Background
Few details are known of his life, and those that exist combine fact with legend.
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Johanan ben Zakai
Edit ProfileEducation
He seems to have studied in Jerusalem, but it is related that for eighteen years he was in the town of Arav in Lower Galilee.
Career
To his chagrin, during all that time, he was only twice asked for his views on matters of Jewish law, causing him to condemn the attitude of the Galileans to the Torah. He then moved to Jerusalem, where he taught and, as a prominent Pharisee, took part in controversies with the Sadducees. He was involved in abolishing the ordeal of the wife suspected of adultery (Num. 5) and perhaps also in discontinuing the ritual of beheading a heifer in cases of unsolved murders (Deut. 21). His life centered on teaching and he held that “a Jew was born to study Torah.”
When the Romans besieged Jerusalem, although Johanan avoided involvement in the internecine strife that split the Jews in the city, he was convinced of the ultimate victory of the Romans and took steps to leave the beleaguered town. The story of hisescape istold informsbut the classic version relates that he was concealed in a coffin, carried out by his disciples, and subsequently appeared in the camp of the Roman general, Vespasian. He accurately foretold that Vespasian would soon be chosen emperor and in return received permission to settle in the small coastal town of Yavneh (Jamnia) where he would be permitted to teach and establish a house of prayer.
Whatever the background, his move to Yavneh and his activities there proved a revolutionary step in Jewish history. When the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE. the future of Judaism itself was threatened.
Johanan’s foundation, however, of a new center of authority made possible the continuity and transition of Judiasm to a new stage in which the synagogue, not the Temple, became the exclusive focus of Jewish public ritual. It also ensured that the festivals previously linked exclusively with the Temple would still be observed. In Yavneh, Johanan established a new seat for the Sanhedrin to continue to direct Jewish religious life, and, among other things, determining the date of the new moon on which a unified religious calendar depended.
Achievements
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He had many disciples and was one of the first rabbis to introduce mystical lore into his teachings. Deeply involved in the Temple ritual, he was responsible for seeing that its conduct did not conflict with pharisaic teaching. Inside the Temple, he devoted much time to expounding the Law to the pilgrims who flocked to Jerusalem.
Religion
As head of the religious court, he was responsible for crucial decisions and was recognized as the leader of the people at that critical time. Underhisguidance, the authority of the Pharisees was paramount and the former central role of the priests diminished. He also helped to create theology to replace the sacrificial system, teaching it had been replaced by acts of charity.
Views
Quotations:
Traditionally his last words to his disciples, before his death (c. 80) were “May you fear God as much as you fear man.”
• If you have a sapling in your hand and people say to you “Behold, there is the Messiah,” go on with your planting and only then go out and receive him.
• Israel, you are a lucky people. When you obey God’s will, no nation can rule over you. But when you do not obey His will, then you are at the mercy of every people, however lowborn.
• A fait accompli is not open to discussion.
• He who is learned and pious is like an artist with his tools ready to hand.
• If you have learned much Torah do not boast of it, because it was for that purpose that you were created.
