punished for our iniquity immediately and swiftly, within forty years, by the Destruction of the Temple. This is not so, since his birth was 89 years earlier than what they claim.

The truth is that he was born in the year AM 3678, and in the year 299 after the Temple was built he was arrested, and he was 36 years old in the third year of Aristobulus son of Jannaeus. That is why the Sages of Israel wrote in a dispute with the Christians, that there is no reference in the Talmud to the Nazarene to whom they refer. In the chronicles of the Christians, there are a variety of opinions which year he was born. We know about him from Sabbath, Sotah, Sanhedrin, and from his disciples.

At the end of Menachoth we find that Joshua ben Perahiah would not have wished to rise to greatness, or to descend, having ascended. Anyway, Joshua ben Perahiah lived for many years, and came to Jerusalem from Alexandria around the year 296 after the Temple was built, which is the year AM 3704. They are the 26^th recipients of the Oral Law.

Then there was the well-known and great astronomer Abrakos in the year 205 after the Second Temple was built. He agreed with our rabbis of blessed memory, in the measure of the lunar month as 29 days and 12 hours and 793 parts.

[The court of the Hasmonean forbade intercourse with a gentile woman, even on the sly. This was previously permitted as is brought to us in the Mizvoth, 122]

Judah ben Tabbai and Simeon ben Shetach received from them at the beginning of the reign of the Hasmoneans, in the year AM 3621, the year 213 since the construction of the Temple. We have already said that Simeon ben Shetach was the Prince and Judah ben Tabbai was the Head of the Court. The piousness of Judah ben Tabbai is well known. He killed a false witness to disabuse the Sadducees, but in this case, he erred in judgement. Thenceforth he did not sentence again but with his colleague Simeon. Every day he would cry for the one he had killed until the day of his death. He did not seek honors for himself.

However, Simeon ben Shetach was a very pious man. Once there were two false witnesses against his son and he was sentenced to death. The witnesses retracted and admitted it was out of hatred for the father that they bore false witness, because he killed the witches. Nevertheless, his pious son told him to carry out the sentence rather than overturn a Torah ruling for him (see Sanhedrin in the JT). Rashi explains in the chapter Nigmar Hadin, that he did not pervert the justice for the king. Gabriel came for his sake and hit the members of the Sanhedrin on the ground (see chapter Kohen Gadol).

He returned the Torah to its original glory, and he established regulations, see the first chapter of Sabbath and elsewhere. He made the marriage contract in such a way that all man�s property would be stipulated to the contract.

He hanged eighty women witches on one day in his great wisdom. The Sanhedrin must know witchcraft in order to decide for what witchery the witch must be killed. Rashi explains in the chapter Haomed: if the accused is a sorcerer, and he will make the light, such that he does not have control over it, they will do witchcraft and kill him.

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The reader already knows that he was the brother-in-law of the King Jannaeus. In his day lived the great sage and pious man Honi Hameagel, known for his prayers (see the end of Taaniyot). In the book of Joseph ben Gurion the Priest, it is said that he was killed outside of Jerusalem, when the Hasmonean Kings fought each other, meaning Hyrcanus, and Aristobulus, who were brothers, the sons of Alexander, the son of Hyrcanus the First.

Then was decreed: cursed is one who keeps pigs, and cursed is one who teaches his son Hellenistic wisdom. Should you claim that it was already decreed so at the time of Titus, the Tosafoth explained: the ruling was decreed in general, but it was not universally accepted, also there is a difference, is amongst the cursed and not simply a transgressor. Finally, there was a ruling by Sages.

This Hyrcanus was the last of the Hasmonean dynasty, as Herod son of Antimatter, his servant, killed him. Two rulings were then decreed, see beginning of chapter Meruba, and at the end of Sotah and in Menachoth in the chapter Rabbi Ishmael. At that time lived Mordecai the Jew and he was over four hundred years old. At that time, they brought the wheat sacrifice and the two loaves from afar to Jerusalem.

The Talmud does not mention the killing of Honi Hameagel. It is written that he slept for seventy years, which is the life of man, and the years passed in a dream, as if it was one day. In the third chapter of Magen Avoth concerning the dream, Rabbi Doran says that it is against the nature, (unless it is a miracle) that a man should sleep for seventy years, but since his body heat would cool, he wouldn�t be worn by time. As the time is connected to the movement, and one who does not move would not sense the passage of time. Indeed, he who says that this does not seem possible other than by a miracle takes it at face value. Since they did not show respect to Honi Hameagel in his old age, he asked for death, for the World to Come. The Megillath Taanith says, for three consecutive years there was a drought, until Honi Hameagel went down to pray. In those days there was Elihoeini ben Hekeph the High Priest who ordained one red heifer. They were the 27^th recipients .

Shemaiah and Avtalion received from them, one was the Prince, the other the Head of the Court. Our master Hananel wrote �How did it come about that they appointed a Prince over the House of David, for Jose ben Joezer was a Prince and also a Priest�. Although regarding Simeon and Antigonus no Head of Court is mentioned, there always was a Head of Court, just they did not list their names. This was the custom in Israel, and thus was said at the end of Moed Katan concerning Saul � that he was the Prince, while Jonathan was the Head of the Court.

Thus is said in the chapter Hayashan, �When is there an eclipse of the sun? When a Head of Court dies and is not eulogized adequately etc�. Although this is a proverb, it contains a secret. [Rabbi Isaac Israeli has offered a fine explanation in Yesod Olam, but it remains a secret]. The Prince is called in the Torah �King�. This is true whether he descends from King David, or from the Kings of Israel whom did prophets anoint.

Thus we find in the Mishna in chapter three of Horayoth, �a Prince is a King, as it is said when a Prince sins, transgressing any commandment of the Lord his God � who is above him but the Lord his God�. This was also the case with the Exilarch in Babylon, who was of royal blood via Jehoiachin, who was called �The scepter of the Right, the scepter of your kingdom�. �The scepter will not depart from Judah� � this is the Exilarch in Babylon. However, to Hillel and all his descendants they referred �nor the ruler�s staff from between his feet�. That is why our saintly master, who was a Prince, is not called Prince, even though he was a descendant of David, of the children of Shephatiah son of Abital, the wife of David. JT and the Genesis Rabbah say, Rabbi was from the tribe [of Judah] on his mother�s side, and from the tribe of Benjamin on his father�s side.

Rabbi Hiyya told him �Your rival is in Babylon�. The Exilarch was then one named Rav Huna, and he was his subject. This was not the Rav Huna, the disciple of Rav mentioned in the Talmud, for he died during the lifetime of Rabbi and was buried in the land of Israel. He was of royal blood via Jehoiahin and Zerubbabel. They were Princes mentioned just by name alone, without the title �Prince�. Thus Shemaiah was a Prince, but called just by his name alone.

This was not said of these alone because they were proselytes. Shemaiah and Avtalion were the grandchildren of Sennacherib (see Gittin and Sanhedrin), but even Simeon the Righteous and Hillel were as Princes. They were presiding in the Chamber of Hewn Stone over seventy of the Sanhedrin, and there was no king to sit amongst them , like Moses for them, who was a King and a Prince, and they had a Prince instead. For in the Second Temple there was only Zerubbabel. In these times, the priests were kings unlawfully. In addition, Herod in the time of Hillel was unlawful , as he was a proselyte or a slave. They interpreted the verse �he must be from your own brothers�. Even more so should there be a descendant of David in the world.

Both Shemaiah and Avtalion were born of an Israelite mother, so they could judge. A Prince who waived his honor may do so, but the King may not waive his honor. These were surely righteous proselytes performing the deeds of Aaron, see Yoma. Since it is not my intention to be lengthy, for otherwise it would be a very large book, and it will be weighty to copy, I will not quote all the data concerning the sages, but rather one or two things to provide the required benefit.

They < Shemaiah and Avtalion> received in the year AM 3722, year 314 since the construction of the Temple. In their time there were Judah ben Dortai, who parted with the Sages, he and Dortai his son. They moved to the South in order to avoid pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He was of the opinion that the feast sacrifice takes precedence over Sabbath, as does the Passover sacrifice. He said, �I wonder why two great men of the generation, Shemaiah and Avtalion, who are great sages and great interpreters of the law, did not say to Israel that the feast sacrifice precedence over Sabbath�. In the Gemara, Rav Mari supported his < Judah ben Dortai> opinion, �sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God of sheep and cattle�. It annoyed Rav Ashi, and he said, �If you support the schismatic, we can also do a schism�. He meant that it is forbidden to support a schismatic opinion. In the commentary to the chapter Elu dvarim, our master Asher explained the words �support the schismatic� as �that is a schismatic explanation�.

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In their time, there was Akaviah ben Mehalalel. Rabbi Judah ben Ilai referred to him in the tractate Eduyoth: �The Temple court was never closed in the face of a man of Israel of such wisdom and fear of sin as Akaviah�. Since after the death of Shemaiah and Avtalion he spoke disrespectfully, it is possible he was excommunicated.

He did not intend to malign them when he said, �Similar drink�. There are two possible explanations. First, �they were proselytes similar to her�, but he wished to say that they did not give her bitter water, but a similar drink in order to frighten her. We know that this was after they died (see Berachoth, chapter Mishemetu), as it is written �who tells after the hearse of the scholars�. However, Aruch, in article Acher interprets it as �who tells misleading words� meaning �who misled people from the right path�. This is as R. Ishmael taught �should you see a scholar sin at night, do not think of it during the day�. Likewise, our master Asher interprets on Berachoth. However, our master Hananel interprets �Who maligns them after their death� and this is the true explanation.

In Sifrei, this story is told, and concluded, he who maligned an Elder after his death should be excommunicated. I also found in the article Dugma that he retracted, and explained it thus. In the Tosafoth, it is said: �when peace reigns in Israel�. That is to say after their death, as then there is no place for polemics, one does not malign dead. So it means �after their death�. Rashi explained the above as referring to one who emphasizes their negative points rather than positive to force the negative outcome . I, Abraham, received that whether the term is from the meaning �hearse� or misleading�, anyway it refers to �speaking of one after his death�. It is said, �the rod of the wicked will not rest�, meaning �the tongue�, as in the verse �he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth�. �On the destiny of the righteous� meaning �the destiny of the righteous after their death�, as it is said, �you will rise to your destiny at the end of days�. �Do good, o Lord, to those who are good, ... but the deceivers he will banish etc�

The son of Akaviah was also a sage, and his father instructed him to obey the sages and to heed their words, in his piousness (see Eduyoth).

Admon and Hanan ben Avishalom, great sages and civil judges in Jerusalem, were mentioned in the last chapter of Ketuboth. Rambam, of blessed memory, wrote, that R. Miasha was of their company, but it does not seem likely. In the tractate of Peah, Nahum the Scribe testified that he received from R. Miasha, and R. Miasha received from Abba who received from the pairs etc. It means, that R. Miasha was after Hillel and Shammai, who were among pairs, consequently, that he himself received from pairs like Hillel and Shammai who received from Shemaiah and Avtalion. If Rambam would be right, he would not have mentioned the last pairs. The words of truth are about to follow from the mouth of the sage. It is more likely that he came after Hillel. We see in chapter Kohen Gadol veNazir it is said that they received from the Prophets the tradition given to Moses at Sinai. They do not mention Joshua and the Elders, who are Caleb and his school, for there is no need to mention the intermediary ones, since it was from them that it was known.

This is not R. Miasha the Amora, the grandson of R. Judah ben Levi, the contemporary of Hillel�s sons. If Rambam has no other evidence from the Talmud, and I, myself, have not seen another one, but from the Mishna it seems that he was after Hillel. The words of Nahum the Scribe do not correspond to the time of Hillel (in Peah), but rather to the time of Rabban Gamliel the Elder, his grandson.

Shemaiah and Avtalion were the 28^th recipients .

In my opinion, the sons of Bethyrah were in the company of Shemaiah and Avtalion, as was Akaviah. Hillel came to be Prince after them. They appointed Hillel as the Prince and out of great humility relinquished the position. Rabbi said, although he himself was humble, he could never compare with the sons of Bethyrah, who gave the princedom to Hillel the Elder. It happened because Hillel knew that Passover sacrifice overrules Sabbath , see Pesahim, the chapter Elu Hadvorim. This rule escaped the recollection of the sons of Bethyrah, so they appointed him as Prince. After the Destruction they were with Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, when he ruled to blow the shofar on Sabbath in the court in Yavne, see Rosh Hashanah and the JT.

Within two seven-years� cycles there should be a Passover falling on Sabbath. Why had the ruling been forgotten, - just to magnify Hillel. Why does one observe respect in the earthly courts � just to minimize the division amongst Israel. Rashi comments on the first chapter of Taanioth, that R. Judah ben Bethyrah and R. Joshua his brother lived in the time of Hillel. This is odd, for it is written in chapter 4 Mithoth in the JT, that R. Joshua and R. Eliezer were the disciples of disciples of Hillel. They gave birth to the father of R. Judah ben Bethyrah.

R. Judah ben Bethyrah lived in Babylon, in Nisibis, at the time of the Temple, see the beginning of Pesahim. Rashbam, of blessed memory, explains why he was in Babylon. He did not make a pilgrimage for he was old and could not make the pilgrimage, and an old person is exempt. He lived for a long time, until the days of Rav and Samuel. He blessed Abba, father of Samuel, that he should have a wise son, see Midrash Samuel on the verse �and all Israel from Dan until Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord�. In Sabbath, chapters Rabbi Eliezer and Kol Basar it appears he lived in the time of Levi that to Rabbi Atariah in the name of R. Judah ben Bethyrah that he interpreted like Rabbi Jose the Galilean.

Hillel and Shammai received from them. At first, Hillel shared his position with Menahem, but Menahem left for the king�s service. He had eighty men dressed in gold, see Hagigah. It is mentioned in the book of Ben Gurion, that Menahem was a great sage, like a prophet. He made many prophecies, and he prophesied to Herod, when was still young, that would reign. After began to reign, he sent . told him that he would reign for over thirty years. He actually reigned for 36 years. enriched him.

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Indeed, Herod greatly respected Hillel the Elder, for they supported his rule. It is written there that Shammai was the disciple of Hillel. Maybe this was the case in the time of Menahem, but afterwards was a colleague of Hillel. Shammai the Elder also prophesied that Herod would be king. It happened when was judged by the Synedrion, and they overlooked that he killed a man. Then said that would reign, and would kill them . Herod did not raise his hand against Hillel and Shammai and Menahem and their factions, as he respected them.

Hillel was called �The Babylonian� because he was from Babylon, of high lineage, see chapter Asara Yohassin, where they spoke with Rabbi on lineage. He came from Babylon and there he studied Torah with Shemaiah and Avtalion. They also came to Jerusalem, see Yoma and Avoth deRabbi Nathan that he spoke Babylonian. He said four things in the Mishna. � magnifies his name will lose his name. doesn�t add will lose . doesn�t wish to teach shall be destroyed. uses will perish�. , he who uses the Ineffable Name has no place in the World to Come�. �Read and turn over and over� they say that it was Hillel who said this. They say so about �killed and are killed� as well, as he was Babylonian. Shemaiah and Avtalion were in Jerusalem when the High Priest came out of the Temple on the Day of Atonement.

Hillel learned Torah in great poverty, see in the chapter Omar Lahem Hamemune. His rich brother Shebna did not assist him, as did Azariah to his brother Simeon, see the end of Sotah. At the end of Netiv Sheni it is written that the brother of Hillel did not take his part, as he did not assist Hillel before he began his studies. This is despite that he did assist him after he studied. lived for 120 years. He was 40 years old when he came from Babylon, and he studied for forty years, and for forty years he led Israel. He was a very humble man, see Sabbath, and in chapter Yom Tov. Out of humility and for the sake of peace, he said the victim for the peace offering was female though it was male.

Shammai was a stringent man, and their disciples followed their masters� ways. This is why the law is in accordance with the opinion of Hillel school (see the first chapter of Eruvin, and in the first chapter of Berachoth in the JT), that the Divine Voice said in Yavne, �the ruling is in accordance with the School of Hillel�. Since then the School of Shammai�s opinion never prevailed but once (see chapter five in Terumoth).

Shammai and Hillel received in the year AM 3728, year 320 since the construction of the Temple. Until the time of Hillel, six hundred orders of the Mishna were read, from our master Moses, may he have peace, until the sons of Bethyrah. Hillel arranged six orders of Oral Law, so that the Torah would not be forgotten. This was at the beginning of the reign of Herod, the servant of the Hasmoneans. At that time, in the days of Hillel, Herod built the Temple of a beauty that exceeded that of Solomon. While it was built, there was no daytime rain, so the building work would not cease. In the commentary to the beginning of Sabbath , Hillel became the Prince one hundred years before the Destruction of the Temple. Simeon, his son, and Rabban Gamliel the Elder, his grandson, and Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel who was killed at the Destruction of the Second Temple, served as Princes in the Temple for one hundred years, that is to say for a hundred years while the Temple stood. Rashi explains there at length.

was a descendant of David, through Shephatiah son of Abital, see Ketuboth, chapter Hanose, on arranging marriage of R. Hiya�s daughter. She died while engaged to Rabbi�s son. In the chapter Bame Behema Rav says, �Rabbi is of David�s blood�. In the Tosafoth on the first chapter of Sanhedrin, it is written �the Exilarch in Babylon descended from King David through the male line, and the Prince in the land of Israel - through the female line�.

As we have said, Genesis Rabbah in the portion God remembered Noah states it was from his mother�s side, while his father was a Benjamite. Hillel greatly multiplied Torah in Israel, and Shammai was his colleague. They did not disagree, except for six cases, see the first chapter of Sabbath. Their followers created the disagreement between the Schools of Hillel and Shammai. They decreed many rules and decrees, see Gittin and elsewhere. In the chapter Hasholeah Get the Tosafoth wrote in the JT, that concerning eighteen cases of disagreement between the Schools of Shammai and Hillel, even Elijah could not settle the differences. The disciples of the School of Shammai were killing the disciples of the School of Hillel, and threatened their lives. Hillel had eighty disciples, I mean the outstanding ones, see Sukkah chapter Yashan and Bava Batra chapter Esh Nochlin.

