Eliezer Ben Hyrcanus (c.40-before 120 Ce)
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ELIEZER BEN HYRCANUS (c.40-before 120 CE)
Rabbi sometimes called Eliezer the Great; in Talmudic literature he is most
often referred to as Rabbi Eliezer. A native Jerusalemite,
he first showed signs of genius after becoming a student in
his twenties. According to his teacher, Johanan ben Zakkai
(q.v.), Eliezer then outshone all other pupils in memorizing
traditional sources like "a plastered well that retains
every single drop." Together with Joshua ben Hananyah, he
was responsible for Rabbi Johanan's escape (in a coffin)
from
which the Roman general Vespasian gave permission for the
Sanhedrin's reestablishment at Yavne. Eliezer became one of
Yavne's foremost sages after the destruction of the
in 70 CE, undertook various overseas missions, and once
accompanied Rabbi Johanan on a journey to
He founded an academy of his own at Lydda, where the most
famous students were Rabbi Akiva (q.v.) and
Proselyte who produced a Greek version of the Bible for
Diaspora Jews.
A dynamic but inflexible personality, Eliezer ben Hyrcanus
seems to have followed the
legal conservatism and anti-Roman outlook. While ready to
accept genuine proselytes, he distanced himself from
heathen, advocated minimal social contact with them, and
believed that his wrongful arrrest on one occasion was the
punishment ordained for his thoughtless approval of a
Judeo- Christian teaching. When Eliezer defied a majority
vote by the Sanhedrin on a legal issue (c. 97 CE), his
brother-in- law, the Patriarch Rabban Gamliel II (q.v.),
proclaimed a ban excluding him from the company and
deliberations of fellow sages. This unusually severe decree
embittered Eliezer until his dying day.
Not only did the sages mourn Eliezer's passing, they also
rescinded the ban and reaffirmed many of his decision which
became authoritative legal rulings. Eliezer's great prestige
and contribution to rabbinic lawmaking are widely
demonstrated by: the recurrence of his name in the Mishnah;
numerous debates in the Talmud arising from his legal
opinions; the support given to him by a heavenly voice (Bat
Kol) in his fateful controversy with Rabban Gamaliel and the
other sages; and, centuries later, the ascription to him of
the midrashic work Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer ("Chapter of Rabbi
Eliezer.") One of his memorable injunctions was to "repent
one day before your death," in other words, as a daily
routine. "Know before Whom you stand!" (another celebrated
aphorism) is a text often displayed on the reader's platform
or lectern in synagogues. J. Neusner, Eliezer Ben Hyrcanus:
The Tradition and the Man, 1973. Y. Gilat, Rabbi Eliezer ben
Hyrcanus: A Scholar Outcast, 1984.
Clemens, had embraced the Jewish faith.
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