Yehuda ben Ilai

Rabbi Jehuda ben Ilai (Rabbi Jehuda / or Juda bar Ilai , also: Illai , also: Elaj [abbreviation from Eleazar? Or Eljoënai?], Palestinian spelling: Judan , in the Mishnah always simply R. Jehuda or Rabbi Juda [more than 600 times]; * around 110) was a Tannait of the so-called 3rd generation, one of the most productive teachers of his time, from whom a very large number of halachic and aggadic statements have been handed down.

He is considered the main representative of his generation. Sanh 86a ascribes the basis or the anonymous statements of the halachic Midrash Sifra to him. His authority was great: with regard to the many controversies with Rabbi Meir , in practice it was always decided according to Yehuda. Also Judah the Prince , the editor of the Mishnah, was one of his students.

Jehuda ben Ilai learned from Rabbi Tarfon in Lydda as a young boy . Besides his father Rabbi Ilai I , Rabbi Akiba was his most important teacher.

He received his ordination secretly during the Hadrianic persecutions, together with four other colleagues, from Juda ben Baba , who had to pay for the illegal appointment (smicha) of the five rabbis with his death as martyrs.

After the persecution ended, Jehuda ben Ilai met with his fellow scholars in Usha , his hometown, and in Jawne . He was of a ravishing eloquence and was therefore allowed to appear as the first speaker and was subsequently given the sometimes honorable, sometimes ambiguous nickname rosch hamedabberim [bekol makom] (the first of the speakers).

He gained a certain reputation with the Romans by praising their public buildings.

He was very pious (was considered the epitome of the chasid ), very poor, had a poor diet and, apart from his studies, loved (manual) work to a great extent, as it did the worker credit. According to him, the principle was that if you didn't teach your son a craft, it was as if he were teaching him the robber's craft ( bKidd. 29a). According to some sources, he was a cooper and, in order to instill a love of work in his students, carried a self-made barrel into the room where he sat during his lecture every time he entered the classroom. He is also said to have only worn clothes that his wife had woven and tailored herself.

His motto was: "Be careful with your teaching, because an oversight is considered a willful crime." ( Aboth IV., 16).

literature

• Israel Konovitz: Rabbi Judah bar Ilai. Collected sayings. Jerusalem 1965 (Hebrew)

Web links

Commons : The Yehuda ben Ilais Tomb  - Collection of images, videos and audio files