The greatest of them all was Jonathan ben Uzziel, who translated the prophets, see Megillah, and there was no end to his wisdom. Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai the Priest, was the least of them, so one can imagine the rest. Jonathan ben Uzziel was so great, that even Shammai the Elder came to him (see there, chapter Esh Nohlin).

In Hillel�s days Bava ben Buta was a disciple of Shammai the Elder. In Gittin we find of his wisdom. He acquitted a woman who was accused of sexual misbehavior, and said that sperm does not coagulate in fire, while the white of an egg does coagulate. He was blinded by Herod, (see Batra), when killed the sages. He advised to build the temple as atonement for having extinguished the light of the sages. was afraid of them, as it is written, �you can�t etc� In Nedarim, R. Eliezer tells that he was a judge and a humble man. He made peace between a man and his wife, and the story is found there. Though he was a Shammai�s disciple, in semicha disagreement he sided with the School of Hillel, see the second chapter of Yom Tov, there it is made clear. In the last chapter of Keritoth in the Mishna we find that Bava ben Buta was a pious man, and would offer a guilt offering every day, but on the day following the Day of Atonement. This is called �the guilt offering of pious men�. As for sages whom Rambam, of blessed memory, places in the days of Hillel, we found them living later, in the time of the Schools of Shammai and Hillel the Elders. It was close to the time of the Destruction of the Temple in the days of Rabban Gamliel the Elder.

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Among them, there was Rabbi Johanan Hahoranith, whom the elders of the Schools of Shammai and of Hillel went to visit in the tabernacle booth. Sages of the Schools of Shammai and Hillel visited Hananiah ben Hezekiah ben Garon as well. It is written in chapter seven of tractate Semachoth, that he lost a scroll of Torah, which was bought for one hundred measures, and he prayed in the Temple, and it was found. His son was R. Eleazar ben Hananiah ben Hezekiah ben Garon, see in Sifrei in the portion of Ki Tetze. In the chamber of Hananiah ben Hezekiah ben Garon, many rulings were established. There the sages decreed 18 decrees, and not 24 as Rambam claims at the beginning of his commentary to the Mishna of Sabbath, for they forgot but 18 decrees.

From the explanation of Rashi and the Tosafoth it would appear that the 18 rules of contention between the Schools of Shammai and Hillel was over at that time. Indeed, what were these 18 rules of contention? As for plain meaning of the rules, it appears that Rambam, of blessed memory, was right. The first of them concerns defiled food of the first degree of impurity that defiles the tithe. However, I am not worthy to dispute it with such lions, for it is a deep legal matter, which allows for many explanations.

Anyway, in the chamber of Hananiah ben Hezekiah ben Garon the 18 decrees were established, see the first chapter of Sabbath. This pious man compiled Megillath Taanith for he was fond of miracles. It seems to me that he did not write all of it, as according to the first chapter of Rosh Hashanah, Yehora ben Shamua, a R. Meir�s disciple, succeeded to void the government discrimination measures, and this is in Megillah Taanith.

He also explained the contradictions of Ezekiel. brought up to his chamber three hundred oil lamps to illuminate his night so he would preach. He is of blessed memory, see the chapter Hatecheleth and the first chapter of Sabbath and the end of Megillath Taaanith, as the group of R. Eleazar ben Hananiah ben Hezekiah ben Garon wrote Megillath Taanith for they did not know troubles.

Also at that time lived Nehuniah ben Hakanah, a great sage and a pious man. This is the great Rabbi Nehuniah who lived for many years, see the chapter Bnei Hair and the chapter Tefilath Hashahar in the Mishna, that he used to pray while entering the House of Study. He is also mentioned in the tractate Avoth. He compiled the Book of Bahir on deep Qabbalah and the names of the Blessed Name. R. Ishmael ben Elisha, the High Priest, received from him the secret knowledge of the Qabbalah. Likewise R. Akiba, see in the Midrash.

R. Ishmael was very good-looking, and R. Joshua ransomed him out from Romans. He was one of the Ten martyrs, killed soon after the Destruction of the Temple. They skinned his face alive, since the daughter of the Caesar coveted his beauty and it is on the kings� head. In the beginning of Berachoth, we find that he saw The Divine Presence in the Temple and God said unto him �Ishmael, my son, bless me�.

At that time lived Abba Hilkiah, the grandson of Honi Hameagel. He was meek and retiring, the son of the daughter of Honi Hameagel, well versed in matter of miracles (see Taanioth).

Nahum the Scribe, as we have said it seems he lived a long time after Hillel. He (see Peah) received from R. Miasha. We have said that the sons of Bethyrah lived at the time of Shemaiah and at the time of Hillel. They lived for many years after the Destruction of the Temple until our holy master.

R. Pappias witnessed the Destruction of the Temple. In Eduyoth, he disagrees with Rabbi Joshua and R. Johanan ben Bag Bag. It means that he indeed was alive at that time. They were alive after the Destruction as well. Hillel and Shammai were the 29^th recipients .

Rabban Simeon, son of Hillel the Elder, and Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai the Priest received from Hillel and Shammai, and they are the 30^th recipients. Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai lived for 120 years. For there were three who lived for 120 years as did Moses our master, may he have peace, and they saw one another: Hillel, Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai and Rabbi Akiba. Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai was engaged for forty years in business, for forty years he studied, and for a further forty years he taught. He became the Prince at the end of his days, after the Destruction of the Temple, see the end of Rosh Hashanah. He established 9 rules. He was a Priest, see chapter Bame Madlikin. Thus, Rashi explains there. Thus, in Sifrei, he said, �atonement! For what my hands have served, I have now forgotten�. He witnessed four Princes, and these are Hillel, from whom he received , Rabbi Gamliel the Elder, grandson, (in whose day the Torah was learned while standing up), and Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel, who was killed during the Destruction.

At that time lived Rabbi Haninah ben Dosa, the pious man, well-versed in miracles, for whom the Divine Voice said, �All the world is nourished because of Haninah, my son, but for my son Haninah, one measure of carobs is sufficient from one Sabbath to the next�. In the chapter Aravei Pesahim the Heaven proclaim, �be careful with my son Haninah�, regarding Igereth bath Mahlat.

Chapter 3 of Taanioth tells of his goats, which brought a bear in their horns. If he was poor, how come he had goats? Rashi explains that he found a lost hen, and the owners did not claim it, and from its chicks, he purchased the goats. He learned Torah from Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, see chapter Ein Omdin.

It was in the time of Rabban Gamliel (see Berachoth). Rabban Gamliel the Elder was the 31^st recipient . R. Simeon ben Gamliel, his son, was the 32^nd recipient . Since this same Rabbi Simeon ben Gamliel was killed, his son Rabban Gamliel (the one who argued with R. Eliezer and R. Joshua) was not yet worthy to be a Prince. R. Johanan ben Zakkai saved him from the Caesar Vespasian, and then R. Johanan ben Zakkai became the Prince at the time of the Destruction, for he found favor in the eyes of the king, see chapter Nezikin and Avoth deRabbi Nathan. He was the Prince at the end of his days, for at least two years, as Rashi explains at the end of Rosh Hashanah.

In the days of Hillel and R. Johanan ben Zakkai there were two High Priests: Hanamel the Egyptian and Ishmael ben Pavi, a very pious man, each of whom sacrificed a heifer. Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai the Priest was a very old man, but he was the head of the Sanhedrin. Though our master Hananel wrote, �on the day they appointed R. Eleazar ben Azariah, why did they not appoint Rabbi Eliezer? For he was a very old man�.

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That is why Rambam, of blessed memory, concluded (in his commentary to Judges, chapter two), one does not appoint to the Sanhedrin an extremely old man. We learn in another chapter in Dinei Memonoth , one does not appoint to the Sanhedrin an old man, a eunuch, or a man without sons.

When he died, he blessed his disciples that they should fear heaven as they fear flesh and blood . Then he saw the pious King of Judah, Hezekiah, who came to escort him, see chapter Tefilath Hashahar. Rambam says that a sage who was not sufficiently highly thought of in the eyes of Rabbi to be called just by name without any title, was called �Rabban�. However, we did not find a Rabban, but a Prince. One is referred to Aruch where the truth may be found, at length, with the help of the Lord, at the end of the alphabetical list of Tanna teachers and on Abaye, as to why the titles Rabbi, Rabban, and Rav were used. The general rule is that the title �Rabban� used for Princes � Rabban Gamliel the Elder, Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel etc. and likewise all until Rabban Gamliel the son of Rabbi.

there was a doubt as to whether Rabbi Simeon bar Rabbi would be Prince, since he was a greater scholar that Rabban Gamliel, his older brother, see Ketuboth. to avoid the occurrence of what happened with Simeon the Righteous who transferred the High Priesthood to his younger son, Honio, and what happened indeed happened. Rabbi wished that Rabban Gamliel would be Prince. That is why it was necessary to call him �Rabban�, as a Prince, prior to his appointment, and to mention him among the Sages of the Mishna in the second chapter of Avoth. It would make it clear to the sages that he was destined to be Prince, equal to Rabbi in fear of sin, fit to take his place.

Since Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai was Prince in place of Rabban Gamliel, he too was called �Rabban�. While being Prince, Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai was at Yavne, see the end of Rosh Hashanah. Though Avoth deRabbi Nathan says that his disciples went to Yavne, but he went to Damsit, a spa. They advanced in Torah and he did not, but this was before his Princedom.

It seems that even in the time of the Temple, Rabban Gamliel the Elder, the grandson of Hillel, stayed at Yavne, though he was in Jerusalem , for the Sanhedrin was exiled forty years before the Destruction of the Temple. from the time that the doors of the Sanctuary opened by themselves, and Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai admonished them. He said, �Thus Zechariah prophesied about you, �Open your doors, Lebanon� etc�.

As murderers multiplied, and they did not want to judge in matters of life and death, they were exiled from place to place, until they reached Yavne.

There Samuel the Less proclaimed the Anathema to Heretics. It was done in presence of Rabban Gamliel the Elder, not Rabban Gamliel who was the Prince after Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai. This is indeed so since Samuel the Less died before the Destruction of the Temple, and also before Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai became Prince, as at his deathbed he predicted the killing of Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel and Rabbi Ishmael. Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel was killed in the Destruction, and then Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai became Prince, see Gittin.

This deed of Samuel the Less is brought to us in the first chapter of Sanhedrin. At the end of Sotah, and in chapter four of Semachoth, we learn that he did not have a son. Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel and Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah eulogized him. He prophesied in Aramaic at the time of his death. They put his key and his notebook in his coffin, for he had no son.

in the same tractate, in chapter five, when Rabban Gamliel the Elder came in to declare the year a leap year, Samuel the Less stood up and said �It was I who came without invitation�. Rabban Gamliel said to him, �Sit down, my son, sit down. What do you have to do with Eldad and Medad? All Israel knows would there be two, not seven, you would be one of them�.

Then, in the days of Rabban Gamliel the Elder, Sanhedrin says that Rabban Gamliel said �Sit down, my son, sit down. All years deserve to be declared leap years by you�. He did not enter without invitation, he claimed this out of modesty. Rashi explains in Avoth that he was called �the Less� in comparison with Samuel the Prophet. [I, Samuel Sholem, found this in Sotah JT.] It seems �the Less� for he was small in his own eyes, and meek, and pious, a true disciple of Hillel in his manners. Likewise Hillel was called �a disciple of Ezra�, though he was not literally his disciple as three hundred years separated them.

It seems that even when the Great Court was functioning in Jerusalem, there was the Court in Yavne, see chapter Elu hen hanechnakin in Sanhedrin.

Rabbi Gamliel II, who was saved from the hands of the Emperor, became the Prince immediately after Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, also at Yavne, see chapter 4 of Rosh Hashanah. He disagreed with R. Joshua and the great Rabbi Eliezer, his brother-in-law (he was married to Imma Shalom, the sister of Rabban Gamliel), and he was the grandfather of Rabbi.

Rashi says that Rabban Gamliel the Elder was in Usha and returned to Yavne, and this is plausible. However, what he says (in commentary to the last chapter of Rosh Hashanah) that his son Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel returned to Usha, that�s wrong. For the above-mentioned Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel, who was at Usha, is the father of Rabbi. That is clear as he conversed with R. Ishmael, son of R. Johanan ben Barokah, with R. Haninah, son of R. Jose the Galilean, and they were after R. Akiba and Rabbi Johanan ben Nuri. R. Johanan ben Nuri disagreed with Rabban Gamliel, his father, on the matter of the new moon.

This is not Rabban Gamliel the Elder, for he also disagreed with Rabbi Joshua. It means they were in Yavne prior to the Destruction of the Temple, from the days of Rabban Gamliel the Elder, and Rabbi Simeon ben Gamliel, his son, who was killed. Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai requested Yavne, and to preserve lives of its sages, see chapter Hanezikin, it means that prior to the Destruction of the Temple he was there in Yavne. So, Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai and R. Gamliel of Yavne, who argued with R. Joshua, were there, but Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel, his son, the father of Rabbi, was in Usha and in Shefaram. Rabbi stayed with the seventy of the Sanhedrin in Beth Shearim and in Tiberias and in Zippori. Tiberias was the deepest: that was the tenth exile of Sanhedrin.

Three were called �Rabban Gamliel�. the grandson of Hillel, and he is the only one called �Rabban Gamliel the Elder� in every reference. The second was Rabban Gamliel, grandson of Rabban Gamliel the Elder, who disagreed with R. Joshua. The third Rabban Gamliel was the son of Rabbi Judah the Prince.

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Likewise, three were called �Rabban Simeon�: the first was the son of Hillel. The second was Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel, his grandson, who was killed, see first chapter of Sabbath. The third was Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel the Meek, the father of Rabbi, who is mentioned in the chapter Hasocher in BM. Should you wish for a fourth, he would be the younger son of Rabbi, who was called Rabbi Simeon the Prince. He was mentioned as doubtful at the end of the first chapter of Gittin, if he was indeed a Prince.

Now the order of lineage of our Holy Master became clear in order to remove mistakes from the commentary on Mishna and from the book of Mada. Rabbi is the seventh in line from Hillel, and he is as sacred as the Sabbath, and as Moses our Master, may he have peace, the seventh from Abraham our Father. Rabban Gamliel, his grandfather, was the 33d recipient . R. Simeon ben Gamliel was the 34^th recipient, and he was the father of Rabbi. Our Holy Master, that is R. Judah the Prince, was a descendant of Judah son of Jacob, of royal blood via son of Shephatiah son of Abital, wife of David, the 35^th recipient.

All this is lineage of Hillel, but Rambam, of blessed memory, skipped Rabban Gamliel of Yavne and Rabbi Simeon ben Gamliel, his father. Maybe they received only from Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai. Then the correct order would be that Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai was the 30^th recipient, R. Eliezer and R. Joshua the 31^st, R. Akiba the 32d. Thus, R. Meir and R. Simeon and R. Judah and R. Simeon ben Gamliel, the father of Rabbi were the 33d. Our Holy Master, pure and perfect, was then the 34^th

Let us return to Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai. His court surely was there before the Destruction, see Sanhedrin, and in Tosephta, chapter two of Maaser Rishon. We shall be brief and refer just to his lineage, as his wisdom is renown. In the chapter Osin Pasin Rashi explains the words �by Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai� as �Baraitha by his School�, similar to �Tosefta by Rabbi Hiya�. He is called Ben Zakkai in the chapter Bame Madlikin and in the fifth chapter of Sanhedrin. In the time of his teacher Hillel, he was called �Ben Zakkai�, and he ruled in his presence, and his rulings were accepted as his own. Thus, he ruled on various issues prior to the forty years when he led Israel, see Rosh Hashanah and Sukkah. We see in the Talmud in Rosh Hashanah, that the bigger part of the forty years of his leadership passed while the Temple still stood. He led Israel later as well, in the time of Rabban Gamliel the Elder and Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel, his son, who was killed in the Destruction.

Alternatively, he was the Head of Court, while the others were Princes. For at least two years after the Destruction, he was the Prince. That is Rashi�s conclusion (in the end of Rosh Hashanah), as he established statutes after the Destruction, but not for long, as far as I have seen. In the Tosafoth in the chapter Bame Behema, we find that Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai reigned for two years after the Destruction, and Rabban Gamliel for three years after him, and then Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah reigned together with him.

In chapter five of Halachoth derech erez there is a story regarding Simeon ben Antiparis. He had guests, and he decreed that they should eat. They swore but faked. On their departure, he lashed them. This was brought to the attention of Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, and he said �Who will go to him?� and R. Joshua said �I will go� etc. He ate with him, and said to him when he left, �Why do you flog others, and you did not flog me?� He replied, �Rabbi, you are a great sage, and you blessed in good manners. I have decreed upon people who come to me to eat and drink and they swore on the Torah and faked. I have the tradition that one, who takes an oath on the Torah and fails, receives forty lashes etc.�.

This same Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai was called �the fund of the peddlers�, and he had a very wise son called Rabbi Judah ben Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai. In the chapter Kol Hayad he disagreed with R. Akiba. Maybe this is R. Judah the Priest who testified together with R. Judah ben Abba (chapter 8 of Eduyoth), but this does not seem likely, since a son of a Prince in Israel would be called by the patronymic as well. In Avoth deRabbi Nathan we find that his son died, and his five disciples came to comfort him, but he was not appeased but by R. Eleazar ben Arach, as his son was very wise and sinless, and he was redeemed in due course.

At the end of Sifrei , four men lived 120 years. Moses was in Egypt and in Midian for 80 years, and ruled for 40 years. Hillel the Elder came to Israel from Babylon at the age of 40, served the sages for 40 years and led Israel for 40 years. Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai was engaged in business for 40 years, served for 40 years and led Israel for 40 years. Likewise, (Sanhedrin, chapter Hayu Bodkin) R. Akiba studied for 40 years, and served for 40 years, and he led Israel for 40 years.

