Judah II
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Judah II or Nesi'ah I was a
Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish sage who lived in
Tiberias Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...
in the
Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...
, in the middle of the third century CE. He is mentioned in the classical works of Judaism's
Oral Torah According to Rabbinic Judaism, the Oral Torah or Oral Law () are statutes and legal interpretations that were not recorded in the Five Books of Moses, the Written Torah (), and which are regarded by Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jews as prescriptive ...
, 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 ...
and
Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
. There he is variously called "Judah," "Judah Nesi'ah" (= "ha-Nasi"), and occasionally "
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 t ...
" like his grandfather,
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 ...
. As
Judah III Judah III (or Nesi'ah II; Hebrew: יהודה נשיאה; יודן נשיאה), Yudan Nesiah, was a prominent Jewish sage, who held the office of ''Nasi (Hebrew title), Nasi'' of the ancient Jewish Sanhedrin between about 290 and 320 CE (fourth gene ...
is also designated as "Judah Nesi'ah," it is often difficult, sometimes impossible, to determine which one of these patriarchs is referred to.


Biography


Youth

Various stories of Judah's youth, referring to him and his brother Hillel, have been preserved. As youths, Judah and Hillel visited Cabul and Biri, each time behaving in ways which offended the local population.


Relations with other scholars

He had especially friendly relations with Hoshaiah. Together with Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, he assisted at Laodicea in the reception of a female proselyte into Judaism. Jonathan b. Eleazar was his companion at the baths of Gadara. The relations between the patriarch and
Rabbi Yochanan :''See Johanan (name) for more rabbis by this name''. Johanan bar Nappaha ( Yoḥanan bar Nafḥa or Napaḥa), also known simply as Rabbi Yochanan or Johanan bar Nafcha (180–279 CE), was a leading rabbi and second-generation '' Amora'' duri ...
, the leader of the Academy of
Tiberias Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...
, seem to have been friendly; Yochanan accepted the regular material support offered to him by Judah. Yochanan also induced Judah to visit Shimon ben Lakish, who had fled from Tiberias in consequence of having made offensive remarks in regard to the dignity of the patriarchate, and invite him to return. On another occasion, it was Shimon ben Lakish who succeeded in softening Judah's indignation toward a daring preacher, Jose of Maon, who had denounced the rapacity of the patriarchal house. Shimon ben Lakish, moreover, seems to have exhorted the patriarch to unselfishness, saying "Take nothing, so that you will have to give nothing o the Roman authorities. Simeon ben Lakish also reminded Judah of the need of providing for elementary education in the various cities, referring to the saying, "A city in which there are no schools for children is doomed to destruction".


Standing among other scholars

Judah's authority as patriarch was not absolute: he could not carry out his intention of omitting the fast-day of
Tisha B'Av Tisha B'Av ( ; , ) is an annual fast day in Judaism. A commemoration of a number of disasters in Jewish history, primarily the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusal ...
when it fell on the Sabbath. He was not regarded by his contemporaries as their equal in scholarship, as appears from a curious meeting between him and R. Yannai. However, Judah was not so unimportant as might appear from this, since Shimon ben Lakish (who was not his pupil) hands down a whole series of halakhic teachings in the name of "Judah Nesi'ah". Shimon ben Lakish doubtless survived Judah and repeated his traditions. Shimon handed down also some of Judah's aggadic teachings. The passage (Nazir 20c) referring to Simeon ben Lakish as "sitting before Judah" and explaining a midrash does not refer to him as a pupil, but as a member of the college. This view is supported by Avodah Zarah 6b, which speaks of Shimon as "sitting before Judah Nesi'ah"; here the patriarch asks Shimon what to do in a certain case, and Shimon clearly appears as the better halakhist, not as Judah's pupil. Judah's relations to the scholars of his time appear from the following disagreement between Judah and the rabbis: "One said: 'The time is adapted to the leader 'parnas''; the other said: 'The leader is adapted to the time'". It was probably Judah who said that the leader is adapted to the time, and that he must not be blamed for his own incapacity. In the above-mentioned meeting between Judah and Jose of Maon it was Jose who said, "As the time, so the prince." On another occasion, Judah openly confessed his incapacity. Once during a drought he had ordered a fast and prayed in vain for rain. Thereupon he said, "What a difference between Samuel of Ramah and Judah, the son of Gamaliel! Woe to the time which has such a tent-peg, and woe to me that I have come at such a time!" Rain soon fell in consequence of this self-abasement.


Relations with Origen

Grätz identifies Judah's brother Hillel, with the "patriarch Joullos" ('Ιοῦλλος πατριάρχης), with whom
Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...
conversed at Caesarea on Biblical subjects. But as Hillel himself was not a patriarch, it may be assumed that it was Judah who conversed with Origen. Origen probably misread ΙΟϒΛΟΣ (''Joulos'') for ΙΟϒΔΑΣ (''Joudas''). This assumption agrees with the above-mentioned statement about Hoshaiah's close relations with the patriarch, for it may be assumed as a fact that Hoshaiah had contact with Origen at Caesarea.


Teachings

In halakhic 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. Especially famous was the decree permitting the use of oil prepared by pagans, incorporated in the Mishnah with the same formula used in connection with decrees of Judah haNasi—"Rabbi and his court permitted". This ordinance, which abrogated an old law, was recognized as authoritative in Babylonia by
Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...
, and subsequently by Rav, who at first hesitated to accept it. Simlai, the famous aggadist, tried to induce Judah to abrogate also the prohibition against using bread prepared by pagans. Judah, however, refused to do so, alleging that he did not wish his academy to be called the "losing court".


Quotes

*If not for the breath of children in the house of their schoolmaster, the world could not exist.Shabbat 119b
/ref>


See also

* Judah I — ''5th generation tannaic sage.'' *
Judah III Judah III (or Nesi'ah II; Hebrew: יהודה נשיאה; יודן נשיאה), Yudan Nesiah, was a prominent Jewish sage, who held the office of ''Nasi (Hebrew title), Nasi'' of the ancient Jewish Sanhedrin between about 290 and 320 CE (fourth gene ...
— ''4th generation amoraic sage.'' * Judah IV — ''6th generation amoraic sage.''


References

with the following bibliography: * Grätz, Gesch. 2d ed., iv. 241 et seq.; * Frankel, Mebo, pp. 92a et seq.; * Weiss, Dor, iii. 65 et seq.; * Halevy, Dorot ha-Rishonim, ii. 36 et seq. and passim; * Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. iii. 581. {{DEFAULTSORT:Judah Ii Talmud rabbis of Syria Palaestina 3rd-century rabbis People from Tiberias Sanhedrin