Jose the Galilean

Who is Jose the Galilean?

Jose the Galilean was a Jewish sage who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries of the common era. He was one of the Tannaim, the rabbis whose work was compiled in the Mishna. Jose was a contemporary and colleague of Rabbis Akiba, Tarfon, and Eleazar ben Azariah. Neither the name of his father nor the circumstances of his youth are known, though his name indicates that he was a native of Galilee. He suffered from the prejudice commonly held against the Galileans by the Judeans; on one occasion a woman who wanted to make a point with him began by calling him a "stupid Galilean". When he entered the academy at Yavne, he was entirely unknown. It is also noted that he was extremely modest and addressed Tarfon as "my master". He was, nevertheless, a thorough scholar even then, and his arguments nonplused both Tarfon and Akiba. His first appearance at Yavne thus obtained for him general recognition, and the two rabbis considered him not as a pupil, but as a colleague. Akiba was obliged to endure more than one sharp criticism from Jose, who once said to him: "Though thou expound the whole day I shall not listen to thee".