As for R. Akiba, the Talmud differs, he went to study Torah after he was married on the advice of his wife, see Nedarim. It is said (Tosafoth, chapter Shoel in Sabbath), that he was 40 years old when he took it upon himself to study Torah, and he did not marry his wife until he was 64. However, it is said (end of Sifrei) that for 40 years he served the sages, and for 40 years he led Israel. In the Avoth deRabbi Nathan, in Mishna of Joseph ben Joezer the whole story is explicated. It says he was 40 years old when he began to study. In the chapter Elu Ovrin , �when I was an ignorant native�. In the Midrash, it is said that he was 40 years old when he went to study, and he was ashamed of it. It seems that he studied and served at the same time. It is said (Tosafoth, Ketuboth, chapter Naara) that before his studies he had been an excellent and humble man.

He said (chapter Elu Ovrin) �when I was an ignorant native, I would say �get me a scholar of law, and I would bite him like a donkey�. It�s not that he hated scholars, but considered them arrogant and full of hate towards natives. They considered the natives untouchable, as is said, �clothes of natives are as a stepping stone for Pharisees�. Anyway, he observed the commandments. Likewise wrote our master Tam.

I have found (chapter Al af pi) that Kalba Savua said, �as he was a humble and excellent man, I betrothed to him�. Resh Lakish that he was a wise scholar from the beginning.

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Now I intend, with God�s help, to list the Sages of Mishna to the best of my ability, for I only had access to the four orders of the Babylonian Talmud, that is to say the order of Moed but for Shekalim. It seems (Tosafoth, beginning of Hulin), that Talmud refers to Rabbi Phinehas ben Jair. However, I do have the Shekalim from the JT, and the orders of Yeshuot, Nashim, Kidushin, and Berachoth of the order of Zeraim. It is known that Eduyoth and Avoth in the order of Yeshuoth have no corresponding Gemara. As for the order of Taharoth, there is no Gemara but in the Niddah. No Gemara is found for the Middoth and Kinnim from the order of Kedoshim. However, the JT, which would reveal more of the sages� lineage, and Midrash Rabbah, Mehilta and Tosefta are not available to me now in Tunis.

I have Safra, the laws of the Priests from Leviticus, and Sifrei, which are the other books of Rav, which are Numbers and Deuteronomy, hence it is called Sifrei in plural. I have also the book Ilamedenu, and the order of Nezikin from the JT, and the Mehilta of Rabbi Ishmael, and the four orders of the Tosefta. I have Leviticus Rabbah and all the Mishna as well.

However, first I have to cut down the ten chapters, which are at the end of the Key to Mishna, as I find Rav�s reading obscure. Apparently, Rav, of blessed memory, thought that those coming after him would believe him and would not check his sources. Sometimes, the small candle is better to search for cracks and crevices than the great light and the torch, as our sages, of blessed memory, used to say. My forefathers left me space to fence myself within, and maybe another will come and will search more than myself, and he shall receive reward, for all is the labor of heaven.

In the first chapter, he lists 91 sages, and I shall elucidate, with God�s help. After this, in the second chapter, he lists 37 sages referring to a story that was in their time, or to a rule they established, or to a verse they explicated, but it was not a basis for any prohibiting or permitting ruling. In the tenth chapter, he mentions the number of 37 sages, who ruled on the Law, but their names weren�t mentioned. Be aware that these last 37 are included in the 91 that were mentioned in the first chapter, and there remain another fifty-four. It is a clear case, though Rav didn�t say so, but he said only that there were altogether 128. I found additional eighteen sages, and these are: 1. R. Menahem (chapter four of Yoma). 2. Joezer of Bira (chapter two of Orlah). 3. Mattathias ben Samuel (chapter three of Yoma), and he took care of settling differences among the 15 pious men (chapter five of Shekalim). 4. Abba Eleazar ben Dolai (chapter two of Mikvaoth). 5. Abba Jose ben Hanan (second chapter of Memadot). 6. R. Halafta from Zippori, the friend of R. Haninah ben Teradion, father of R. Jose (who is mentioned just by name in chapter two of Taanioth). This is not Rabbi Halafta from the village Kfar Hananiah, for the Gemara states that he was from Zippori. 7. Elah, the expert sage of Yavne (chapter four of Bechoroth). 8. Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel, son of Rabban Gamliel the Elder, (first chapter of Avoth). It is said �Simeon, his son etc�, but it seems that the sage mentioned after him is Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel, father of Rabbi, and he said �his son� for he was in his youth when he said it. 9. R. Eliezer ben Pila (chapter seven of Tehorot) who quotes R. Akiba. 10. R. Eleazar ben Matthias (chapter ten of Yevamoth). 11. R. Johanan ben Matthias (chapter Hasocher, BM). 12. R. Joshua (chapter two of Eduyoth). All these three sons of Matthias were forgotten as if dead by Rambam, of blessed memory. It seems they were sons of R. Matthias ben Heresh, whose court and study-house were in Rome. R. Simeon ben Yohai found him there. However, (chapter eight of Sotah, in the Tosephta) Abba Halafta and Eleazar ben Matthias and Hananiah ben Hachinai stood upon Joshua�s stones. It means he was prior to R. Matthias ben Heresh. Alternatively, R. Matthias was an extremely old man, and Hananiah was �The Man from Ono� mentioned in chapter six of Gittin. Rav mentions him in chapter 6, among the five who were judging before the sages (they were ben Azzai, and ben Zoma, and ben Nanas, and Hanan), but Rav did not list him among 128. If you like, Abtolos (chapter three of Eruvin) will come in his place. 13. R. Judah the Priest (chapter eight in Eduyoth). 14. R. Yishbab, the friend of R. Akiba (chapter 2 of Hulin). 15. R. Hananiah ben Akabiah (first chapter of Ketuboth and the beginning of Arachin). 16. Abba Jose Heli Kopri of Tivin (chapter one of Machshirin). 17-18. Two sages who interpreted verses were R. Simeon Berebbi and R. Hananiah ben Akashiah (the end of Makkoth).

So add 15 to 91 and you get 102 <=a good measure> plus 4. Or, another explanation and sign � it is 106, the numerical value of letters in �Nun�, of those who taught wisdom. Add 2 plus 37 who did not establish a ruling and they will be 39, the numerical value of �dew� as in �blessing of dew�. Should we add to them also Elisha ben Abuya, (even though Rav said that he should not be counted with the others considering what is known of him), they will number 40, like the number of days when the Torah was given. Otherwise include Elah the sage of Yavne, and they will number 146 sages, as in the verse �and the old men rose <=146> to their feet�.

As for myself, I am ready to accept him since our holy master, of whose knowledge and qualities we learn mentioned him among the patriarchs of the world. It is said in the Midrash Rabbah of Ruth, �the bookcase is saved together with the book�, and �son provides merit for his father, and a disciple provides merit for his master�. His disciple was R. Meir, The Great Light of Mishna, and he saved him for the life of the world to come.

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They punished him, and the smoke would rise from his grave as atonement for him, for he studied much Torah and taught. In the JT, fire descended from the heavens and burnt his grave. It is not fitting that his disciple should be in Paradise, and he in Hell, see the end of Yoma. We learned that at first Elijah said that the court of heaven would not accept a ruling attributed to R. Meir, since he learned from him , until the sage said to Elijah, �He found a pomegranate, he ate the inside of it and threw away the peel�. Immediately the court of heaven began to quote the rulings attributed to R. Meir.

So the Merciful One, since the pomegranate juice was together with the peel, they judged him in the heavenly court, and let him enter into the light of life. We know he regained R. Jacob the Tanna (chapter four of Negaim), of Baraitha, and of Avoth, I mean R. Jacob the Tanna. (I mean R. Jacob of the chapter Ben Zoma who said �this world is like a corridor etc�. and also see the second chapter etc.) He revealed to us more regarding the mysteries of the World to Come, than all the sages. See also at the end of Hulin, and in the first chapter of Kidushin, on the verse �so that you may live long�.

This is Elisha, known to be one of �the four entered the Paradise� with R. Akiba and Ben Azzai and Ben Zoma. He lived a long life, and he was called Acher, �Another�, because of the incident with a woman (she said �It is another one�). I think that R. Simeon ben Gamliel, father of Rabbi, ruled to punish (see Horayoth deRabbi Nathan), so that his name should not be mentioned. He ruled to say �there are those who say�. R. Meir<�s name> �others say�, since R. Meir had three teachers, R. Akiba and R. Ishmael and Elisha Another. His attitude was of jealousy and disdain towards his another teacher, whom he called �Another�.

Our master Shimshon wrote that when he quoted opinions of Elisha, his teacher, who was called Another, they would refer to it as �others say�. As for Elisha�s father, Abuya, he was a very wealthy man at the time of the Temple, and for the feast celebrating his circumcision, he invited Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai and his disciples, and Nakdimon ben Gurion and Zizit Hakesset and Kalba Savua. After they had eaten, Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai and his disciples went to a chamber, and they studied and expounded it until the fire was scalding around the house, as at the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. Abuya, his father, was most astonished that so great was the glory of the Torah, that he swore an oath that his son would be dedicated to Torah study, but since this was not for pure motives (for the sake of heaven), his Torah learning did not endure. This is like the words of R. Akiba, �the end of a matter is good, if it is good from its inception�.

The full explanation is found in the Midrash of Ruth. R. Meir swore to bring him to the eternal life. He said �As surely as the Lord lives,� and he said �stay here for the night�, as this sorrow is similar to night, if he will redeem you, good, (meaning the Holy One Blessed be He), for God is good and redeeming, and if not, I will redeem you as surely as Lord lives. Lie down until the morning, which is the World to Come, which is the light�.

You already know from the first chapter of Hagigah, about the encounter of Rabbi with the daughter of Elisha who told him: �Remember his learning and do not remember his deeds�, and that fire descended from heaven and surrounded Rabbi etc. R. Johanan said, �What praise is there to Rabbi Meir, that he burned his teacher, unless he will be brought to the World to Come without judgement�. R. Johanan did it, and they brought him to the World to Come without any judgement or punishment. The book Qabbalath Hahassid explained the words of R. Meir �I shall cause smoke to rise from his grave�. For as long as there burns a fire, there will be no smoke, and when they poured water to extinguish it the smoke rises and the fire is extinguished etc.

The most important thing is that this man never led his disciples astray, but taught them Torah even after he himself had turned to bad ways. He wanted to bring them to righteousness, as he said to Rabbi Meir, �until here is the permitted distance of the Sabbath walk�. He did not fully repent, since he was confused by the Divine voice which he heard saying, �Return, wayward sons, except for Elisha who saw My glory, and yet rebelled�. He thought they would not accept his repentance, so he brought others to righteousness and provided them with merit.

Rav said in chapter ten, there are 37 who were quoted concerning one ruling and were not mentioned again. I found eleven (or at least 10) of them who were mentioned regarding at least one other law. These are: 1. Simeon the Yemenite in chapter one of Yadaim and in the third chapter of Taanioth, and he said, in chapter 4 of Yevamoth. 2. R. Eliezer ben Judah, of Bartuta, in chapter three of Tvol Yom, and he said, only in chapter one of Orlah, where Rabbi Simeon ben Gamliel quotes in his name. In addition, there is R. Eliezer ben Judah at the beginning of Zavin. It would seem that he was indeed the man from Bartuta, and if he is another, the Rabbi did not mention him, and he has at least two rulings attributed to him. 3. R. Eleazar bar Simeon in chapter twelve of Negaim. He mentioned only reference in chapter four of Temurah. 4. Nahum the Mede, in the fifth chapter of Nazir, and in the chapter Hamoher et hasfina in Bava Batra, and he mentioned only a reference in the second chapter of Sabbath. 5. R. Simeon ben Judah in the third chapter of Maaser Sheni and in the third chapter of Makkoth and in chapter fourteen of Negaim, while he, of blessed memory, mentions only the reference in the first chapter of Shevuoth. 6. R. Eleazar Hisma in the chapter Hasoher BM and in chapter seven of Negaim, and in chapter thirteen of Negaim, and he only mentioned the reference in chapter three of Terumoth. 7. Rabbi Simeon b. HaSgan, (son of the prefect ) in chapter eleven of Menachoth, and at the end of tractate Shekalim and he only mentions the reference in Ketuboth, in chapter three. 8. R. Jose ben Meshullam in chapter three of Bechoroth, and in the sixth chapter of Bechoroth, and he only mentioned the reference in the chapter 4 of Terumoth. 9. Jose ben Joezer in chapter 8 in Eduyoth gives three rulings, but he mentions only the reference in the second chapter of Hagigah. In jest, I say that he ate joezer (in Rashi�s commentary, Filiot in the foreign tongue). 10. Simeon, the brother of Azariah in chapter one of Tehoroth, and he only mentions the reference in chapter one of Zevachim. 11. Nehemiah, of Bet Deli, in chapter 8 of Eduyoth, and he only mentions the reference at the end of Yevamoth: this one is not so hard to understand, as though there are two references, it is, in fact, only one ruling.

However, should we deduct these 11 from the 37 there remain 26, but instead of those which we deducted, we have in their place other sages, who said just one rule each and whom Rav did not mention. The first ones numbered 106, and the sign is �ben nun� (numerical value of letters �n� �u� �n� sum to 106) which means �binah� (wisdom). Those who determined the law amount to forty one from the total one hundred and six scholars, and this leaves sixty-five scholars who said more than one law � the same numerical value as �the Temple of the Lord�. Forty who did not determine any law � like the number of recipients from Moses until Rav Ashi, raise the total to one hundred and forty six, and the sign as in the verse �and the old men rose <=146> to their feet�.

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Of the ninety-one which he mentioned in the first chapter, they are ninety, and the one is Symmachus, the disciple of Rabbi Meir, who thought to study before Rabbi Judah (see second chapter of Kidushin and in chapter Kohen Gadol veNazir), after R. Meir died, as he wrote in the fifth chapter.

In the chapter 3 he mentions the priests, and it is worthwhile that they should be mentioned separately, as he said, for the rules were returned to Simeon the Righteous to keep, as it is said �he teaches your precepts to Jacob�.

Afterwards, it was right to mention the Levites, like R. Joshua ben Hananiah, who was the Head of the Court. Thus it is said in the second chapter of Yoma, that there shouldn�t be teachers but from the tribe of Levi, as it is said about them �he teaches your precepts�, or from the children of Issachar, as it is written �the children of Issachar know the wisdom of time.

He challenges there �how about Judah?� as is written � my lawmaker�? Maybe it is not referring to the judgement of Halachic Law? But what about David ? �the Lord is with him�, and the law is in accordance with him everywhere. As for Judah, �with his own hands he defends� the Halachic Law, as Moses said while he prayed for his restless bones.

Maybe it is the question of providence, as with Hillel and all his descendants, the Princes, and R. Hiya and his sons, and Rav, or they said so generally. Rambam, of blessed memory, is of the opinion that the priests are the most important , as the verse concludes �he offers incense before you� and he said, �go to the priests who are Levites�.

Ezra belonged to the Great Assembly, he was its leader. He established and left it in the hands of Simeon the Righteous . It is said that it was forgotten in Israel and Ezra came up from Babylon and established what the Prophets and the Elders forgot.

It is said of Hillel the Babylonian, and Rabbi Hiya and his sons, that they were descendants of Shimei, the brother of David. Maybe there were no priests at their time of greater stature than they were? After the Destruction of the Second Temple, when we came to this long exile, it happened that the tradition of Hillel, who lived 100 years before the Destruction, remained only in the hands of Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai the Priest, his disciple. His disciples and disciples of their disciples preserved the Law in Israel.

As for Amora teachers, Rambam, of blessed memory, wrote in his books, that God (the Holy One, Blessed be He) did thus to lead Israel on the path of righteousness, that Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai lived for a long time. It is known that R. Eleazar ben Azariah was a priest, (see chapter Tefilath Hashahar), he was tenth in line from Ezra. Simeon, the brother of Azariah, his uncle, but called �his brother�, for he was very rich and he supported Azariah while he studied, and they shared and joined in the life of the World to Come (see chapter Haya Notel in Sotah).

Boethus ben Zonen, at the time of R. Eleazar ben Azariah (in chapter 3 of Sofrim, at the end of Pesahim in the Tosephta of Rabban Gamliel), the Elders were in his house. R. Eleazar ben Shamua, who lived for a long time, he was the teacher of Rabbi and disciple of R. Akiba (see chapter 6 of Yevamoth, and chapter veilu neemarin, and the chapter Bne hair). He would bless before he blessed Israel , and Rabbi called him �the best of the scholars�. R. Haninah was a High priest, he saw the fire (in the Second Temple on the altar) crouched like a dog, while in the First Temple it was like a lion. He says in Sifrei that the fire that descended at the time of Moses was alive on the brass altar until the fire descended at the time of Solomon, when he built the Temple, and then the fire of Moses departed. The fire of Solomon departed at the time of Manasseh, but some of it remained, for Joseph ben Gurion says that Jeremiah hid it and the Men of the Great Assembly found it.

R. Simeon ben HaSgan (the son of prefect) was his son. Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel quoted laws in his name. Ishmael ben Pavi was a pious man, he served as a High Priest for ten years. [I have found in the great Joseph ben Gurion that Ishmael ben Pavi served for one year only]. He was the last to sacrifice a heifer. A Divine voice called him in the inner court of the Temple: Come in, Ishmael, the disciple of Phinehas. With his death the splendor of the priests was gone (see at the end of the chapter Makom shenohagu and elsewhere). Johanan was a High Priest. He is mentioned on Hanukkah, the father of Mattathias, the first of the Hasmoneans, and he established statutes in Israel (see the end of Sotah, and this chapter above).

Joseph ben Joezer (chapter two of Hagigah) was the most pious priest. R. Jose the Priest, the disciple of Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, called him �my pious master�.

Rabbi Tarphon the rich priest: R. Akiba respected him, and Rabbi Tarphon loved him as himself. In the chapter Hakotev, a doubt was expressed whether he was a teacher of R. Akiba, or a colleague. Our master Asher determined that he was a colleague, though in Sifrei he was called �his teacher�. He said once to R. Akiba, his disciple, �to part from you is like to part from life�. He is �a heap of nuts�.. In the Tosephta of Ketuboth, chapter eight, we find that in a year of drought he betrothed three hundred women in order to feed them with tithes, since he was a priest � and his mother was a priestess, see Middoth. In the chapter Asara Yohassin, Rashi explains that he was a priest and his mother was a priestess, and he went up after his mother to the podium to bless by the priests� blessing. In the Mishna he used to swear �I�d cut my son off� as an oath, and he was not survived by a son, but just by a daughter, see the chapter Hasoher Poalim.

