רבי ישמעאל ברבי יוסי

Rabbi Yishmael b’Rabbi Yosi, a tanna of the fifth generation, was the son and foremost talmid of Rabbi Yosi ben Chalafta, and learned as well before Rabbi Yehuda. Four of his brothers were chachamim: Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Chalafta, Rabbi Avtilus and Rabbi Menachem. In his later years he sat before Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, learned Torah from his mouth and ate at his table, and much of his father’s Torah reached Rebbi through him; the two of them learned Eichah and Tehillim together. He was a chaver of Rabbi Chiya and the rebbe of Rabbi Chanina bar Chama. English works call him Ishmael ben Jose.

His grasp of Tanach was such that he could write out the whole of it from memory, and as a dayan he was known for complete integrity. Rebbi applied to him the verse in Yeshayahu that promises the treasures of Tzor to those who dwell before Hashem, saying it speaks of men like Rabbi Yishmael, who hold themselves of small account. His own teaching on judging ran the same way: a man should not sit in judgment by himself, for only One judges by Himself. One who holds back from sitting in judgment, he taught, strips from himself enmity, robbery and false oath, while a man coarse in issuing rulings is a fool and a wicked man. When some wished to rule that Bavel is of lesser yichus than Eretz Yisrael, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi sent Rabbi Chanina bar Chama to settle the matter, and he showed them from what he had received in the name of Rabbi Yishmael b’Rabbi Yosi, in the name of his father, that Bavel is the better attested of the two.

The authorities pressed him into service as an officer who seized thieves, a task forced upon him by the king against his will. When Eliyahu HaNavi met him he rebuked him — how long will you hand over the people of Hashem to be put to death — and instructed him to flee to another city.

He left Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi three pieces of counsel: not to enter into business with a group of three, lest one of them bring him to din and the other two testify falsely for their fellow; not to stand haggling over a purchase with no money in hand; and a caution regarding the first night after his wife’s tevilah. The two also weighed the halachot of ribbit together, each giving weight to the other’s view. At Kfar Chananya — then called Kfar Anan — the traveler Rabbi Shmuel b’Rabbi Shimshon noted around 1210 the graves of Rabbi Chalafta, his son, and his son’s son; that grandson is taken to be Rabbi Yishmael.