רבי נתן הבבלי

Rabbi Natan, called Rabbi Natan HaBavli, was a tanna, the son of the Reish Galuta of Bavel. Leaving behind the standing that awaited him there, he went up to Eretz Yisrael and sat as av beit din of the Sanhedrin at Usha, under the nasi Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel. He was known as a dayan who descends to the depth of the din; a foundational principle of monetary halacha bears his name to this day, “shibuda d’Rabbi Natan.” He was also expert in hilchot milah, ruling when a brit must be delayed for the infant’s safety — even after two children of one family had died following milah, he showed when the brit could safely be held, and infants so saved were called Natan HaBavli after him. The nasi entrusted him, together with Rabbi Yitzchak, with the mission to Rabbi Chananya, who had begun to fix the calendar in Bavel; the mission succeeded, and the authority of the Sanhedrin of Eretz Yisrael stood firm.

The Gemara tells that Rabbi Natan and Rabbi Meir, slighted by a change in the honors of the beit midrash, sought to unseat Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel with questions from the difficult Masechet Uktzin; the plan was uncovered, the two were put out of the beit midrash, and they were readmitted only on condition that their rulings be brought without their names — Rabbi Natan as “yesh omrim,” some say, and Rabbi Meir as “acherim omrim,” others say. In the next generation Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, learning who those “others” were, restored their names in the beit midrash.

Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi was his great bar plugta in halacha, and yet Chazal say Rabbi Natan assisted him in the assembling of the Mishnah and was held by him in honor. Avot d’Rabbi Natan, an expanded telling of Masechet Avot, carries his name. Among his sayings: there is no love like the love of Torah; and if a sapling is in your hand and they tell you that Mashiach has come — plant the sapling first, and then go out to greet him.