Ben Zakkai (article preview)

Ben Zakkai appears in Sanhedrin 40a, but I don’t know who he is. The Mishnah states that whoever increases in bedikot, examinations of witnesses about tangential details of the event, is praised. Indeed, in one incident, Ben Zakkai asked about the stems of figs where the event, such as a murder, took place.

Is Ben Zakkai the famous Tanna and Nasi, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai? The Talmudic Narrator entertains that notion in Sanhedrin 41a, then notes a problem, drawing on braytot and Amoraic statements found elsewhere in Shas. A brayta taught that Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai lived for 120 years. For forty years, he dealt in business (prakmatya); for another forty, he studied; and for another forty, he taught. Another brayta states that forty years before the Second Temple’s destruction, the Sanhedrin was exiled from the Chamber of Hewn Stone. When considering the import of this statement, Rabbi Yitzchak bar Avdimi, a first generation Amora of the Land of Israel, explained: they stopped adjudicating fines. The Talmudic Narrator expresses astonishment that they wouldn’t deal with fines, and revises this to mean that they wouldn’t judge capital cases.