Rabbi taught his daughter, and he gave him her hand, but it is not certain whether or not he married her. However, in the chapter Shebuoth Hadayanim a tanna R. Simeon bar R. Tarphon is mentioned. He ruled (chapter Kol Hanishbain) four rulings, but maybe this was in his father�s lifetime.

R. Tarphon used to return the redemption money for the firstborn, which he received as a priest.

In Sifrei, R. Judah says, �on Sabbath I went after Rabbi Tarphon to his house. He told me �Judah, my son, bring me my sandals�, and I brought him it. He stretched his hand out to the cupboard, took a stick, and gave me. He told me, �Judah, my son, with this I purified three lepers, and I learned seven laws. It is from cedar broth, there is a leaf on its head, and its length is a cubit. Its thickness is a quarter of a staff, the staff is divided by two and by four. One dips and sprays with it once and twice and thrice and purifies at the Temple, and not at the Temple, and purifies elsewhere�.

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It means that he was a priest, and that he was the High Priest after the Destruction of the Temple. In the sixth chapter of tractate Semachoth, we find that he lived at the time of death of R. Simeon ben Jehozadak, the teacher of R. Johanan. This is remarkable - that he should have lived for over two hundred years. We find in the first chapter of Bechoroth that Rabbi brought to him a firstborn donkey. Maybe this was Rabban Gamliel, who was also called Rabbi. All his life he regretted that he �Alas, Tarphon� . Thus he was saved from death by using of the crown of the Torah (see Kallah and Nedarim chapter mashehukpelu hamikzooth)

He also gave alms with help of R. Akiba who supported the poor, and (see Kallah) on one day he gave four thousand gold dinars for charity. (In the first chapter of Yevamoth) Rashi comments that R. Tarphon was a disciple of the Shammai School. It also seems (first chapter of Berachoth) that he tended to recite the Shema prayer according to the custom of the Shammai School.

Elioeini ben Hekeph and Hanamel the Egyptian were High Priests, and they sacrificed a heifer each before Ishmael ben Pavi (see chapter 3 in Parah). Rav did not mention Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha the High Priest and R. Eleazar ben Harsum, though they were great sages. Doroth Olam mentions them among The Sages of the Generations in chapter four. It would appear that he listed only the sages mentioned in the Mishna. He listed all the sages of the Mishna, and he did not mention them for this reason.

This R. Ishmael ben Elisha, as we have already said, received from Rabbi Nehuniah ben Hakanah. He saw the Holy Presence when he offered up incense (first chapter in Berachoth) , and He said �Ishmael, My son, bless Me�. He was one of the Ten martyrs, and his scalp was placed at the head of kings. However, it would seem that he was not killed on the day of the Destruction , with Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel, the Prince of Israel, in contrast to the Dorot Olam who said this, for in the Talmud it would appear that he survived the Destruction. (at the end of chapter Hazakath Bathim) R. Ishmael ben Elisha said �Since the Destruction of the Temple one should not eat meat and drink wine etc�. In addition, (in the chapter Yezioth HaSabbath) we find that he read and turned and said, �When the Temple will be rebuilt, I will bring a sin offering�. There he also says �I, Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha, consider myself a simple man in matters of Torah�.

But in the chapter Mizvoth Halizah (page 104a) the Tosafoth say that there were two sages of the same name, an old man and his grandson, and the one who lived after the Destruction was his grandson, who was much later than R. Akiba. He hated greed and exploitation (see Ketuboth, in the chapter Hanose), and when the man brought him the first fleeces, he refused to try his case � it would seem that he was a judge in Israel. However, the doubt remains concerning the three sages mentioned in the Mishna, who apparently were priests, but Rav did not recall them.

One was R. Ishmael, the friend of R. Akiba and of R. Eleazar ben Azariah, and he was a teacher of R. Meir. This is despite Rambam�s claim (in chapter two of Eduyoth), that R. Ishmael was a disciple of Rabbi Akiba (likewise in Mada). There he determined that the ruling was in accordance with R. Ishmael�s opinion. As for the ruling he was right, for (in the first chapter of Sabbath) R. Haninah ruled as Rabbi Ishmael. Although the ruling is in accordance with R. Akiba�s opinion, his colleague, R. Haninah ruled as R. Ishmael so that we should not think that the ruling is in accordance with R. Akiba. I doubt he was his disciple, and I shall expand on it.

(In the end of Moed Katan) when the sons of Rabbi Ishmael died, four elders came to console him � R. Tarphon and R. Eleazar ben Azariah and R. Jose the Galilean and R. Akiba. He said to them �I have twice troubled my teachers�, but this is only a polite speech, for they said at first that he was a very wise sage and well versed in Hagadda, and he would not interrupt the words of another. Had he been his disciple, it would not be fitting to show him such respect, and I will expand on this.

(In chapter five of Zevahim) R. Ishmael said �Go out and tell R. Akiba that he is mistaken�. (In the end of Yoma) he said �You are mistaken�, but it would seem that he was a priest. In the chapter Elu Trefoth, when R. Ishmael disagrees with R. Akiba he says that it is a tradition from his ancestors regarding the fat of the stomach, and they said �Ishmael the priest, and an assistant to the priests�. However, Rashi did not explain there that he was a priest as he did in the chapter Bame madlikin regarding Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai.

Maybe this is a hint, or connection between Ishmael the Priest, and R. Ishmael ben Elisha the High Priest, who is mentioned above as a priest and as one of the martyrs. (In the first chapter of AZ) Rashi explains that he was one of the martyrs, and anointed the skin of his face with balsam oil to conserve it. Thus explains Rashi in the chapter Haroe, they flayed off the skin of his face alive, since the Emperor�s daughter was enamoured with his beauty, for he was as beautiful as Joseph son of Jacob, and her father was displeased and flayed the skin of his face. In the chapter Haor varotev the scalp of R. Ishmael is placed at the head of kings. Rashi explains �scalp� as �the skin of the head of a man� and says this is done for war magic. (In the chapter Nezikin) R. Ishmael ben Elisha was taken captive, and he was young and very beautiful, and Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah redeemed him for a large ransom, and he taught Israel. His son and his daughter were taken captive, and they were martyred like their father.

The JT mentions one, whom R. Joshua redeemed, but R. Ishmael is not mentioned, and thus it seems to be in accordance with the period. In Lamentations Rabati it is found that the son and daughter who were taken captive were children of R. Zaddok the Priest, and they recognized each other and died. Maybe it wasn�t R. Zaddok the father of R. Eleazar.

Also (chapter 4, Semachoth) R. Simeon ben Gamliel and R. Ishmael ben Elisha were captured together, and when they were executed, the news reached R. Akiba and R. Judah ben Bava, and they rent their garments, and said etc. In the end of Avoth DeRabbi Nathan, it is discussed at length. As for the general rule, I do not know whether he was a priest, Rabbi Ishmael, a colleague of Rabbi Akiba, and a friend of Ben Nanas, since the Rabbi did not mention him, and this Rabbi Ishmael is frequently mentioned in the Mishna and in Baraitha.

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As we read �Ishmael was a priest and assisted the priests,� it seems he was a priest, but it is not certain. After this, I found in the chapter Elu Trefoth in Rashi�s commentaries, that he was a priest, and he was R. Ishmael ben Elisha the High Priest, and it does not appear thus in the Talmud, but that they are two, and much time separates them. The first was killed with Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel, before Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai became the Prince, while the second R. Ishmael, the colleague of R. Akiba, taught R. Meir in his youth. He was present when they appointed R. Eleazar ben Azariah as Prince (chapter four of Yadaim).

I also found in the Tosafoth (chapter Mizvoth Halizah), that R. Ishmael bar R. Jose said �I saw R. Ishmael ben Elisha�. Likewise is written in Sifrei, and it is puzzling, how could he have seen R. Ishmael who was killed before R. Akiba, while R. Ishmael ben R. Jose lived much later, just before Rabbi. On the day that R. Akiba died, Rabbi was born. R. Isaac explained that there were two persons named R. Ishmael ben Elisha, the one who was martyred was the grandfather of the one whom R. Ishmael bar R. Jose saw, and it may have been long after R. Akiba.

The other two whom Rav did not mention are R. Zaddok and R. Eleazar his son, for Rashi and the Tosafoth claimed that they were priests, while Rambam, of blessed memory, did not mention them. Now I will expand on the matter, bringing evidence for both sides, and thus we will encounter stories and rules of Law.

Know that Rabbi Zaddok and his son lived at the time of the Destruction. I found (in Sanhedrin of the JT), that R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok testified �I was a mere babe and I saw the daughter of a priest who was burned�. Then he was no less than ten years old. When he went with Rabbi, he was no less than thirty years old, because a great man wouldn�t walk with a younger person. Rabbi told, �I used to come, together with R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok from Beth Shearim and we ate etc�. It puzzles me, for his father R. Zaddok was a very old man at the time of the Destruction, as he fasted for forty years prior to the Destruction of the Temple. How could his son have been thirty years old one hundred years after the Destruction?

R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok studied together with R. Johanan ben Hahoranith, who was very old at the time of the Temple. (At the end of the chapter Bakol Maaravin) R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok was at the time of the Rabban Gamliel who disagreed with R. Joshua. (In the chapter Elu ovrin bapesah and in the Tosephta in the second chapter of Sukkah) he studied together with R. Johanan ben Hahoranith, and the whole story is found at the end of the first chapter of Yevamoth. In the Tosephta (on chapter two of Yom Tov) R. Eleazar bar Zaddok said, �Many times did I eat at the house of Rabban Gamliel, and I did not observe that they cleaned between the seats �.

R. Eleazar ben Zaddok said there �Once father ate at the house of Rabban Gamliel and they brought before him anigron and upon it broken (powdered) pepper. Father withdrew his hand, but Rabban Gamliel told him, �Do not worry, they were powdered on the eve of the feast�.

Also there (in the third chapter of Yom Tov) it is said about him. R. Abba and R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok and Abba Saul ben Botnith were shopkeepers in Jerusalem all their days. They would fill their measures on the eve of a festival, as there were no studies etc. R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok said �I am of the sons of Sanoa son of Benjamin etc� (In the third chapter of Taanioth, in the Tosephta). (At the beginning of the chapter Makom shenohagu our master Asher wrote) R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok said, �I am of Sanoa son of Benjamin�, meaning that his ancestors would bring a wood offering on the day of the tenth of Ab.

R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok lived after the Destruction, but, since his ancestors would make an offering during the day of the tenth of Ab, and they made the day a festival, therefore, his family also made it a festive day. In addition (at the end of chapter two of Megillah, in the Tosephta) R. Judah tells about R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok, that he took the synagogue of the Alexandrines in Jerusalem, and used to do in it as he pleased etc. From all this it would appear that he lived earlier and preceded the generation of Rabbi.

I would have thought that maybe they were two persons of the same name. It would suit the JT that it would have been another person at the time of Rabbi, as (in chapter 7 of Kelaim) R. Eleazar bar Zaddok quotes R. Meir, and R. Meir was the teacher of Rabbi. I have found some support for this in Zohar in portion Vayaza Jacob, for he calls R. Zaddok �R. Zaddok the Weak� since he fasted for forty years. His grandson was called �R. Zaddok junior�, and he was with R. Simeon ben Yohai, and he had grown-up children who were married at the time of R. Simeon. Maybe one of them was called R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok junior?

However, (in the Tosephta on the second chapter of Sukkah) I found that Rabbi said thus, �Once we came, myself and R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok, to R. Johanan ben Nuri at Bet Shearim, and we ate grapes and figs outside the tabernacle booth.� It is known that R. Johanan ben Nuri was a friend of R. Joshua and of Rabban Gamliel, the grandfather of Rabbi, and he was not alive at the time of Rabbi. However, in truth, both the Tosephta and the JT call Rabban Gamliel just �Rabbi� for he was a great sage and the teacher of R. Akiba (see Berachoth). Likewise, in the Babylonian Talmud, in the chapter Kol Kitvei Hakodesh Rabban Gamliel is called �Berebbi�, and Rashi explains that he was not the son of Rabbi, but his grandfather, and he was thus called since he was the great man in his generation.

Likewise (in the first chapter of Kidushin), R. Zaddok says of Rabban Gamliel, �Berebbi stood and poured us a drink�. In addition, in the Midrash and in Avoth DeRabbi Nathan Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai is also called just �Rabbi�. The conclusion is, now, that he was one and there was not a second.

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I wish to explain why R. Zaddok fasted for forty years prior to the Destruction of the Temple - in order that it should not be destroyed. How did he know that it would be destroyed? This was because it is written in the Gemara of Yoma, that forty years prior to the Destruction of the Temple, the gates of the Holy Place opened by themselves. Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai reprimanded them and said, �Why do you frighten yourself, I know that in the end you will be destroyed, as Zechariah had already prophesied �Open your gates, Lebanon�. It was an omen that the Temple will be destroyed.

Likewise (in Sanhedrin and at the beginning of AZ) we find that forty years prior to the Destruction of the Temple, the Sanhedrin was exiled, and it dwelt in Hanut, for there were many murderers, and they no longer dealt with cases for which there was a death penalty.

He immediately began to fast, and he became so thin that Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai requested from Vespasian that his doctors should treat him etc. (see Nezikin). Also in Lamentations Rabati: there it says �R. Eleazar, his son, told him, �Father, pay the doctors their fees so that they would not take payment from the World to Come�. R. Eleazar, his son, studied Torah with R. Johanan ben Hahoranith, of whom it is said (in Sukkah), that the Elders of the House of Shammai and the Elders of the House of Hillel came to visit him (see at the end of the first chapter of Yevamoth).

The evidence that they were priests is found in Berachoth in the chapter mishemetu where R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok said �We used to leap over the coffins of the dead,� meaning � graves of the Kings of Israel� and Rashi derives from this that he was a priest. Though he said �coffin,� he meant �grave�, since (in Ketubboth, at the end of the chapter Hanose) R. Hiya says that he saw the grave of Rabbi and he shed a tear upon it, and Rashi there explains �his coffin�, for one is not strict on this matter.

However, Ramban, of blessed memory, said on this passage, that, indeed he meant �coffin�, and the tombstone was seen in the field, and it does not cause impurity in a priest.

In the chapter Kol basar, R. Zaddok ate outside of the booth, but it was less than a egg-measure. He wrapped his hands in a cloth to eat, and did not wash his hands, for he was a priest, and the cloth rendered the eating permissible for tithe-eaters, according to the rule of R. Ammi and R. Asi, but it is not permitted for those who eat pure food. Our master Asher, of blessed memory, said, in responsa, that this is the ruling: for those who consume profane food it is not permitted, so how much more so is this the case for sacred food. However, Rambam, of blessed memory, allowed to eat profane food with a cloth, and in time of need, the Rambam, of blessed memory, deserves to being regarded a reliable authority.

The Tosafoth explained, as did Rashi, that he was a priest, as for leaping over graves, as I said. (In the chapter Kol Psulei Hamukdashin in Bechoroth, on the first born animal of R. Zaddok, and at the end of the first chapter of Yevamoth), that he would eat profane food as if it were pure tithes.

I�ll tell you two tales (from the end of the first chapter of Yevamoth): R. Eleazar bar Zaddok said �When I used to study Torah with R. Johanan ben Hahoranith, I observed him eating bread with a lot of salt in drought years. I came and I told this to father, and he said, �Bring him olives�, and I brought him olives. He saw that they were moist, and he told me �I will not eat these olives�. I came and told father, and he told me �Go and tell him that the vat had a drainage, but the orifice became plugged up with sediment.� As for a vat of pickled olives the House of Shammai says there is no need to drain, but the House of Hillel say that one should drain, and they endorse that if there was drainage and sediment plugged it up, it still remained pure. This is although it brings the House of Shammai into acting the same way as the House of Hillel.

Likewise, (in the Tosephta on the second chapter of Sukkah) R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok said similarly: �When I used to study at R. Johanan ben Hahoranith I observed him eating bread with a lot of salt in drought years. I came and I said this to father and he said, �Bring him olives�. He took them and he looked at them and he saw that they were moist, and he said �I will not eat these olives.� I came and told it to father. He told me, �Go and tell him, �The vat has a drain in accordance with the School of Hillel, but it was plugged up by sediment�, to inform him that it is pure. For even though he was a disciple of the Shammai School, he acted in accordance with the rulings of the Hillel School.

In order to understand this you are referred to the Book of Tahara by Rambam, in chapter 11 relating to the impurity of food. He says that one should drain a vat of pickled olives so that the brine will flow out, and if he did not drain, they can become impure. If one perforated the vat, and sediment deposits blocked the perforation, olives are soaked in brine, but they can not become impure since he did perforate and it is intention that counts.

(In the Book of Taharah in chapter 22) a vat, which is encircled by a rope-hoop, has been perforated at the side, but sediment deposits have blocked the perforation, it is saved . The Tosafoth, in the beginning of the chapter Hagozal, quotes this ruling from the ninth chapter of Keli, in the chapter Veelu Mazilin and says, �a perforated van with orifice blocked by sediment is saved �. Rashi explains: it is compared with the blocked chimney, which makes the house impure, for a blockage by sediment is still a blockage. The Tosafoth argued with him and it seems to me that Rashi�s interpretation is a forced one.

Though it is not the case in Ohalot, for at the end of the chapter Hamaznia he explains that through a perforation in a vessel impurity does not enter to contaminate the contents, only through the opening of the vessel. As for a rope-hoop, and a blockage � it is saved , unless it is more than half-empty. However, in the Tosafoth, also in the chapter Hamaznia, they challenged Rashi, and they interpreted in accordance with Rambam, who speaks of a rope-hoop as saving the contents of the vessel. Tosafoth were surprised there that one claims that blockage by sediment deposits are still a blockage. They say (at the end of the first chapter of Yevamoth) regarding a vat of pickled olives that Shammai school says there is no need to perforate (for drainage) and Hillel school says that it is necessary. They admit that if it had been perforated, but sediment deposits had plugged the orifice up, it is ritually pure, as if it had been perforated. Let us conclude regarding the vat of olives. If the owners arranged the drainage and the sediment deposits blocked the orifice, it still saves from impurity. Let us return to matters in hand.

