Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: יוחנן בן נורי) was a '' tanna'' of the 1st and 2nd centuries.

Biography

He initially studied under the watch of Rabban Gamliel of Yavne and senior of

Rabbi Akiva Akiva ben Joseph (Mishnaic Hebrew: ; – 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. Rabbi Akiva was a leadin ...

, and later took up residence in

Beit She'arim (Roman-era Jewish village) Beit She'arim (; / Bet Sharei), also Besara (),Rogers (2021), p. 534 was a Jews, Jewish village located in the southwestern hills of the Lower Galilee, during the Roman Empire, Roman period, from the 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE. At on ...

. A great halakist, always provided with satisfactory answers to all questions, he was familiarly called "pedler's basket" or "bundle of halakot"; the number and diversity of halakot cited under his name in the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

alone, about 40, justify those titles. Besides exhaustive rabbinical knowledge, he acquired familiarity with the general science of his time, especially

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

. It was said of him, as of his colleague R. Eleazar Chisma, that he could approximately state the number of drops contained in the sea. Also like R. Eleazar Chisma, he was very poor. Through the influence of R.

Joshua ben Hananiah Joshua ben Hananiah ( ''Yəhōšūaʿ ben Ḥănanyā''; d. 131 CE), also known as Rabbi Yehoshua, was a leading tanna of the first half-century following the destruction of the Second Temple. He is the eighth-most-frequently mentioned sage in t ...

both were appointed by

Rabban Gamliel Gamaliel the Elder (; also spelled Gamliel; ''Rabban Gamlīʾēl hazZāqēn''; ''Gamaliēl ho Presbýteros''), or Rabban Gamaliel I, was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the early first century CE. He was the son of Simeon ben Hillel an ...

to remunerative offices. Rabbi Johanan showed himself grateful to Rabban Gamliel. When, after that patriarch's death, Rabbi Joshua proposed a change in a rule established by Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Johanan opposed him: "I have observed that the head is always followed by the body; as long as Rabban Gamliel lived we observed the rule laid down by him, and now you propose to veto his directions. Joshua, we shall not listen to you". Close scholarly relations also existed between him and R.

Halafta Helpetha I (), commonly mispronounced Halafta, was a rabbi who lived in Sepphoris in the Galilee during the late 1st and early 2nd centuries CE (second generation of tannaim). He was the father of Jose ben Halafta, Jose ben Helpetha and Shimon ben ...

. He was very pious, and therefore later rabbis said that when one dreams of Rabbi Johanan ben Nuri one may hope to develop a wholesome fear of sin.

Teachings

In his discussions of halakhot, Rabbi Johanan considered expediency and economy as well as law and authority. When

Rabbi Tarfon Rabbi Tarfon or Tarphon (, from the Greek Τρύφων ''Tryphon'' literally "one who lives in luxury" Trifon), a Kohen, was a member of the third generation of the Mishnah sages, who lived in the period between the destruction of the Second Te ...

declared that only

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

was appropriate for the

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

-lamp, Rabbi Johanan became impatient: "And what shall the

Babylonians Babylonia (; , ) was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as an Akkadian-populated but Amorite-ru ...

do where none but sesame-oil is to be had; and what shall the Medians do, who have nothing but nut-oil; and the Alexandrians, who have nothing but radish-oil; or the Cappadocians, who have only naphtha?". On another occasion, when

suggested that a married woman who has become the common talk of the "spinsters by the moon" ought to be divorced, Johanan remarked, "In that case there is no chance for a daughter of Judah to live with a husband! Only where infidelity is fully established by legal evidence may a divorce be imposed". In the

aggadah Aggadah (, or ; ; 'tales', 'legend', 'lore') is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporat ...

he is not often cited.Jewish Encyclopedia article for Yochanan ben Nuri
by

Solomon Schechter Solomon Schechter (‎; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the ...

and S. Mendelsohn. Some of his halachic teachings are notable even though they are not accepted in practice. He ruled that not only the

five species 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

of grain, but also rice and millet, could become

chametz ''Chametz'' (also ''chometz'', ', ''ḥameṣ'', ''ḥameç'' and other spellings Transliteration, transliterated from ; ) are foods with leavening agents that are forbidden to Jews on the holiday of Passover. ''Chametz'' is a product that is b ...

. He ruled that in the

mussaf Mussaf (also spelled Musaf or Musof) is an additional service that is recited on Shabbat, Yom Tov, Chol Hamoed, and Rosh Chodesh. The service, which is traditionally combined with the Shacharit in synagogues, is considered to be additional to t ...

prayer of

Rosh Hashana Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summer/early autu ...

, the ''malchuyot'' verses should be recited in the third blessing (''kedushat hashem'') rather than the fourth (''kedushat hayom'').Mishna Rosh Hashana 4:5

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johanan ben Nuri Mishnah rabbis 1st-century rabbis 2nd-century rabbis Year of birth missing Year of death missing