Nittai of Arbela ( he, נתאי הארבלי) was ''

av beit din The ''av beit din'' ( ''ʾabh bêth dîn'', "chief of the court" or "chief justice"), also spelled ''av beis din'' or ''abh beth din'' and abbreviated ABD (), was the second-highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period, ...

'' or vice-president of the

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin ( Hebrew and Aramaic: סַנְהֶדְרִין; Greek: , '' synedrion'', 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was an assembly of either 23 or 71 elders (known as " rabbis" after the destruction of the Second Temp ...

under the nasi Joshua ben Perachyah at the time of

John Hyrcanus John Hyrcanus (; ''Yōḥānān Hurqanōs''; grc, Ἰωάννης Ὑρκανός, Iōánnēs Hurkanós) was a Hasmonean ( Maccabean) leader and Jewish high priest of the 2nd century BCE (born 164 BCE, reigned from 134 BCE until his death in ...

(r. 134–104 BCE).

Name

Yer. The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...

Hag. II 76d he is called Mattai of Arbela, which is also found in ancient and linguistically reliable manuscripts of the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tor ...

, such as Codex Kaufmann, Codex Parma A and the Cambridge Codex (edited by W. H. Lowe). The confusion in the rendering of his name seems to be due to faulty textual transmission, i.e. the Hebrew mem being separated graphically into two parts, which looked, respectively as a nun and a yod, thus Mattai became Nittai. Arbela was a city of the

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Gali ...

not far from

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...

Teachings

halakhot ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical command ...

of his are extant, but some of his

apothegm An adage (; Latin: adagium) is a memorable and usually philosophical aphorism that communicates an important truth derived from experience, custom, or both, and that many people consider true and credible because of its longeval tradition, i.e ...

s have been preserved in such sources as

Pirkei Avot Pirkei Avot ( he, פִּרְקֵי אָבוֹת; also transliterated as ''Pirqei Avoth'' or ''Pirkei Avos'' or ''Pirke Aboth''), which translates to English as Chapters of the Fathers, is a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims from ...

; these afford a glimpse of his character, to wit: "Distance thyself from a bad neighbor; consort not with an evil man, nor despair at tribulation." Avot i.7. These bitter utterances contrast sharply with the gentle maxims of his colleague Joshua ben Perachyah. Nittai seems to have spoken thus after

had deserted the party of the

Pharisees The Pharisees (; he, פְּרוּשִׁים, Pərūšīm) were a Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs b ...

and joined the

Sadducees The Sadducees (; he, צְדוּקִים, Ṣədūqīm) were a socio- religious sect of Jewish people who were active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. T ...

, persecuting his former friends. The phrase "renounce not the hope of retribution" was perhaps intended to comfort the Pharisees with the thought that Hyrcanus himself would not escape punishment, while the other two injunctions were designed maybe to keep them from joining the Sadducees.

References

Bibliography

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

*Weiss, ''Dor,'' i. 132; *Z. Frankel, in ''Monatsschrift,'' 1852, pp. 410–413; *''id.'', ''Hodegetica in Mischnam'', pp. 33–34, Leipzig, 1859. {{Zugot 2nd-century BCE rabbis Mishnah rabbis Pirkei Avot rabbis Zugot Sanhedrin

Name

Teachings

See also

References

Bibliography

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography