Jose (Joseph) Ben Johanan

President of the Sanhedrin in the second century B.C.; a native of Jerusalem. He and Jose b. Joezer were the successors and, it is said, the disciples of Antigonus of Soko (Ab. i. 4-5), and the two together formed the first of a series of duumvirates that transmitted the traditional law; in each pair one, according to tradition, was prince-president ("nasi"), and the other vice-president, of the Sanhedrin ("ab bet din"; Ḥag. ii. 2 [16a]). One of Jose's sayings was: "Let thy house be opened wide; and let the needy be thy household; and prolong not converse with woman" (Abot i. 5). A disagreement between the two colleagues in regard to halakic decisions gave rise to the formation of two different schools (see Jose b. Joezer). Both men were opposed to Hellenism, and both belonged to the Ḥasidim. Jose b. Joezer and Jose b. Johanan were the last of the "eshkolot" (derived by some from σχολή; Rapoport, "'Erek Millin," p. 237) (Soṭah ix. 9 [47a]; comp. Tosef., B. Ḳ. viii. 13; Yer. Soṭah ix. 10).

Bibliography:

  * Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, pp. 29 et seq.;
  * Grätz, Gesch. 3d ed., ii. 274, iii. 3;
  * idem, in Monatsschrift, xviii. 20 et seq.;
  * Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, ii.;
  * Schürer, Gesch. 3d ed., ii. 202, 352, 357;
  * Weiss, Dor, i. 103 et seq.



S. S. M. Sel.