Biography
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai stands at the hinge between the Second Temple era and the world of Chazal that succeeded it, active in Judaea and Yavne in the generation when Jerusalem was destroyed. The cited passages portray him above all as a teacher who probed the reasons behind the commandments: he is recorded answering his disciples as to why the Torah treats a thief more severely than a robber (Mekhilta/Noach), and explaining the verse on “whole stones” of the altar as stones that make peace between Israel and tHashem (Yitro). When a gentile challenged the rite of the para aduma as resembling sorcery, it is Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai whom the midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah) records giving a reasoned response.
The biggest historical significance of RYbZ is that he agreed to the Roman demands to move the sanhedrin (of 70 scholars) from the highest court in Jerusalem down to Yavne (near the coast) for the sake of avoiding bloodshed.
Sources & notes. Dates, places, teachers, and students per Wikidata.
רבן יוחנן בן זכאי היה מגדולי התנאים בתקופה שסביב חורבן בית שני. היה תלמידו של הלל הזקן, וכמו רבו, היה איש שלום הסולד ממלחמה.
Yohanan ben Zakkai, sometimes abbreviated as ריב״ז ribaz for Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, was a tanna, an important Jewish sage during the late Second Temple period during the transformative post-destruction era. He was a primary contributor to the core text of Rabbinic Judaism, the Mishnah. His name is often preceded by the honorific title Rabban. He is widely regarded as one of the most important Jewish figures of his time, and his escape from the Roman destruction of Jerusalem may have been instrumental in Rabbinic Judaism's survival post-Temple. His tomb is located in Tiberias within the Maimonides burial compound.
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