הרב יהושע בן זירוז

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Zeruz was a tanna. He appears in tractate Shabbat (147a) in a discussion brought by Rav Dimi, where, while Rabbi was out in a field with the two ends of his tallit resting on his shoulder, Yehoshua ben Zeruz remarked that for such a case Rabbi Meir did not obligate a sin-offering. Rabbi responded that Rabbi Meir was precise in his ruling up to that point, and then let his tallit down.

The passage records Yehoshua ben Zeruz as a son-in-law of Rabbi Meir. An alternate version, brought by Ravin, identifies the figure instead as Yehoshua ben Kefusai, the son-in-law of Rabbi Akiva, with the remark referring to Rabbi Akiva’s ruling. A further version, brought by Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yehuda, states that the matter was posed as a question rather than a statement.