Biography
Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas was a Tanna active in the Land of Israel around the turn of the second century CE. He appears as a regular voice in tannaitic halachic discussion, recorded most often expressing his own dissenting or qualifying position against the anonymous majority.
The cited passages show the breadth of his halachic interests. In matters of prayer, he is remembered for the view that one may pray an abridged form of the eighteen benedictions—the formula known as Havineinu (Orach Chaim 110, drawing on the Mishnah). He figures prominently in the laws of tahora and the impurity conveyed within a tent (ohel), where in Chullin 124b he takes a lenient stance—declaring pure where the Sages declare impure. He also rules on the qualifications and disqualifications of priests and on the Yom Kippur service (Vayikra Rabbah 21, Keritot 6a), on bodily blemishes that disqualify (Bekhorot 43b), on the obligation of the first shearing (reishit ha-gez, requiring a particular minimum quantity of wool, Chullin 135a), and on identifying permitted animals by horns and hooves (Chullin 59b).
His positions in the laws of menstrual impurity (niddah) are likewise the subject of analysis, with the Talmud weighing whether anonymous teachings reflect his view and the precise scope of his disagreement with the Sages (Niddah 4b, 9b). In several instances the Talmud concludes that the law does not follow his opinion (Chullin 26b).
Sources & notes. Approximate date and region per Wikidata.
Where traditions differ. Some passages cite a 'Rabbi Dosa' or 'Rabbi Dosa bar Tevet' (e.g., Shir HaShirim Rabbah 7) without the full name including his father, 'ben Harkinas'; whether every such citation refers to this same sage is not certain from the supplied material.
רבי דוֹסָה בֶן הַרְכִינָס היה תנא מהדור הראשון לתנאים, והיה בן דורו של רבן יוחנן בן זכאי, והאריך ימים וחי גם בדור השני לתנאים. הוא סתם רבי דוסא במשנה.
Dosa ben Harkinas was of the first generation of the Jewish Tanna sages, proceeding from the era of the Zugot. Contemporary to Yochanan ben Zakai, he was active during the era of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, and lived to an old age, even after the destruction of the Second Temple. He died approximately 60 years after the destruction of the temple.
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