Jochanan ben-Zakkai

(1st century AD)

   Palestinian tanna. Jochanan played a key role at a crucial moment in Jewish history. He studied under HILLEL the Elder, and was elected head of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. His pupils included the leading scholars of the next generation, and his standing as a teacher was so high that it is said he had to conduct his classes in the open plaza before the Temple. In religious and legal matters, he was the spokesman of the

   Pharisees, the party of the rabbis in opposition to the Sadducees, the rigid establishment party of the priests and landowners. In 66 the great Jewish revolt broke out against the Romans. By 69 the Roman general VESPASIAN had subdued most of the country and was preparing to besiege Jerusalem. Jochanan realized that further resistance would be useless. He feigned death, was carried out of the city in a coffin by two of his pupils, and made his way to Vespasian. Legend has it that he greeted the Roman with the words: ‘Peace unto thee, Caesar’, just before a messenger arrived with the news that Vespasian had been proclaimed by his troops in Egypt as the new emperor. Jochanan obtained permission to settle in the small town of Jabneh near the coast. Here he gathered a group of rabbis and pupils and started an academy. Meanwhile Vespasian had returned to Italy and handed over the Judean campaign to his son Titus. In 70, after bitter fighting against its Zealot defenders, the city was taken and destroyed, with the Temple. It was Jochanan and his little band of scholars at Jabneh that kept the flame of Judaism alive. He revived the Sanhedrin and led the reorganization of Jewish life after the catastrophe. As soon as the political situation permitted, Jochanan handed over the leadership to the nasi Gamaliel II and went to Beror Chayil near Ashkelon. Here he set up a college and a bet din (religious court), and many of his pupils were with him there until his death a short time afterwards.

   Jochanan was the only rabbi to be addressed as Rabban, a title otherwise reserved for the nasi.