Jose ben Zimra (or Jose b. Zimra;

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 ...

: רבי יוסי בן זמרה) was Jewish rabbi of the 2nd-3rd centuries (sixth generation of

tannaim ''Tannaim'' ( Amoraic Hebrew: תנאים "repeaters", "teachers", singular ''tanna'' , borrowed from Aramaic) were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also refe ...

), who lived during the transition period between the eras of the

and the

amoraim ''Amoraim'' ( , singular ''Amora'' ; "those who say" or "those who speak over the people", or "spokesmen") refers to Jewish scholars of the period from about 200 to 500 CE, who "said" or "told over" the teachings of the Oral Torah. They were p ...

. He was a

kohen Kohen (, ; , ، Arabic كاهن , Kahen) is the Hebrew word for "priest", used in reference to the Aaronic Priest#Judaism, priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. They are traditionally believed, and halakha, halakhically required, to ...

. He came from a privileged background family and his son married

Judah haNasi Judah ha-Nasi (, ''Yəhūḏā hanNāsīʾ‎''; Yehudah HaNasi or Judah the Prince or Judah the President) or Judah I, known simply as Rebbi or Rabbi, was a second-century rabbi (a tannaim, tanna of the fifth generation) and chief redactor and e ...

's daughter. According to some, he was a descendant of

King David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

. Most of his teachings deal with 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 ...

, and most of them were delivered by his student

Eleazar ben Pedat Eleazar ben Pedat () was a second and third-generation amora or Talmudist from Babylon who lived in Syria Palaestina during the 3rd century. He became a scholar at the Talmudic academy at Tiberias, where he was held in great esteem and served ...

, in Jose's name. He spoke frequently against the sin of

lashon hara ''Lashon hara'' (or ''loshon horo'', or ''loshon hora'') (; "evil tongue") is the halakhic term for speech about a person or persons that is negative or harmful to them, even though it is true. It is speech that damages the person(s) who is tal ...

.For example: Arachin 15b
Vayikra Rabbah 16:4
/ref>

Grave

The

moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...

Kerem Ben Zimra Kerem Ben Zimra () is a moshav in northern Israel. Near Safed in the Upper Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Merom HaGalil Regional Council. In , it had a population of . History The moshav was founded in 1949 by immigrants to Israel f ...

is named after him, due to a modern tradition that he is buried in that area. Beginning in the 14th century, a certain "Zimra" is attributed to the area, which eventually evolved into a tradition that Jose ben Zimra was buried there. The 14th-century ''Travelogue of a Student of Nachmanides'' records:

We traveled two parasangs from Gush Halab to
Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'', an upcoming film by Sally Potter * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' ( ...
, and by the road, half a parasang from Gush Halab, was Rabbi Zimra.

Moses Bassola (1523) wrote:

We went to the place called Ras al-Ahmar, and there on a tall hill is Rabbi Zimra with a tomb built over him, from which one can see most of the Galilean heights.

PikiWiki Israel 4337 Tomb of Rabbi Yossi Ben Zimra

This tradition was later expanded to included Jose ben Zimra as well. Moses Yerushalmi (1769) wrote:

Ras al-Ahmar: The village is a ruin, but Rabbi Zimra and his son Rabbi Yose ben Zimra are buried there beneath a cairn, and not far from there is a cave in which twenty geonim are buried.''Yedei Moshe'' (Amsterdam, 1769), no page numbering. Original Yiddish: ראם אל אחמר דאש דארף איז חרוב. דארטן ליגט ר' זמרא ור' יוסי בן זמרא אונטר יין שטיין הויפן ניט דר פון אויף דער לינקי זייט איזט איין מערה ליגן דרינן צעהן גאונים. MS JTS p. 17. For translation into Hebrew see previous note.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jose Ben Zimra Mishnah rabbis