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The second tale is recounted in Bechoroth. R. Zaddok had a first-born donkey and he gave him barley in a sharp-edged basket, so he would hurt his lips. R. Joshua was asked whether one should distinguish between a sage priest and an ignorant priest, and R. Joshua said �Yes�. He came before Rabban Gamliel and he said �No� etc. Rashi explained, R. Zaddok was a priest, and we have to distinguish between a sage priest and an ignorant priest, as to their knowledge that it is forbidden to maim the first-born animal willingly.

In Nazir, we find a tale concerning the father of R. Zaddok, who died in Ginzak, and they informed him three years later. He came and asked R. Joshua ben Elisha and four elders and they said, �yes, if his father<�s body> is complete, no, if he is lacking �. Thus, it seems that he was a priest, if this is, indeed, R. Zaddok. I further add that according to the opinion of our teachers in the Mishna, (in the third chapter of Middoth, and in the chapter Gid Hanashe), regarding a golden vine which was in the sanctuary, R. Eleazar bar R. Zaddok said they appointed three hundred priests to remove it. How come he told it, and not somebody else? It means he was a priest.

In Yoma, in chapter two, (we find of) two priests who went up to an altar, and one preceded the other, and he took a knife and stabbed the other in the heart. R. Zaddok stood on the steps of the hall on the Temple Mount and said �Our brothers, the House of Israel, listen etc� and Rashi explains: Herod built many halls there, as it is written in the book of Ben Gurion, about the steps on the Temple Mount. It seems to me that Rashi was cautious, for where else were Israel in a hall, but on the Temple Mount? He explained that there were halls on the Temple Mount � that is his version. However, who determined that he would be the speaker, unless he saw the event, and he was one of the priests. He said to Israel, �our brethren, the House of Israel�, for if he had not been a priest, what business of his was it to say �our brethren etc�.

In the chapter Lulav vearava R. Eleazar ben Zaddok says, �There was a cage (cave) in the altar, and once in seventy years the priests descended there etc�. I also found in the book Menorat Ha�Maor (the one which is not by R. Isaac Abuhav) referring to Avoth DeRabbi Nathan that R. Zaddok was taken captive to Rome. His masters gave him a maidservant to sleep with her, and he did not want to, and he said �I am a priest of a great family�. All this is found in Halachoth Teshuva.

Now I shall quote the evidence that they were not priests, as Rambam says, and something of a response to all that is written above. The first is found in the first chapter of Ta�aniot and in Shekalim in the JT, and in the chapter Bakol Mearvin in Eruvin. There we learn that R. Eleazar ben Zaddok said, �I was of the sons of Sanoa the son of Benjamin, and the ninth of Ab fell on a Sabbath, and we postponed it until Sunday, and we did not complete it for it was our festive day. Thus it is written in the Mishna, that the family would bring firewood to the Temple on the tenth of Ab, and they would bring an offering and make it a festive day. After the Temple was destroyed, they would perpetuate the festive day, as had been their custom: for the fast of the ninth of Ab did not exist while the Temple stood, as we see in Shekalim of the JT.

Rashi explains at the end of the chapter Bakol Mearvin that R. Eleazar bar Zaddok was of the sons of Sanoa son of Benjamin, a family from the tribe of Benjamin, whose lot fell to bring the wood offering on the tenth of Ab in the times of Ezra. It was a festive day for them for all times (see chapter shlosha halakim in Taanioth), regarding the following Sabbath, which is the tenth of Ab and also their festive day. R. Eleazar bar Zaddok lived in the generation of Rabbi Gamliel, as it is written in Bezah that R. Eleazar bar Zaddok said �Many times I followed my father to the house of Rabban Gamliel�. In the chapter Vaeilu ovrin bepasach and in Megillath Taanith I found that R. Eleazar berebbi Zaddok said, �I was the leader amongst sons of Sanoa son of Benjamin, and the ninth of Ab fell on a Sabbath. They postponed until after the Sabbath and fasted on that day but did not complete it�. However, this is not the version of the Gemara in any place, and not found in the commentators and not in the Tosephta on chapter three of Taanioth � other than �I was of the sons of Sanoa, the son of Benjamin�.

The second piece of evidence is found in what is written in Adam veHava in the laws of mourning in Netiv 28, in the JT and also at the end of the Yoreh De�ah. This is the wording, �at first one was buried in a kind of dug-out pit. When the flesh disintegrated, they collected the bones and buried them in an ossuary on the same day and they would mourn and the next day was a day of celebration as their fathers were laid at rest until the judgement�. Likewise was said of the executed in the Mishna of Sanhedrin, �after the flesh deteriorated they were atoned�.

We will return to our matters. R. Eleazar bar Zaddok said, �My father told me at the time of his death, �at first bury me in a cave. Later collect my bones and put them in cedar . Do not collect them with your own hands so they would not be contemptible in your eyes.� I did it. Johanan entered and collected and spread over them a bag, and I came in and rent and spread over them a sheet, and I placed on them dried Apurin, which are herbs�. Thus is written in the JT and in tractate Semachoth in the end of the chapter. �As he did for his father � thus I did for him�.

This story proves that he was not a priest, for, had he been a priest, it would have been forbidden for him, to collect his father�s bones and become ritually impure, so why should his father have warned him �that they would not be contemptible�. A priest is not made impure by (touching) his own (dead) father unless he was �incomplete� while alive. The intention here is that had some limb been missing during life, he causes impurity on his death, but if after death some part of him is missing or blocked with a stone this would not cause impurity.

He said that he went in and covered him with a sheet, and what Johanan did for his father he also did for him, meaning he collected his bones. If we claim that he was a descendant of Sanoa, the son of Benjamin on his mother�s side, it would be unthinkable that after the Destruction he should make a festive day on the tenth of Ab, just because his mother was descended from that family.

However, this last-mentioned tale from the JT makes it quite explicit that he was not a priest. As for Avoth DeRabbi Nathan, where he said �I am of a priestly family�, maybe he said this just to impress his mistress, so she would not impose upon him a maidservant.

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As for all the explanations of Rashi and the Tosafoth, we can offer answers - with regard to the leaping over graves and eating profane food in a ritually pure manner. In chapter two of Demai, we find that one who eats profane food in a ritually pure manner should not be defiled by contact with the dead. This is the case with R. Johanan, although he was a descendant of Joseph, not a priest. Rashi explains in the Gemara, that he would eat less than a barley measure. Aruch under the heading �Garam� said, �How would a man as holy as R. Johanan have carried a dead bone, unless it was an extracted tooth which does not defile. Alternatively, maybe it was with him only when he went to a mourners� house to offer condolences, that is to say that his distress was great�. He was not a priest, for Aruch did not say �as he was a priest�, but �as holy man�.

Alternatively, as Rashi, of blessed memory, and the Ramban, of blessed memory, explained: the priests do not have to avoid the Gollel and Dofek , since a Nazirite does not have to shave hair on their account. They interpreted �upon coffins� as literally upon open graves in the fields at that time, and Gollel as the gravestone, and Dofek as the plank at the head and at the foot within the coffin, which is not how our master Tam interpreted. Those who eat pure food are strict about this, unless it conflicts with a commandment.

As for the passage at the end of the first chapter of Yevamoth regarding the eating of profane food in a ritually pure manner, one may see that R. Johanan ben Hahoranith also did not want to eat, and it is not written that he was a priest. Rambam, who listed him amongst the sages, did not list him amongst the priests. This is the case in chapter two of tractate Eduyoth and in the second chapter of Sukkah in the Tosephta, that he was used to eat profane food in a ritually pure manner.

It is more difficult to interpret the story of R. Zaddok found in Bechoroth, but for this, too, there is an answer. An Israelite was permitted to purchase from a priest and to keep it until it will acquire blemish, or maybe it was imperfect or was purchased from a priest. Though (at the beginning of Temurah) it appears that then it was forbidden for an Israelite to purchase a perfect firstborn from a priest, maybe was given as a gift. As for the other stories I brought, that they were knowledgeable in matters of the Temple, it can be explained. Since they used to bring wood offerings to the Temple, they were acquainted with these matters, as we find with R. Eliezer ben Jacob who testified about the measurements of the Temple and he was not a priest. In addition, when R. Zaddok preached on the steps of the hall, this was on the Temple Mount as Rashi explains. He was an old man and prestigious and a pious man, so that no priest would preach in his presence. Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai the Priest referred to him, �Had there been another man like him in Jerusalem, the Temple would not have been destroyed�.

Also in the chapter in Kidushin �heroes of strength who did His will as did R. Zaddok and his colleagues, refused the mistress and saved�. In chapter 3 in Sukkah in the Tosefta, they said, R. Abba and R. Eleazar bar Zaddok and Abba Saul ben Botnit were shopkeepers in Jerusalem. They used to fill the measures of their wares on the eve of the festival, so at not to waste study time.

There is a difficulty for Rambam, who did not list R. Zechariah ben Kabutal and R. Zechariah ben Hakazav, though they both were priests. One said (in Yoma) �Many times I read to him from the Book of Daniel�, and the second said (that is R. Zechariah ben Hakazav), �by this Dwelling , hand never left etc�. He was called �unreliable . Rashi explains: he was a priest, and she was forbidden for him. Without a doubt these two , but our master Moses , of blessed memory, forgot to mention them. I�ll refer, in jest, the words (chapter Esh Nohlin in Batra (page 111a)) �Zechariah is naught� to Rambam, of blessed memory, while I remembered <=zecharty, as in Zechariah> them as their name is Zechariah.

Also (chapter five in Sotah) R. Joshua said �R. Zechariah ben Hakazav preached on who has been made impure twice, once to her husband and once to her fornicator.

R. Haninah ben Antigonus has been forgotten as well, though he was a priest, (see chapter Ad kama). Rashi explained that he was a priest.

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Doroth Haolam says, after the destruction during the time of the Ten Martyrs, and during the time of B. Azzai, and B. Zoma, and R. Akiba, and R. Hotzfit. He was in Babylon in Nisibis and he was the friend of Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, and lived to be very old, and I have written more above.

Proof that he during the time of the Second Temple in Nisibis in the opening chapter of Pesahim, about the gentile who ate of the Passover . �They said to him �You are in Nisibis and your net is spread in Jerusalem��.

Proof that he lived for a long time after the Destruction is that R. Johanan Hasandlar and R. Eleazar b. Shamua were of the third generation after the destruction . In Sifri in the portion R�eh see that R. Eleazar b. Shamua and R. Johanan Hasandlar went to Nisibis to R. Judah b. Bathyra to learn from him, and got to Sidon they yearned for the Land of Israel and wept and went back. also at the end of Ketuboth.

In the chapter Chelek he says that he (I mean Judah b. Bathyra) was one of the descendants of the dead whom Ezekiel resurrected. He said, �These are the phylacteries that my father�s father left me�.

In Sifri, it also says that when R. Judah b. Bathyra, and R. Mathias b. Heresh, and R. Hananiah the nephew of R. Joshua, and R. Jonathan left the Land they rent their garments, as living in the Land of Israel worth all the other commandments. The interpretation that makes sense to me is that they were not all together, but rather each one went abroad separately. R. Judah b. Bathyra went to Babylon, to Nisibis, R. Mathias b. Heresh went to Rome, as mentioned above, and R. Hananiah nephew of R. Joshua went in the Diaspora.

He used to intercalate the year, and then the grandson of Zechariah b. Kvutal and R. Jose b. Kipper said that he shouldn�t do so. He said to them that they were priests, the sons of High Priests who had served in the Temple.

Above, I forgot to question Rambam, why he did not mention R. Zechariah b. Kvutal. He is mentioned in the Mishna in Yoma as having read from Daniel before the High Priest on the eve of the Day of Atonement, or in chapter 10, at the end of Berachoth, that he was a priest. Now it came to my mind. He also didn�t mention R. Zechariah b. Hakazav, lived at the time of the Destruction. In chapter two of Ketuboth R. Zechariah b. Hakazav says � by this Temple that her hand did not move out of my hand from the time the gentiles entered Jerusalem until they departed�. They said to him, �No man can testify concerning himself� and Rashi said it is because he was a priest.

In chapter five of Sotah R. Joshua says, �Thus R. Zechariah b. Hakazav preached, �the word �defiled� occurs twice in the scriptural portion, one referring to her husband and the other to the fornicator�.

Both of them are named Zechariah, and I remembered <=zecharty, a pun> them that they were certainly priests. There is no way to get an answer from Rambam of blessed memory, as to why he forgot R. Zechariah b. Hakazav and R. Zechariah b. Kvutal.

Let us return to R. Judah b. Bathyra, about whom it was said, in chapter two of Hagiga, �Mainstay and support are the masters of the Mishna, like R. Judah b. Bathyra and his colleagues, who knew 600 orders of the Mishna, as handed down from Moses to Hillel. There is a version that says �support ... like R. Judah b. Tema and his colleagues�. Perhaps it is for this reason Ramban wrote in Torath Adam that maybe R. Judah b. Tema is R. Judah b. Bathyra, but it does not seem so to me.

R. Jose also was of the third generation after the Destruction. It says in chapter 12 of Yevamoth, �R. Jose said, �when I went to Nisibis and I found there an old man at whose table R. Judah b. Bathyra always sat, and this old man was always with him�. In the chapter Mizvoth halitza our master Asher wrote that according to the JT, R. Jose went to Nisibis, and (chapter Beth Shammai in Yevamoth), they asked R. Akiba in the prison, and he forbade, and they asked R. Judah b. Bathyra in Nisibis and he forbade, etc.

In Nazir, it says that R. Judah b. Bathyra would pass judgements before R. Meir in Nisibis. In the Tosefta of Nazir, in chapter five, (it is a long time after the Destruction), that R. Meir was of the third generation after the Destruction, and he went to Babylon near the end of his life, when his wife died.

I have already stated above, when I mentioned Shemaiah and Avtalion, that in Midrash Samuel, on the verse, �And all Israel knew� it is said that R. Judah was in Nisibis and blessed Abba, the father of Samuel that he should have a wise son. We also see in the chapter Kol Basar that was in the time of Levi, who said R. Atariah quotes R. Judah b. Bathyra and he is of the same opinion as R. Jose the Galilean.

Rabbi Pappias (see Eduyoth and Temurah) was after the Destruction. In chapter 4 of Shekalim, he disagrees with R. Eliezer and concurs with R. Joshua. R. Pappias said, �I bear witness that we had a cow from the peace-offerings and we ate it on Passover and we ate its calf as the peace-offering in the festival�. If this testimony was at the time of the Temple, they would have asked the priests and the sages, but it was after the Destruction, and he was giving testimony as to what he saw at the time the Temple .

Rabbi Johanan b. Bag Bag was called just b. Bag Bag, and it is not known when he lived, except that it was during the time of R. Judah b. Bathyra. In the first chapter of Kidushin, Johanan b. Bag Bag sent to R. Judah b. Bathyra in Nisibis an Israelite girl who was engaged to a priest, whether she was forbidden to eat from tithes . R. Judah said to b. Bag Bag, �I know that you are well-versed in the secrets of Torah�. in the fifth chapter of Ketuboth in the Tosefta.

These were seven classes or generations after the time of the Second Temple, from its beginning to its end. The first generation that saw the Destruction are these: R. Eliezer b. Jacob, of whom it is known that he received more information than any of the other sages about the measurements of the Temple, and lived to be very old. In chapter four of Kilaim R. Eliezer b. Jacob quotes Hananiah b. Hachinai, and it is known that R. Hananiah b. Hachinai was a friend of R. Simeon b. Yohai and he was a disciple of R. Akiba. His mother�s brother was a Levite in the Temple in the first chapter of Middoth, and it is perhaps from there that he knew about Temple matters.

His legal rulings are �only a kab, but well sifted�, which means they are few but legal rulings are in accordance with them. But we see in the Talmud and in commentaries on the Mishna, that other laws are not in accordance with his interpretation.

I heard our master Asher said and I have also seen his rulings (in the chapter Mi shehoziuhu) that our master Hananel wrote in accordance with tradition that in those 102 cases, the law is according to him, and nowhere else, in other things laws are not according to him.

In Yevamoth that they found a scroll in Jerusalem wherein was written, among the rest, �Mishna (teaching) of R. Eliezer b. Jacob, only a kab, but well sifted�. This proves one should not rely on his interpretation.

Rabbi Zaddok, and R. Eleazar his son, and Rabban Johanan b. Zakkai, and R. Ishmael b. Elisha, the High Priest, whom we have mentioned above, and R. Hananiah, the deputy high priest, and R. Simeon, his son, and R. Haninah b. Dosa, who killed the viper, who learned before Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, all of whom we have mentioned above.

We have also mentioned Samuel the Less, who apparently did not witness the Destruction, and was humble and pious, and a Divine Voice was heard from the heavens saying that he was a disciple of Hillel.

R. Eleazar b. Parta who occupied himself with learning Torah and doing good deeds, and was arrested with R. Haninah b. Teradion. He was rescued, and Elijah rescued him, and he was very old, as in the first chapter of Avodah Zara. (See in the Baraitha) he had a son named R. Simeon b. Eleazar b. Parta. He had a son named the R. Parta the Great, the father of R. Eleazar b. Parta. R. Parta, his son, studied before our holy Rabbi (see chapter three of Gittin).

His colleague R. Haninah b. Teradion was the father of Beruriah, the wife of R. Meir. She was very wise and is mentioned in the Baraitha (Tosefta of Kelim, chapter eleven) that when her words were quoted before R. Joshua, he said, �Beruriah spoke well�. She is mentioned among the Tanna. In Pesahim, in the chapter Tamid nishchat it says, �If Beruriah, the daughter of R. Haninah b. Teradion, and the wife of R. Meir studied three hundred laws from three hundred teachers in one day, could nevertheless not do it in six years etc.�

As we have written in the introduction, �Justice, justice shall you pursue,� follow R. Haninah b. Teradion to Sichnin. He was burned with a Torah scroll. He is one of the Ten Martyrs, immediately after R. Akiba. He was caught when R. Jose b. Kasma died. He had warned him not to study the Torah because there was a decree not to read the Torah.

