Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Nehemiah was a rabbi who lived circa 150 AD (fourth generation of

tannaim ''Tannaim'' ( Amoraic Hebrew: תנאים , singular , ''Tanna'' "repeaters", "teachers") were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the ''Tannaim'', also referred to as the Mis ...

). He was one of the great students of

Rabbi Akiva Akiva ben Yosef (Mishnaic Hebrew: ''ʿĂqīvāʾ ben Yōsēf''; – 28 September 135 CE), also known as Rabbi Akiva (), was a leading Jewish scholar and sage, a '' tanna'' of the latter part of the first century and the beginning of the second c ...

, and one of the rabbis who received

semicha Semikhah ( he, סמיכה) is the traditional Jewish name for rabbinic ordination. The original ''semikhah'' was the formal "transmission of authority" from Moses through the generations. This form of ''semikhah'' ceased between 360 and 425 C ...

from R'

Judah ben Baba Judah ben Bava was a rabbi in the 2nd century who ordained a number of rabbis at a time when the Roman government forbade this ceremony. The penalty was execution for the ordainer and the new rabbis. The rabbis ordained by Rabbi Judah ben Bava inc ...

The Talmud equated R' Nechemiah with Rabbi Nehorai: "His name was not Rabbi Nehorai, but Rabbi Meir." His son, R' Yehudah BeRabi Nechemiah, studied before

Rabbi Tarfon Rabbi Tarfon or Tarphon ( he, רבי טרפון, from the Greek Τρύφων ''Tryphon''), a Kohen, was a member of the third generation of the Mishnah sages, who lived in the period between the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE) and the ...

, but died at a young age after damaging R' Tarfon's honor, after R' Akiva predicted his death.

Teachings

In the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

, all anonymous sayings in the

Tosefta The Tosefta ( Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ( ...

are attributed to R' Nechemiah. However,

Sherira Gaon Sherira bar Hanina (Hebrew: שרירא בר חנינא) more commonly known as Sherira Gaon (Hebrew: שרירא גאון; c. 906-c. 1006) was the gaon of the Academy of Pumbeditha. He was one of the most prominent Geonim of his period, and the ...

said that this does not mean they were said by R' Nechemiah, but that the laws in question were transmitted by R' Nechemiah. In the Talmud, many times he disagrees with R'

Judah bar Ilai Judah bar Ilai (), also known as Yehuda bar Ma'arava (, lit. "Judah of the West") and Rabbi Judah, was a rabbi of the 2nd century (fourth generation of tannaim). Of the many Judahs in the Talmud, he is the one referred to simply as "Rabbi Judah" a ...

on matters of halacha. He is attributed as the author of the '' Mishnat ha-Middot'' (ca. AD 150), making it the earliest known

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

text on

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ...

, although some historians assign the text to a later period by an unknown author. The ''Mishnat ha-Middot'' argues against the common belief that the Bible defines the geometric ratio (pi) as being exactly equal to 3, based on the description in

1 Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the book ...

7:23 (and

2 Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sect ...

4:2) of the great bowl situated outside the

Temple of Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two now-destroyed religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusa ...

as having a diameter of 10

cubit The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term ''cubit'' is found in the Bible regarding ...

s and a circumference of 30 cubits. He maintained that the

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...

of the bowl was measured from the ''outside'' brim, while the

circumference In geometry, the circumference (from Latin ''circumferens'', meaning "carrying around") is the perimeter of a circle or ellipse. That is, the circumference would be the arc length of the circle, as if it were opened up and straightened out t ...

was measured along the ''inner'' brim, which with a brim that is one handbreadth wide (as described in the subsequent verses 1 Kings 7:24 and 2 Chronicles 4:3) yields a ratio from the circular rim closer to the actual value of .

Quotes

* "Due to the sin of baseless hatred, great strife is found in a man's home, and his wife miscarries, and his sons and daughters die at a young age."Shabbat 32b

References

Mishnah rabbis 2nd-century rabbis Mathematics writers Geometers 2nd-century mathematicians {{MEast-rabbi-stub

Teachings

Quotes

See also

References