Yose ben Zimra
YOSE BEN ZIMRA
YOSE BEN ZIMRA (second century c.e.), Ereẓ Israel scholar belonging to the last generation of tannaim and the first generation of amoraim. According to one tradition, Yose was a priest (Yoma 78a). His daughter married the son of R. Judah ha-Nasi (Ket. 62b). His halakhic sayings are few, most of his dicta belonging to the sphere of aggadah, and they occur in the Talmuds and the Midrashim (and once even in the *Mekhilta). His sayings are usually transmitted in his name by Johanan and, particularly, by Eleazar b. Pedat. His statement "If all the inhabitants of the world were to assemble, they could not create a single gnat and put life into it" (tj. Sanh. 7:19, 25d), directed against sorcerers and magicians, was used against the alleged miracles of sectarians, apparently Christians, who were very common in Ereẓ Israel in his day. He particularly censured talebearers and scandalmongers, whom he compared to those who deny the very foundations of religion (Ar. 15b).
He interprets the word va-yiven in Genesis 2:22 to indicate that "woman is endowed with more understanding (binah) than man" (Gen. R. 18:1).
bibliography:
Hyman, Toledot, 722f.; Bacher, Pal Amor; Allon, Meḥkarim, 2 (1958), 36f.; Ḥ. Albeck, Mavo la-Talmudim (1969), 161.
[Moshe David Herr]