R. Jose b. Kasma was in Tiberias, according to the Midrash, and he (see Yevamoth in the chapter Haisha) went with R. Eliezer and R. Joshua. He is also mentioned in the chapter Kinyan Torah. R. Haninah b. Teradion did not listen to him because of his piety.

It can be deduced that of severe religious persecution when we are ordered by authorities to avoid a certain action, we may cease to fulfill such as prayer, phylacteries or reading the Torah. Thus Elisha Baal Haknafayim hid his phylacteries when a officer came, as it was severe religious persecution. Reading the Torah as R. Jose b. Kasma said to R. Haninah b. Teradion and as b. Papus the Wise to R. Akiba. R. Akiba did not respond that (it was a time of religious persecution) he was obligated to do it. If he wanted to be stringent to himself, to sanctify the Name he is permitted to do so in a time of religious persecution, or even when it is not a time of religious persecution. They were permitted to act like R. Haninah b. Papi and R. Kahana, and like Daniel, who was stringent with himself, and R. Haninah b. Teradion, who occupied himself with Torah. R. Akiba behaved similarly in order to perpetuate Torah learning, as did Elisha Baal Haknafayim, (lay phylacteries) when the officer was not looking.

But one should not act under duress from a gentile, either in private or in public. One should be prefer to be killed rather than transgress, even by �changing one�s shoe-strap�. This means that one should not bend down to fix his sandal in front of an idol. Even if one has no intention , this is considered idol-worship. So ruled R. Acha Gaon in his Responsa. In opinion of the Tosafoth and the commentators, even change the color of one�s shoe-straps from white to black, that would make one recognizable as a gentile, one is required to and sanctify in a time of religious persecution. Even more so if one was told to transgress a commandment and eat a forbidden food or a similar .

When there is no religious persecution, where have said one should transgress rather than be killed, still if one transgresses, one deserves death sentence . This is opinion of Rambam.

His (R. Haninah b. Teradion�s) wife was killed because she did not object when he was teaching the Name to his disciples in public. His daughter, who was the sister of Beruriah, the wife of R. Meir, was thrown into a brothel, but the Blessed Lord saved her for sake of R. Meir.

R. Haninah was punished because he was teaching his disciples the Name in public. Rashi comments that he would use the Name of 42 letters. All around him would be like in a storm. He was the treasurer of the funds for charity, and the monies for Purim were mixed with monies for charity. He gave from his own pocket for the sake of Heaven, and for this good deed ( should bring him salvation), the sage told him that he would merit life in the World to Come, and even more so because he spent all his days Torah.

It says in the Midrash that when the Emperor Lupinus burned R. Haninah b. Teradion, Emperor Lupinus looked like R. Nehuniah b. Hakanah, and cut off his head. Afterwards he was revived through Divine intervention and he was in the form of R. Haninah b. Teradion, and they burned him like he burned R. Haninah b. Teradion. A miracle happened, and R. Nehuniah b. Hakanah looked like the Emperor Lupinus, and he ruled over the Roman Empire for six months and killed six thousand hegemons. On the 21^st of Sivan they burned R. Haninah b. Teradion, and after him the killed R. Jeshebab the Scribe.

Abba Saul was of the house of Marmasha. He was the only one of his generation and was like a colleague of Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai. Abba Saul speaks in his name, but R. Zemach Gaon comments that �in his name� means �in his spirit�. �Abba� is a form of respect, like �Rabbi�. In Tractate Semachoth, he commanded his sons to bury him at his father�s feet, that they should bury him and removed the tzitzit (blue) from his applion.

In the chapter Hamaflet it says that he would bury the dead and that he saw Og the King of Bashan and Absalom. It seems that his disciple, R. Tarphon was of a large physique, even though this statement seems strange, it is certainly to do with he was also burying the dead, etc.

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This when they said, �Abba Saul is the tallest in his generation and R. Tarphon reaches his shoulders. R. Tarphon is the tallest in his generation and R. Meir reaches his shoulders. R. Meir is the tallest in his generation and Rabbi reaches his shoulders. Rabbi is the tallest in his generation and R. Hiyya reaches his shoulders. R. Hiyya is the tallest in his generation and Rav reaches his shoulders. Rav is tallest in his generation and R. Judah reaches his shoulders. R. Judah is tallest in his generation and Adda Daiala reaches his shoulders�. Daiala means an attendant of sages, and Adda was his name. Parshatbina of Pumbeditha reaches shoulders of Daiala, and the entire world reaches Parshatbina to his waist.

R. Zemach comments that he was a man of valor and the tallest among the living. In the Tosafoth Rashi comments that it is a man�s name. The same in Aruch, and it�s not so. If this were the case, he should have said from Pumbeditha. Rashbam comments that it is a form of language referring to leadership of men.

This passage calls for interpretation, though it�s plain reading (that they were men of size) is also true, as Rashi and Aruch expound. There is a reference to Rav, who was called Abba Aricha (the long one). The real meaning is that wisdom decreases from generation to generation because it comes from a teacher to his disciple. To enlarge upon this, Abba Saul�s wisdom was greater than anyone else�s. He would bury the erroneous explanations, which are dead, just as certainly as it is said of Jonathan b. Uzziel, who was so imaginative, and full of truth that any bird flying above him would immediately be burnt .

Abba Saul b. Botnith was before his time. At the end of Sabbath it is explained that Abba Saul was at the time of the father of R. Zaddok, etc. In the chapter Hakotev it says in the Baraitha, that Abba Saul was the son of Imma Miriam, and law according to him. this is not Abba Saul, but Abba Gebal of the School of Rabbi in the second chapter of Pesahim.

R. Eleazar HaModai was a disciple of Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, the colleague of R. Tarphon, although he calls R. Tarphon �Rabbi� and R. Tarphon calls him �HaModai� (in the last chapter of Yoma). R. Eleazar b. Parta quotes him, as does R. Eleazar b. Azariah in the chapter Shvuath Haeduth. R. Hananiah the nephew of R. Joshua quotes R. Eleazar HaModai. King Bar Koziba killed him in Beithar. He was praying that Hadrian would not conquer it, and he couldn�t conquer it. Then a Cuthean came and told ben Koziba a rumor about R. Eleazar HaModai that he wanted to make peace with Emperor Hadrian. When he killed him, a Divine Voice and said, �You killed God�s shepherd, the strong arm and the right eye�. He was the strong arm of Israel and his right eye. On that day, Beithar was captured, and that was 52 years after the Destruction of the Second Temple. The Book of Doroth Olam says 73 years. According to his system the kings of Beithar began to rule 52 years after the Destruction � may God rebuild speedily in our days. He was an preacher, and it was said, �We still need HaModai�. He was a disciple of Rabban Johanan b. Zakkai.

Great Rabbi Eliezer b. Horkenus is known as the author of Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Baruch expounded referring to our master Hananel, that the incident of the walls of the House of study proves him right. It all happened when a disciple in the house of study dozed off and dreamed a visionary dream. The entire story was just a dream. They didn�t want to disclose it was a dream, so their opponents wouldn�t say �they tell dreams that are false�, and mislead people.

that when Moses when up to heaven the Holy One, Blessed be He told him �In the future a righteous man will explain heifer.� R. Eliezer says �a female calf one year old and a heifer two years old.� He said to Him, �Master of the Universe, may it be your will that be my descendants.� He said to him, �By your life, he will be a descendant of yours.� As it is written, �And the name of another was Eliezer�, and the name of that special one was Eliezer�.

In the tenth chapter of Sanhedrin, in the Tosefta, R. Akiba said, �R. Eliezer deduces three hundred laws �put to death any witch�, and I could deduce but two �the collectors of gourds� � one collects and is liable, another collects and is exempt etc.�>

His wife Imma Shalom, the sister of Rabban Gamliel the Prince. His father was very wealthy. This is known in the Talmud and in the Mishna. He was the first who is mentioned by name alone. He was the teacher of R. Akiba, who bled when he (Eliezer) died. Similarly in chapter nine of Semachoth, R. Akiba would strike upon his heart and the blood would flow. When the vow (anathema) was nullified, R. Akiba said, �My teacher, my teacher, the chariot of Israel and its riders�.

Also in the end of chapter Arba Mithoth that at the time of R. Eliezer�s death even R. Akiba, his disciple, sat on a distance of four cubits, as he was excommunicated (see BM chapter Hazahav). When he died, R. Joshua said, �The ban is lifted. The ban is lifted�. This is also the version of Rashi, but another version says, �The vow is nullified�. All his days he never forgot a thing, and was like a cemented cistern that does not lose a drop. He never said anything but what he had heard. His soul expired in purity while he was ruling whether pure or impure. He said �Pure� and then R. Joshua said, �The vow is nullified. The vow is nullified.�

Our master Nissim opines that a ban of excommunication is called a vow. It seems that after his (R. Eliezer�s) death, they lifted the ban, and this is odd. He died on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight, and on the night after the Sabbath, they took him from Caesarea to Lydda to bury him. Then R. Akiba eulogized him, �My teacher, my teacher, the chariot of Israel and its riders�.

How did he learn Torah in great poverty after he left his father�s house? He would eat red dirt. You will find this at the end of the Tanna, below.

Our master Hananel wrote why they didn�t appoint R. Eliezer, appointed R. Eleazar b. Azariah to be the prince. was his disciple, but he was very old, and it is written in the chapter ehad dinei mamonoth one doesn�t appoint an old man to the Sanhedrin, or a eunuch or someone who has no sons, or a cruel person. We could then ask, why did they not appoint R. Dosa b. Harkinas in light of his knowledge.

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But I say because of three reasons, that he separated himself from the sages in Lydda, and he held the opinions of the school of Shammai, and he disagreed with Rabban Gamliel, (that was the reason that R. Joshua gave), and also because of his wealth.

In the first chapter of AZ, that he was seduced to sin of listening to the words of heresy with pleasure. In the Tosefta, in chapter two of Hulin that he was seduced by heresy with pleasure. Keep away from ugliness and from anything resembling ugliness, do not go near her door. In the chapter Elu mutarin that his sons were very handsome because of modesty in marital relations. This is also in Kallah.

In the chapter Habone, the Tosafoth quoted Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer, that he studied Torah as an adult, in other words, that he didn�t begin to study until he became an adult. Still, his wisdom and his good qualities were uncountable. even if all the sky were parchment, and all the trees of Lebanon quills, and the water of the seas ink, it would not be enough his wisdom.

He knew three hundred laws the white spot on skin and planting of gourds by words and great secrets, but this did not make him haughty, just as R. Akiba, his disciple , and he was very sharp-witted.

You already know of the famous story (see chapter Hazahav), when he was cursed, and he submitted because of his piety. Then shortly thereafter his brother-in-law Rabban Gamliel died.

They called him Shamuti, and Rashi interpreted that R. Eliezer was cursed. His interpretation is at the beginning of Niddah, and he gave a second interpretation shamuti>, as he belonged to Shammai School (see JT, in the first chapter of Terumah). The Tosafoth wrote that R. Eliezer was a disciple of Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, he belonged to Hillel school in all his rulings, except for well-known laws, and these are four (see Niddah) which are ruled according to Shammai School. When he disagrees with R. Akiba, his disciple, the right interpretation is that of R. Akiba (see chapter Keizad mevarhin).

His son was named Horkenus as his father. In the chapter Havit, R. Judah relates an incident involving Horkenus, the son of R. Eliezer b. Horkenus. At the end of the chapter Arba mittoth when he approached the hour of his death he removed his phylacteries Friday evening at twilight. Then four sages came to him � R. Tarphon, R. Jose the Galilean, R. Eleazar b. Azariah, and R. Akiba. It says in Sifri that they said to him, �You are more beneficial to Israel than the sun and the rains, and a father and a mother�. Then he said, at the hour of his death, that R. Akiba would die a violent death. R. Joshua said, �One does not reply to the Lion after his death. Blessed be he as he increased greatly Torah in Israel�. In Sanhedrin it says, follow R. Eliezer to Lydda.

R. Joshua b. Hananiah the Levite a cantor in the Temple (see in Arachin and in Sifri). He was esteemed in the house of the emperor (see Elu trefoth). He did three great things for the king. (Also in the first chapter of Bechoroth), he spoke and flew in the air of heaven (see also in chapter Arba Mithoth in Sanhedrin).

The JT relates many things R. Joshua b. Hananiah, and the name that he made for himself, how he prayed for a certain Jew to beget , and he merited to become the R. Judah b. Bathyra.

In the Tosefta in the fifth chapter of Sotah R. Joshua said, �Thus did R. Judah b. Petiri expounded�. In the chapter six R. Judah also quotes b. Petiri. R. Joshua was the head of the Court of Rabban Gamliel, as we see in the chapter Meruba.

When Ezra went up he fined the Levites, so the people wouldn�t give them their tithes because they did not go up , as it says �but found no Levites� (Ezra 8: 15). If they would go up, would the Holy One, Blessed be He, not have done miracles for them? So said Resh Lakish �If she is a wall we will build her a silver tower�. Because they were lazy, the Holy One, Blessed be He became angry with Israel and all the things of the second Temple were weak.

It says in Yevamoth, that initially the Levites were officers, as it says, �The Levites are officers�, but now even that appointment is not given to them.

For his Torah , Rabban Gamliel used to give R. Joshua b. Hananiah the tithes. Although during that time they used to give it to R. Eleazar b. Azariah who was a priest, (see in the first chapter of Kidushin, and in the fifth chapter of Maaser Sheni, and in the chapter shnaim ohzin). He was the head of the court, as I have stated above.

Afterwards, I found in the commentary of the Mishna, at the end of Ma�aser Sheni which was written by our master Asher, of blessed memory, that they gave him the first tithing, because he was very poor, (see in Horaiyot and also in Berachoth), and they didn�t fine the poor.

Or, in the opinion of R. Akiba, that at first, before the fine, the collection of tithes was specifically for the Levites, and after the fine, also for the priests, and what was not given to him was for the tithing for the poor, because �He who gives his gifts to one priest brings famine to the world�. Even if he had 200 zuz, he could take of the first tithing. I have seen a proof that a person who has 200 zuz should not take charity. The proof is � 199 zedaka, the Hebrew word for charity> may take, but not more�.

Because of him the princedom was transferred from Rabban Gamliel to R. Eleazar b. Azariah; because of three things that Rabban Gamliel troubled him with (see Rosh Hashanah, and in Bechoroth, and in the chapter Tefilath Hashahar). He was a pahmi. Our master Hananel said he made needles and his work involved charcoal (see on peham ). R. Simeon Duran, Panim Hadashot, wrote that it is inconceivable that he was a charcoal burner because he was the head of the court. Rather, he did not have a nice house. Anyway, JT says specifically, that he worked with coal. I found in the chapter Tamid nishhat that he was a needle maker. But in chapter two of Ma�aser Sheni R. Akiba says, �I changed for Rabban Gamliel and R. Joshua their monies into golden dinars, from the second tithing�. Apparently, R. Joshua became wealthy. Rashi explained burned charcoal, and there are others who say a blacksmith, and others say that he made needles.

In the opening chapter of AZ Rashi exaggerated his qualities and explained that he was so involved in Torah that he did not wash his clothes or his body.

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He commented that great wisdom in an ugly vessel, and he called R. Zerah �black pot�, and it does not seem nice to me.

In the fourth chapter of Halachoth Derech Eretz Raba an incident about four sages who went into the royal inner and there was there one philosopher who was their colleague. These were : Rabban Gamliel, R. Joshua, R. Eleazar b. Azariah, and R. Akiba. R. Joshua said to Rabban Gamliel, �Would you like to go and greet our colleague the philosopher?� He replied, �Yes, etc.� They came to him and he said to them, �Peace be with you, sages of Israel, and to Rabban Gamliel, first etc�.

R. Joshua was great in the palace. He was ugly, for the Caesar�s daughter said to him � such wonderful wisdom in such an ugly vessel?� He responded with the example that wine will not keep in a silver vessel.

Every in the Mishna simply R. Joshua, it means R. Joshua b. Hananiah, and likewise his colleague, simply R. Eliezer, it means R. Eliezer b. Horkenus, for these two alone taught much Torah to Israel, and had many disciples. He was in Pekiin. Go after R. Joshua to Pekiin, and go after R. Eliezer to Lydda. For such sages as the three remaining disciples of R. Johanan ben Zakkai we have not found, who were such sharp thinkers, and who multiplied Torah in Israel.

They were foretold about the World to Come. I mean Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai and his five disciples and their disciples, as it says in Hagigah. The law according to R. Joshua, whenever he disagrees with R. Eliezer. He served in the Temple as a Levite (cantor). R. Johanan b. Godgada, his colleague, was a gatekeeper.

It seems that he lived to be very old, because he survived R. Eliezer, as I have said above, and, as we see, survived Rabban Gamliel, his adversary. He wanted to invalidate rulings after his death, but R. Johanan b. Nuri would not let him, and stood up against him, as see in the chapter Bakol mearvin.

His nephew was a great sage. His name was R. Hananiah the nephew of R. Joshua, he was named after his grandfather. He is mentioned in all the Baraithas. The Baraitha calls him simply �Hananiah�, (see chapter mi shehoziuhu and in Niddah) and he taught in the time of Rabban Gamliel and R. Joshua his uncle. At the end of Berachoth that he lived for years and did not leave someone like himself in the country. �Justice, justice shall you seek�... follow R. Hananiah the nephew of R. Joshua to the Diaspora.

