Career
Foreign other people named Judah, see Judah (disambiguation). In rabbinic Jewish tradition Judah II was especially known by three ordinances decreed by him and his academy. One of these ordinances referred to a reform of the divorce laws.
This ordinance, which abrogated an old law, was recognized as authoritative in Babylonia by Samuel and, subsequently, by Rab, who at first hesitated to accept it (see Yer "Ab Zarah 41d.
"Ab Zarah 37a). Judah, however, refused to do so, alleging that he did not wish his academy to be called the "loosing court" (Avodah Zarah 37a). Judah could not carry out his intention of omitting the fast-day of the Ninth of Av when it fell on the Sabbath (Talmud Yerushalmi, Meg 70b.
Talmud Bavli Meg 2b). He was not regarded by his contemporaries as their equal in scholarship, as appears from a curious meeting between Yannai and Judah World War II (see Babylonian Talmud B B 111a, b.
Another version occurs in Talmud Yerushalmi Sanhedrin 16a, where Johanan accompanies Yannai).
