Yose ben Dormaskos
YOSE BEN DORMASKOS
YOSE BEN DORMASKOS (second–third century c.e.), tanna. "Dormaskos" refers to his birthplace, Damascus, as he himself stated (Sif. Deut. 1). The Aramaic form Darmesek occurs also in the Bible (i Chron. 18: 5–6; in Kid. 39a the reading is "ben Durmaskah"). Yose is mentioned once only in the Mishnah (Yad, 4: 3; cf. Tosef., Yad. 2:16), not as the author of a halakhic statement, but as transmitting information from the academy of Jabneh to Eliezer b. *Hyrcanus in Lydda. Yose b. Dormaskos tended to follow the plain meaning of the Bible and explicitly dissociated himself from farfetched interpretations. He used to say with regard to these interpretations "Why do you distort the verses?" (Sif. Deut. 1). Most of his sayings are in aggadah (Mekh. Shirah 2, et al.). One baraita (Ḥul. 67b) which states in his name that the leviathan is a clean fish is also based upon a biblical verse. Another halakhah, that "the law of *orlah does not apply outside Ereẓ Israel", he transmitted in the name of Yose *ha-Gelili (Tosef., Or. end).
bibliography:
Hyman, Toledot, s.v.
[Jacob Eliahu Ephrathi]