R. Joshua b. Memel expounded R. Joshua b. Hananiah. In the Tosefta, in the fifth chapter miNazir, R. Eleazar said, �I found R. Meir and R. Judah b. Bathyra the head , who would sit and discuss laws. R. Judah said that for a quarter of blood, a Nazirite does not shave, and he is not guilty of bringing impurity to the temple. R. Meir said to him, �Should this be a lighter than an insect? an insect, everyone is considered guilty of bringing impurity to the temple. Is it not the law that a quarter of blood is more serious ?� B. Bathyra was silent before him. I said to R. Meir, �Do not degrade him. You are very familiar with Joshua b. Memel.� He said �Yes. He was a master of the laws�. I told him in the present tense, in the name of R. Joshua, �For any that a Nazir shaves, he is obligated bringing the Temple�, and I see things his way�.

that R. Joshua b. Memel expounded R. Joshua b. Hananiah is in chapter Kohen Gadol veNazir. It is enough to quote the first and last in the chain of transmission of a law, the intermediate do not have to be mentioned. R. Eleazar quoted R. Joshua, but he actually meant R. Joshua b. Memel, who R. Joshua b. Hananiah.

R. Nahman said, �Same thing with quoting Nahum the Scribe, who received from R. Miasha, who received from the pairs and from the prophets the laws Moses received on Sinai. Among these were Caleb, who was the elders, and Joshua, who received from Moses, but they are not mentioned. Apparently, if a sage refers to someone, this doesn�t mean that it was his teacher. Maybe he was his teacher�s teacher, but he remembered .

Understand, that was handed down from a teacher who was not his teacher, as was said of R. Johanan and R. Simeon ben Yohai in the chapter Esh Nohalin. As for Joshua it was said, �Blessed is she who bore him�. Rashi expounded that was the cause of his wisdom. While she was pregnant with him, she would pass by the 24 houses of study in her city and would tell them �Pray for mercy for this unborn child, that he should become wise� (see in Yevamoth JT). He had great knowledge in the Chariot and a miracle was performed for him.

R. Jose the Priest was very pious and knowledgeable of the holy Chariot, (see in the second chapter of Hagigah). He went with R. Joshua, and a miracle was performed for them, and the ministering angels would come down. He told these things to Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai and he said, �You are blessed, and your mothers are blessed, that I and you and your disciples and the disciples of your disciples will sit in the third group�. This means the three groups that sit before the Divine presence. In the Mishna in Eduyoth only.

In the sixth chapter of Tractate Semachot, an incident about Joseph the priest whose wife died on the eve of Passover, and he became defiled against his will. In this case, Rambam is right, but Doroth Olam is wrong when he said that this is R. Jose the Galilean, because R. Jose the Galilean was a colleague of R. Akiba. Similarly, our master Asher wrote, in the chapter Elu naaroth that the law is according to R. Akiba, as R. Jose the Galilean was his colleague.

R. Simeon b. Netanel who was fearful of sin, I have not seen much to expand upon. He was the son-in-law of Rabban Gamliel the Elder, and it is enough that he was blessed to be among the five disciples of Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai who were foretold about the World-to-Come.

R. Eleazar b. Arach was �an overflowing spring�. He was very sharp-witted, and you already know that he (in the opening chapter of Hagigah) to his teacher Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, on the Divine Chariot. He was good to preach and good to act properly. �Blessed is Abraham our forefather that Eleazar b. Arach is one of his descendants�. In addition to this, his teacher praised him in Avoth. In chapter five of Terumoth, he explained laws (see in the Tosefta). In Sabbath they said (at the end of the chapter Havit) one was drawn after wine and forgot his learning, and afterwards tried to read, and would say instead �this month for you� - �their heart will be deaf�, and in this is the secret.�

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He is called R. Nehorai, who enlightened sages in Law. They quote, �R. Nehorai says �Be an exile to a place of Torah.�� It should not happen to another as it happened to him. In the following , with God�s help, when we get to R. Meir, we will say whether he has the same name. The truth is in accordance with Rashi , that R. Nehemiah is R. Nehorai, and not R. Meir, and not R. Eleazar b. Arach.

Some identify him with R. Eleazar Kalir, the liturgical poet, about whom the Midrash says �He is karuy and learned and writes liturgical poetry�. as the Rashba wrote, he was a hazan and, explained Aruch, an exegete and preacher. Our master Asher wrote (in the end of the chapter Ein Omdin), as they used to say zachreinu so they used to say kerovah in the first three.

R. Eleazar Kalir was from the Land of Israel, from Kiriat Sefer. Then they would sanctify according to a sighting, for they had not yet set any Kerovah for the second day.

Some identify R. Eleazar b. Simeon with Kalir. Pesikta says, at his death, R. Eleazar b. Simeon was eulogized as �all the spices of the merchant�, since he was a scholar of law, and a singer (hazan) and preacher and a liturgical poet, and he established the Kerovoth. Up to this point, these are his words.

[Samuel Sholem says that this is impossible, because I have found, in an Ashkenazi festival prayer book, Kerovoth for the seventh day of Passover initials �I Eleazar the son of Jacob Kalir from Kiriat Sefer, and understand it]. In the Aruch, it is explained that Kalir is a derivative of cake, and he was called the Kalir because he ate cake with a wisdom charm.

In Midrash Ruth R. Nehorai quotes R. Nechemiah saying, �In the Shema there are 248 words, etc.� but there are only 245 words, the leader of the prayers repeats �Your God in truth�.

R. Eleazar b. Arach died before his colleagues, as we see in the Tosefta, chapter six of Nedarim. �R. Joshua said to R. Akiba, �It is a pity that you did not experience Sabbath of Repentance with R. Eleazar b. Arach, when he said the mikveh will prove etc.

In the chapter Kol Basar, our master Tam wrote that R. Eleazar Kalir is R. Eleazar b. R. Simeon b. Yohai.

Rabbi Haninah b. Antigonus the priest is in Sifra. He lived in the days of R. Akiba and R. Ishmael. In the chapter Ad kama in Bechoroth that R. Judah and R. Jose had some doubt regarding the laws of purity, and they sent to the son of R. Haninah b. Antigonus to ask him, because he was a great sage and observed the laws of purity.

Rav listed R. Haninah b. Hachinai among the sages of the first generation, before the generation of R. Akiba, but it actually is not so. In chapter two of Hagigah we see that he preached in front of R. Akiba, for every disciple would preach in front of his teacher. He was a colleague of R. Simeon, a disciple of R. Akiba. In the chapter Ba siman R. Simeon said, �R. Haninah b. Hachinai found me in Sidon. I told him �When you�ll come to R. Akiba� etc.� Also, said that the four sages of Yavne b. Azzai and b. Zoma, Eleazar b. Mathias and R. Haninah b. Hachinai.

In chapter Al af pi that he decided to go and study Torah he was married, and left a little daughter. He came to R. Simeon b. Yohai, at the end of his marriage feast. They became friends. R. Simeon had wanted to go together , and Haninah b. Hachinai went and sat and learned for 12 years, until he forgot return to his home. He entered his home suddenly; his wife saw him and savi liva, which means that her heart stopped. In the same chapter masavi leafa, meaning her soul departed, but he prayed to the Blessed Name and she was healed.

Similarly, in Leviticus Rabbah, in the portion Bazoth Yavo that R. Haninah b. Hachinai and R. Simeon b. Yohai went to learn Torah with R. Akiba thirteen years. R. Haninah�s wife sent that his daughter had matured, and R. Akiba prophesied and said to him that he should go and marry off his daughter. He went and entered suddenly etc.

Anyway, it means that Rav was wrong .

There are those who say that he was among the Ten Martyrs, and there are those who say that he was not among them, that it was R. Judah the Nachtom, and not R. Haninah b. Hachinai.

R. Judah b. Abba is mentioned in chapter six of Eduyoth together with R. Judah the priest. I did not know who he was, but Rav listed him in the first group of sages, and if not, Rav listed R. Judah ben Abba among the 91 .

Regarding R. Judah b. Bava another person. I would say it is the same one. Bava and Abba are the same. I am very astounded as to why Elu Doroth did not mention him. R. Judah b. Bava was a great and holy sage, close to the sages, and highly esteemed. You can see that chapter six of Eduyoth says that R. Judah b. Abba gave testimony five rules, and in the chapter Tefilath Hashahar in the Gemara says that it was Judah b. Bava, and R. Judah b. Bava was one of the Ten Martyrs. He lived 70 years, and from the age of 8 till 70 he did not sleep but the sleep of the horse. In his days he did not pronounce something impure pure. He fasted for 56 years, and on the day that he was killed there was an old man whose name was R. Reuben b. Estrubali, who wanted to die in his stead, but he did not want and he was fasting and pure.

The second group after the Destruction R. Tarphon the priest. In chapter four of Semachot an incident involving R. Tarphon, that his wife died and he said to her sister etc. In the Gemara in Moed Katan the same story is related about R. Jose the priest, and both of them are priests etc. and there is no doubt . We have already expounded most of the matters and his wisdom, when we spoke about priests.

In the chapter Haomer that R. Judah b. Nehemiah pronounced a law in the presence of R. Tarphon, and he (R. Tarphon) was silent and R. Judah�s face glowed. R. Akiba said to him, �Your face glowed because you have retorted an Elder. I will be surprised if you live a long life�. R. Judah b. Ilai said that this just before Passover, and by Azereth (Pentecost) he had already passed away, may his memory be blessed.

R. Akiba b. Joseph was a righteous convert and the greatest among the sages.

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(See the first chapter Sanhedrin>, Dinei Mamonoth, and in the opening chapter of AZ). In the book Toledoth Adam, which showed generations and their leaders, as he reached the generation of R. Akiba, he rejoiced in his Torah and was saddened by his death, and referred to him the verse, �How precious to me are your thoughts�.

He said about the ten tribes that they would never return. R. Johanan said that R. Akiba betrayed his usual piousness. At the end of chapter Doroth Olam he was the head of the academy after Rabban Gamliel died, until his death, and after him Rabban Simeon b. Gamliel, the father of Rabbi was the head .

In Sifri , �The sons of Aaron, the priests will sound .� R. Akiba said, � pure-minded and had no blemishes.� R. Tarphon said, �I�d cut my son off if I have not seen my mother�s brother limp on one leg, and sound the trumpets�. He said to him, �Perhaps this was at the assembly on the Day of Atonement and the Jubilee year.� He said to him, �As you did not make up , blessed is Abraham our forefather that R. Akiba is one of his descendents. Tarphon, did see, and forgot, and R. Akiba, find it out by yourself, and agreed with the Law. To separate from you, is to separate from life�.

It is difficult for me how, if R. Akiba was a converted descendent of Sisera, the army commander of the king of Canaan, he could be a descendent of Abraham. Perhaps Joseph, his father, married a daughter of Israel of the seed of Abraham, since he was the head of the academy . In retrospect, it must have been that his mother was from Israel, in accordance with the Writ, � from your own brothers�. He lived to be 120 years old, as we have said, and he was the head of the academy. He married the daughter of Kalba Savua during the time of the Temple, and lived until Beithar was conquered, 52 years after the destruction of the Temple, or 73 years, according to Doroth Olam.

At the end of Sifri that for 40 years he served the sages, and 40 years he was a leader of Israel. The Rambam, of blessed memory, said, at the end of Mishpatim, that he attended to ben Koziba, the king of Beithar, and thought he was the Messiah. However, in the Midrash we have not found that he attended the king. Since he was of the tribe of Judah, and fought wars and made heroic deeds and was victorious, he thought he was the Messiah. He referred to him �A star will come out of Jacob, etc.� he noticed that he could not smell evildoers, as it says, �He will smell the fear of God etc�. He despaired of him, as this is the great advantage of the Messiah against the gentiles. R. Zemach commented that Kozbian coins are the name of the city, as it says, �It was at Kezib� Similarly, it says in the Mishna, �From Egypt to Kezib.� In the beginning of chapter Hagozal, Rashi says that Kozbian are Jerusalem that were minted by b. Koziba, but they are of Jerusalem.

In the chapter Chelek that he ruled two and a half years. He said that he was the Messiah, and as he had not this sense of smell, he was killed. In Rashi�s commentary to the chapter Haarel in the JT, that when Beithar was destroyed, the horn of Israel was hewed down, and will not return in the future until the coming of the son of David, and the authorization of the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

R. Akiba was called otzar balum, (a hidden treasure), which means to say that he picked up all sorts of learning and then clarified each individual matter separately. The Tosafoth, in the chapter Hamekabel are of the opinion that otzar> balus, with �S� as in isah balusa (a mixed dough), and not with �M�, because then it would mean his testimonies must be stopped.

Four were known as his teachers, and the main one was R. Eliezer the Great. He learned Talmud with R. Eliezer and mountains of deduction from R. Joshua, it seems after the death of R. Eliezer. We have already said that R. Joshua survived R. Eliezer, and said, �One does not reply to the Lion after his death.� In the second chapter of Hagigah, Nahum of Gamzu is the teacher of R. Akiba for 22 years, and in BR?? (Genesis Rabbah?), portion 23 (High Priest). He was mentioned in the chapter Seder Taaniyot and in the chapter Chelek in Sanhedrin that he was very learned in miracles and that he was frail and blind because of the incident of the pauper etc. This man was so called because he would always say, �This too <gam zu> is for the good.� Therefore his disciple, R. Akiba, learned from him, for he would say, �All the works of heaven are for the good� (see end of Berachoth). In Aruch in the article on Gamzu there are those who interpret that the name of a place. In Chronicles, there is a man from the villages of Gamzu. Our master Nissim Gaon commented that it was because he said of every misfortune, �This too is for the good.�

His fourth teacher was R. Tarphon, but he was more like a colleague . Although, in Ketuboth they doubted it, our master Asher ruled �as R. Akiba, that R. Tarphon was his colleague�.

In the chapter Keizad mevarhin he calls Rabban Gamliel his teacher, when he said to him, �Teach us, our master�. We have already said above, that all his days he was modest and perfect, even before he learned. His prayers were answered (rather than those of R. Eliezer, as he would forbear to retaliate (in Taanioth). In the Zohar, in the portion Elu shemot (�These are the names�)� that R. Akiba sought to placate R. Eliezer, and said that he was like a servant whom the king no longer desires to speak with, and grants him his request immediately. While his teacher, R. Eliezer was like a minister whom the king loves, and does not want him to leave, and therefore does not grant his request immediately.

He was a leader and treasurer for the poor (see the opening chapter of Kidushin and chapter 5 of Maaser Sheni. (In the Mishna, in Sotah, that R. Joshua called R. Akiba the �disciple of Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai�, though he was the disciple of R. Eliezer. He called him thus out of respect to R. Akiba. However, he called R. Joshua b. Horkenus the disciple of the disciple of Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, which he was.

After he married the daughter of Kalba Savua, he sat for 24 years in the academy, and did not see her. He brought 24,000 disciples (see Ketuboth, in the chapter Al af pi, and in Yevamoth, in chapter six, Haba al yebemato�. that as they did not respect one another, they all died, between Passover and Azereth (Pentecost). There is another version that by �the approach� to Azereth (Pentecost), which is 15 days earlier, and that is Lag BaOmer, the 33^rd day of the Omer, the 18th of Iyar, after which it is permitted to marry. The mnemonic for this is �18 to the wedding canopy,� as the Michtam wrote.

[The world was desolate until he taught the Torah to the five elders, R. Meir, R. Simeon, R. Jose, R. Judah, and R. Eleazar B. Shamua. In Genesis Rabbah, in the portion yasaf Abraham , �R. Akiba had twelve thousand pairs of disciples, and all of them died at one time. Why? Because they envied one another. In the end, raised up seven � R. Meir, R. Judah, R. Jose, R. Simeon, R. Eleazar b. Shamua, R. Johanan Hasandlar, and R. Eliezer b. Jacob, and the whole land was filled with Torah.

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In the Aboth deRabbi Nathan, in the Mishna of Joseph b. Joezer, that when R. Akiba started to learn he was 40 years old. He saw a stone with a groove in it above a well. He asked, �Who carved the groove in it?� They told him the rope of bucket that passed back and forth over it every day. From this he deduced an inference from minor to major regarding himself, that if soft < rope> could cut hard , words of Torah, which are as strong as iron, all the more so can they engrave themselves on a heart which is flesh. He immediately returned to learn Torah].

In the opening chapter of Yevamoth, R. Dosa b. Harkinas says to him that his fame goes from one end of the world to the other. He lived in Bene Berak (mentioned in the book of Joshua). Follow R. Akiba to Bene Berak. When he left the Land of Israel for Nehardea, there was no one left, who could intercalate Leap year and determine new moon. If we were to relate at length things that were said about him, this book could include only a few of his praises.

Remember this, do not get confused by their martyrdom, and by the laments in the festival prayer books. Though it seems he was a contemporary of Rabban Simeon b. Gamliel, this is not the case. Rabban Simeon b. Gamliel was the first killed on the day of the Destruction, and R. Akiba was almost 60 years after him. The last five were at fall of Beithar, 73 years after the destruction of the Temple. This means to say R. Judah b. Bava, R. Hananiah b. Teradion, R. Simai, R. Hotzfit, and R. Yeshvav the Scribe.

The Holy One, Blessed be He, showed to Moses that R. Akiba would come after several generations. Moses went and sat at the end of the 18 rows and heard him speak. When would say, �>From whence do you know it?� he would say, �It is a law Moses, at Sinai.� Then Moses rejoiced, and He showed him that he was as worthy as Moses, and he said to Him, �Who is holding you back?� That was when The Holy One, Blessed be He was affixing crowns to the letters, and R. Akiba would deduce mountains of laws from each crown. Then He said to Moses, �Turn around.� And He showed him that his flesh was weighed at the slaughterhouse. Rashi interprets this they combed his flesh with iron combs. He (Moses) said to Him, �Such Torah, and such is its reward?� He said, �Such is my plan�. All this is in Menachoth, in the chapter Hakometz on phylacteries.

