רבי יונה בוצרייא

Rabbi Yona of Botzra (רבי יונה בוצרייא) is recorded in the classical Aggadic literature. In the Tanchuma-style midrash on Ki Tisa he opens with the verse “For Hashem is judge, putting down one and raising up another” (Psalms 75:8), and together with the Rabbis he interprets that verse as referring to Aaron—reading the same language as describing how Aaron was both lowered and lifted up in connection with the episode of the golden calf.

His aggadic voice also surfaces in expositions tied to other passages: a teaching on “And Hashem tested” (Genesis 22) likening the trial of the righteous to flax that improves the more it is beaten when it is of good quality, and several comments preserved in Kohelet Rabbah on the verses praising joy and the eating and drinking spoken of “in Torah and good deeds.” These citations characterize him as a darshan engaged with the moral and theological meaning of Scripture rather than with legal disputation.