Judah ha-Nasi

Judah ha-Nasi (Hebrew: יְהוּדָה הַנָּשִׂיא‎, 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 tanna of the fifth generation) and chief redactor and editor of the Mishnah. He lived from approximately 135 to 217 CE. He was a key leader of the Jewish community in Roman-occupied Judea after the Bar Kokhba revolt.

The title nasi was used for presidents of the Sanhedrin. He was the first nasi to have this title added permanently to his name; in traditional literature he is usually called "Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi." Often though (and always in the Mishnah) he is simply called Rabbi "my teacher" (רבי), the master par excellence. He is occasionally called Rabbenu "our master". He is also called "Rabbenu HaQadosh" "our holy master" (רבנו הקדוש) due to his deep piety.

Judah was born in 135 in the newly-established Roman province of Syria Palaestina to Simeon ben Gamaliel II. According to the Talmud, he was of the Davidic line. He is said to have been born on the same day that Rabbi Akiva died as a martyr. The Talmud suggests that this was a result of divine providence: God had granted the Jewish people another leader of great stature to succeed Akiva. His place of birth is unknown.

Judah spent his youth in the city of Usha in the Lower Galilee. His father presumably gave him the same education that he had received, including Koine Greek. This knowledge of Greek enabled him to become the Jews' intermediary with the Roman authorities. He favoured Greek as the language of the country over Jewish Palestinian Aramaic. In Judah's house, only the Hebrew language was spoken, and the maids of the house became known for their use of obscure Hebrew terminology.

Judah devoted himself to the study of the oral and the written law. He studied under some of Akiva's most eminent students. As their student and through conversation with other prominent men who gathered about his father, he laid a strong foundation of scholarship for his life's work: the editing of the Mishnah.

His teacher at Usha was Judah bar Ilai, who was officially employed in the house of the patriarch as judge in religious and legal questions. In later years, Judah described how in his childhood he read the Book of Esther at Usha in the presence of Judah bar Ilai.

Judah felt especial reverence for Jose ben Halafta, the student of Akiva's who had the closest relations with Simon ben Gamaliel. When, in later years, Judah raised objections to Jose's opinions, he would say: "We poor ones undertake to attack Jose, though our time compares with his as the profane with the holy!" Judah hands down a halakhah by Jose in Menachot 14a.

Judah studied from Shimon bar Yochai in Teqoa, a place some have identified with Meron. He also studied with Eleazar ben Shammua. Judah did not study with Rabbi Meir, evidently in consequence of the conflicts which distanced Meir from the house of the patriarch. However, he considered himself lucky even to have seen Meir from behind.