You will see that he was right, because all the Oral law comes to us from him. The anonymous Mishna opinion is the interpretation of R. Meir. The anonymous opinion in Sifra (that is Torath Hakohanim, the laws of the priests), is the interpretation of R. Judah. Anonymous opinion in Sifri is that of R. Simeon. <Sifri is the exegesis of> last two books after Leviticus, which is the laws of the priests, , and it is called in the Talmud �the rest of the books of Rav�. The anonymous Tosefta is by R. Nehemiah. The anonymous opinion in Seder Olam is that of R. Jose. All of this is in accordance with the opinion of R. Akiba, because all of them were his disciples. Whereas the anonymous Mishna is attributed to R. Meir, in case of disagreement between R. Meir and R. Jose the law R. Jose. The author of Halachoth Olam and the Baraithas did not explained any more. This is not the general rule, because in Sanhedrin, in the chapter Dinei Mamonoth, on bar Hamma who killed a man, R. Papi says, �This only applies when the Tana did not quote anonymous rule. When he did quote the Mishna, we rule in accordance with R. Meir�. So wrote the authors.

R. Akiba was humble and accepted reproach, as see in Arachin. In Sifra, in the portion of Kedoshim, R. Johanan b. Nuri said, �I testify before the heavens and the earth that more than four or five times R. Akiba was smitten by me in front of Rabban Gamliel, when I would complain to him about him. I would know that he would love me all the more, in order to fulfill the saying, �Reprove a sage and he will love you.�

�The heart of the early is like the doorway to the hall� � this is R. Akiba, and �of the later is like the doorway to the sanctuary� � this is R. Eleazar b. Shamua. Like the eye of a sewing needle � R. Johanan etc.

R. Akiba entered Paradise, he went in peace, and came out in peace, and he knew 70 languages.

Similarly were R. Joshua and R. Eliezer, as Rashi explained in the opening chapter of Sanhedrin. He became very wealthy due to six occasions, as see in Nedarim, in the chapter Hanoder mihamevushal. He married the daughter of Kalba Savua, and afterwards the wife of Turnus Rufus, the evildoer. He was a great Greek general, who plowed the Temple. She converted and was very beautiful and had great wealth. R. Akiba prophesied this to his disciples before it happened, because he was being watched over by Heaven. He helped his father-in-law to avoid the vow. However, he did not void it, like Mar Zutra who helped to avoid the vow. He did not void it, because he was a party to the matter, (see in the JT, �He who is a party to the matter cannot void it, because it is a vow he made himself�). They taught (in Negaim), �all vows he can void except for vows he made himself,� as it is said, �He must not break his word�, but others can forgive him, even a scholar sage.

Also in Responsa, 47, R. Isaac b. Sheshet says, �There are six reasons to avoid the commandment �You shall not waive a vow� because of a future occurrence.� If a person reconsiders the vow on his own, or if he regrets its very essence, or a future occurrence etc.

You will see in Aboth a saying that all is anticipated and permission is given. How did he know the secrets of the Torah and it�s basic principles? You will also see his piety in chapter two of Eruvin. He was arrested, and R. Joshua Hagarsi ministered to him, and he did not transgress the rabbinical commandment of washing the hands. He said, �Better that I should die rather than transgress the opinion of my colleagues the sages, in my old age and in prison.�

He already knew that he would die a painful death, as we have mentioned above. When R. Eliezer died, and from the curse of R. Eliezer died also his teacher, because of the quibbling over the law regarding the Passover sacrifice. the sprinkling is forbidden, and does not supercede the Sabbath. This means to say the sprinkling of the water of cleansing from the heifer on the unclean, for �Every thing that is allowed on the eve of the Sabbath etc.� R. Eliezer replied to him, � Akiba forbade me to slaughter, his death will be by slaughtering. R. Eliezer reiterated this at the hour of his own death.

In the fourth chapter of Tractate Semachot, R. Akiba was killed in Caesarea, which was called �Little Rome�; there lived R. Abbahu in a narrow tower. When the news came to R. Judah b. Bava and to R. Haninah b. Teradion, they rent their garments. They preached, R. Akiba was not killed because he was suspected of robbery or that he had not striven with all his might in Torah, but to provide a sign . It is said, �Ezekiel will be a sign to you�, in order that a man should not be afraid of evil.�

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Within twelve months, there was not a place in Judah without its dead. When R. Haninah b. Teradion became a heretic, they sentenced him to be burned, and his wife to be killed, etc. Immediately R. Judah b. Bava and the whole affair of Beithar.

There is also the story (end of Moed Katan), when the son of R. Akiba died. His name was R. Simeon b. Akiba. He was very learned. All of Israel eulogized him. He said that he was comforted because he knew that his son is expected in the World-to-Come, because he was very learned and taught Torah and enabled many to gain merit.

In the Aboth deRabbi Nathan, in the Mishna of Jose b. Joezer, at length how R. Akiba learn at the age of forty years and how poor he was. He had sons and daughters, but his wife Rachel supported him. At the end of 16 years after 40 years he taught in public, and became wealthy. He had tables of silver and gold and would climb up to his bed on a ladder of silver, and his wife had gold jewelry. One son survived him, in the opinion of Rashi, Rashbam and the Aruch.

He was R. Joshua b. Karcha, who lived to be very old, who was with Rabban Simeon b. Gamliel, the father of Rabbi. R. Akiba is the first of the Ten Martyrs, as see in Rosh Hashanah.

In many places I have read that no one can stand in the presence of the Martyrs. Do they mean Ten Martyrs or perhaps R. Akiba and his colleagues? [The Talmud responds], �No, that is obvious, rather we refer to the martyrs of Lydda�. At the end of chapter two of Taaniyot Trajan killed Lullianus and Pappos in Laodicea. Rashi commented that they were perfectly righteous, and Laodicea is Lydda. These are �the martyrs of Lydda.� There are those who say that they were killed because of a daughter of the king, who was found dead. A death sentence was decreed against Israel. These said, �We killed her� to save Israel, and they alone were killed.

However, in the Aruch, in the article Hereg, it is expounded that Shemaiah and his brother are the martyrs of Lydda, who were killed on the 12th of Adar, which is Trajan�s day, at the end of Taanith. He mentions the story Rashi wrote, regarding a daughter of the king who was found dead. He does not explain this as Rashi, when he said that Papus and Lullianus were in Laodicea. This supports Rashi�s opinion.

However, from the chapter Kol kitvei Hakodesh it seems that Laodicea¹ is outside the Land , and it is not Lydda. In Menachoth Rashi commented on the portion �Jacob lived� and �This blessing� on the blessing of Asher. He wrote, �There is Lydda that is not in the Land , as was said in the first place, that a food of the Lydians is human flesh�.

Also, Resh Lakish sold himself to a Lydian, and the verse says �Libyans and Lydians are famous archers�. R. Eliezer stayed in Lydda that is one day from Jerusalem. In Gemara, there are supporters of both explanations.

In the article Tzav, the JT said Dinei Mamonoth, that one may transgress all the commandments rather than be killed, except for idol-worship, incest, and murder. That is in private, but in public one must not transgress even a light prohibition, such as Papus and Lullianus, his brother, who were given water in a coloured glass and did not accept it. Even though in this case the Gentiles wanted only to collect taxes, and not to force a Jew to transgress.

In Tractate Sheviith JT, in the fourth chapter, �Papus and Lullianus, who were given water etc.� as the Tosafoth says, in the chapter Klal Gadol and this is in support of the author of the Aruch.

In Genesis Rabbah, portion 65 in the time of R. Joshua b. Hananiah, after the Destrucion, when they wanted to build the Temple, in accordance with Emperor Trajan, the father of Emperor Hadrian, Lullianus and Papus brought back �trapizin� from Acre to Antiochia, and they supplied the pilgrims. �Trapizin� are tables.

At the end of Berachoth, they brought him out for execution in time for the recital of Shema. He prepared himself . His disciples said to him, �Even to this extent?� He said to them, �All my days I have been troubled by this verse, �with all your soul,� �even if He takes your soul.� Now that I have the opportunity, shall I not fulfil it?� The ministering angels said, �Such Torah, and such a reward?� die by Your hand.� He replied to them �Their portion is in life.� A Divine Voice came out of heaven and proclaimed, �Blessed R. Akiba, that your soul has departed with the word Ehad (�One�)�. This was while they combed his flesh with iron combs.

There, also, is the dispute between Papus b. Judah and R. Akiba, when a death sentence was decreed for reading of the Torah. This Papus was a great man and very learned. Israel was respected because of him. In the chapter Chelek, he is the Tanna in the Baraitha.

You already know that it is in the Midrash that R. Joshua Hagarsi was his disciple. He and Elijah, of blessed memory, buried him when they brought him back to the prison and forbade burying him. Elijah said to him, �for his sake, the priesthood is cancelled, as he died the death of commandment�.

Hanan b. Phinehas was his disciple. Joshua b. Kapusai was his son-in-law, in the time of Rabbi. They would proclaim about him in the heavens, �Beware of R. Akiba, etc.�

At the end of Kidushin, and in chapter Arba Mithoth, he said to Turnus Rufus, the evil, �The Sabatyon river will prove Sabbath�. Rashi explained a river of stones and sand that flowed all week and on the Sabbath stood calm. On the day that R. Akiba died, our holy Rabbi was born, and the sun rises.

R. Eleazar b. Azariah, the priest ten from Ezra. We have already mentioned above that he was wealthy, and would give the king 13 thousand calves from the tithing each year. This was not from the tithing of animals, because after the Destruction, it was decreed not to take tithes from among the animals, in order not to make a mistake. He was 18 years old at least 5 years after the Destruction. Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai was the Prince, and after him Rabban Gamliel. The Tosafoth expounded, as he did not object to his neighbor�s taking a cow out on the Sabbath with a rope between its horns, it was named after him, .

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The author of Michtam said on a festival day, and in the JT says wife, who was called, �his cow,� as in Samson, , �If you had not ploughed with my cow�. [Editor�s note. In the book, Reshith Chochma, in the section Teshuva (repentance) quotes JT Sabbath, �Our sages, of blessed memory quoted R. Haninah, �you went out once, and his teeth are black from the fasts.] In the second chapter of Bezah, and at the end of the Mechilta of R. Ishmael, a story a Levite and R. Ishmael, the son of R. Eleazar b. Azariah.

He was 18 years old when he was appointed Prince. There appeared on him signs of old age, and he said �I am like a 70 years old man.� In the JT, in the chapter Tamid nishhat that he was 13 years old. It seems to me that we should not accept the simple , that he was over 70 years old when he said �I am like a 70 years old man.� The JT does not mention �about 70 years old.�

In the opening chapter of Yevamoth, R Dosa b. Harkinas said to him, �Azariah our colleague has a son. They refer to him the words, �I have not seen a righteous person abandoned�, for his father was very wealthy and wise and righteous and pious. He supported his brother Samson, Samson the brother of Azariah. His son, R. Eleazar was also a great exegete, and his generation was not orphaned, but the merit of its forefathers and their riches. After he was nominated Prince he would expound one Sabbath, and Rabban Gamliel for the two Sabbaths. In the chapter Tamid nishhat in the JT , after they returned the princedom to Rabban Gamliel, R. Eleazar b. Azariah remained the head of the Court in order that he would not be lowered from his high standing.

His praises and his wisdom are too great to be recounted. He was the indubitable teacher of R. Judah b. Ilai, and is called �the Spice box�, meaning that tales and laws and every thing. You should be aware that in every place in the Talmud where a person is mentioned as repeating (tani halachta) a law, it is a reference to Mishna: so-and-so repeated Halacha, Sifra and Sifri, etc.

The tenth after R. Eleazar was R. Azariah, who was a sage, and exegete, (see chapter Kol Hamenachoth). The sages said to R. Preidah, �R. Azariah (Ezra) who is a grandson of R. Abtolos, who is the tenth from R. Eleazar b. Azariah, who is the tenth from Ezra, . Rashi refrained from commenting R. Eleazar b. Azariah was the tenth from Ezra, and Rashi held that we not deduce that the ten from Ezra arrive at R. Azariah. This is the version in Responsa 94 of R. Isaac b. Sheshet. Since R. Preidah was a contemporary of R. Ami, he says, �R. Preidah said well, �If he is learned, it is fine. If he is of good descent and learned, excellent. However, if he descended from noble ancestors, but is not learned, then may a fire consume him. They said to him, he is learned, etc.�

(In the chapter Keizad meavrin in Eruvin) 400 years of life were added to R. Preidah, and he and all of his generation life in the world-to-come, because he repeated a teaching 400 times to his disciple a second time. R. Preidah�s grandfather found a scroll (a scull?) of Jehoiakim, in which is written these and more, and it was in the time of R. Ami. Also in Megillah that he lived to be very old.

R. Ishmael � we have already at length above, and it remains doubtful whether he was a priest. Our master Hananel said that R. Joshua b. Hananiah redeemed him. It does not seem so, as he redeemed R. Ishmael b. Elisha.

R. Joshua b. Karcha, in chapter shoel in Sabbath. He himself was bald, as it is explained in the story of eunuch. The author of Aruch, however, comments that he after his father, R. Akiba, who is called the Bald one (Kireah) (see the end of Bechoroth). B. Azzai said, �All the sages of Israel are like nothing, except for that bald one.� Rashi commented similarly at the end of Bechoroth. Rashbam, in the chapter Aravei Pesahim says that in the Gemara in Sotah, he says, �except for that bald one.� In the fourth chapter of Ketuboth, in the Tosefta, a story of R. Joshua, the son of R. Akiba, who married in order that she would feed him and provide his needs and teach him Torah. When there were years of drought, they stood around and argued. She started to complain about him to the sages, and when he came to the court, he said to them, �She is more trustworthy to me than any man� She said to them, �Of course, these were the conditions of our marriage�. The sages said to her, �That means nothing.�

It seems the explanation is in Pesahim and in the opening chapter of Shebuoth, and in every place says, �R. Akiba said to R. Joshua, his son.� This is also in keeping with the length of time , about which our holy master asked him, �By what merit have you lived so long?� (see in Megillah) He lived as long as his father . In the Mishna, in Eduyoth, R. Akiba says that a father gains merit for his sons for life, for pleasantness, and for wealth, according to their nature.

He sat in the academy of Rabban Simeon b. Gamliel, Rabbi�s father. Before them sat R. Eleazar b. Simeon and Rabbi (see chapter Hasoher hapoalim). This was because R. Akiba had died, and Rabban Simeon b. Gamliel had taken over the presidency . R. Akiba�s son would sit with them. In Sabbath, in the chapter shoel, in Tosafoth, in the name of our master Tam � simply that stronger creatures live longer.� R. Akiba was not his father, but rather another man. His name was Karcha, and Karcha is a man�s name, just like Korach. He was born a long time before R. Joshua, the son of R. Akiba.

It seems more plausible to say b. Hakereach (the bald one) � a descriptive name. For one instance if b. Azzai was called this, should his son forever be called this?

In the chapter Chelek there is a R. Judah b. Karcha. Perhaps he was bald, or he was his brother.

Hananiah of Ono � Ono is three miles from Lydda, as see at the end of Ketuboth. We have already mentioned that he was of the five who argued before the sages - b. Azzai, b. Zoma, Hanan, Hananiah, and b. Nanas (in the second chapter of Maaser Sheni, and in the opening chapter of Sanhedrin). There is a version Hananiah b. Hachinai and Simeon Hateimani, instead of Hananiah of Ono and b. Nanas.

R. Simeon b. Nanas was a colleague of R. Ishmael, who praised him (end of Bava Batra). He was of the five who argued before the sages, and known by their father�s names. B. Azzai and b. Zoma because they died young men, and had not attained rabbinical ordination. says they were so called before they were ordained, and afterwards were called by their first names, R. Simeon, and as we have said regarding b. Zakkai and b. Bathyra and b. Tima. He was very knowledgeable in judgements and his decisions are as those of R. Akiba.

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R. Johanan b. Baroka was the colleague of R. Eleazar Hisma, who went to greet R. Joshua in Pekiin, during the time of R. Eleazar b. Azariah.

R. Ishmael, the son of R. R. Johanan b. Baroka is the colleague of Rabbi, during the time of R. Simeon b. Gamliel. His father with R. Haninah the son of R. Jose the Galilean, and he is mentioned in Aboth.

R. Johanan b. Godgada the Levite and the gatekeeper. At the end of the final chapter of Sukkah it says of the gatekeepers that their wages are from the showbread, and this is not permitted to any but the priests. This is not difficult [to resolve] because there were priests who were also gatekeepers, as [we] see in three places in Tractate Tamid. This Levite was a gatekeeper, and his father�s name was Godgada, as we see in the sixth chapter of Eruvin, about Judah b. Godgada. This was during the time of the Temple, as [we] see in the Tosefta, in the second chapter of Shekalim. He was in charge of locking the gates during the time of the Temple, with R. Joshua b. Hananiah the singer. He was very wise in numbers and in astronomy.

In Horayoth, there is related an incident when Rabban Gamliel and R. Joshua went in a boat and lost their way in the sea. Rabban Gamliel�s food ran out, but R. Joshua had a lot of food. Rabban Gamliel asked him why he had so much food. The Levite said, �Because there is a star that rises every seventy years and misguides the ships.� This is true. In astronomy every seventy years the stars move one degree. This is among the writings of R. Abraham b. Ezra. I have seen in the experiments of Batalmius (Ptolemy). Up until now there have been 1,370 years. Even though Batalmius calculated their movements for a hundred years, and he wears a royal crown. I wrote this to show you their true wisdom, as you will see regarding the birth of the new moon. This confounded the sages of all the nations. They said that it is exact since its creation, and until now it has not deviated even one part , because this is a divine thing, and is true. In the Beraitha of Samuel that Issachar went up to the firmament and brought 1,080 parts.

We will return to what we were , that he said to him that it (the star) misguides the ships. He said to him, since you are so wise, why did you board this ship, and why are you not wealthy? I am astounded that they who were rich have been reduced . These are R. Gamliel and R. Eleazar b. Azariah. R. Akiba said, �Don�t be astounded at me, because there are two sages on dry land, R. Johanan b. Godgada and R. Eleazar Hisma, who can calculate how many drops there are in the sea, but they have no bread to eat or clothes to wear. He said to him, �When we disembark on dry land, remind me about them, and I will appoint them to head < the academy> so that they will have a livelihood.� He sent for them and they didn�t want . He said to them, �You think that I am giving you authority. I am giving you servitude, as it is said, �If you will be a servant to this people etc.�

In Sifri, in the