Tavi ( he, טָבִי; fl. 1st century) was the slave of

Gamaliel II Rabban Gamaliel II (also spelled Gamliel; he, רבן גמליאל דיבנה; before -) was a rabbi from the second generation of tannaim. He was the first person to lead the Sanhedrin as ''nasi'' after the fall of the Second Temple in 70 CE. ...

. Although a convert to Judaism, he was known for his acquaintance and adherence to

Talmudic law Talmudic law is the law that is derived from the Talmud based on the teachings of the Talmudic Sages. * See Talmud or Talmudical Hermeneutics Talmudical hermeneutics (Hebrew: מידות שהתורה נדרשת בהן) defines the rules and metho ...

and for his piety.jewishencyclopedia.com: Tabi
/ref> Tavi is mentioned in several instances in 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 Torah ...

. During the

Feast of Tabernacles or ("Booths, Tabernacles") , observedby = Jews, Samaritans, a few Protestant denominations, Messianic Judaism, Messianic Jews, Semitic Neopaganism, Semitic Neopagans , type = Jewish, Samaritan , begins = 15th day of Tishrei ...

, he used to sleep under the bed in the

sukkah A or succah (; he, סוכה ; plural, ' or ''sukkos'' or ''sukkoth'', often translated as "booth") is a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. It is topped with branches and often well decorated w ...

. In allusion to this habit Gamaliel observed, "Tavi, my slave, is a scholar; he knows that the law of booths does not apply to slaves, and therefore he sleeps under the bed". Yet Tavi used to wear

Tefillin Tefillin (; Modern Hebrew language, Israeli Hebrew: / ; Ashkenazim, Ashkenazic pronunciation: ), or phylacteries, are a set of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Te ...

, a duty and privilege of free men; but, his piety being known, he was not interfered with. Wishing to free him, but unable to do so since it would be contrary to the Law, Gamaliel, ostensibly by accident, put out one of his slave's eyes; then, meeting R. Joshua, he expressed his great joy at having found occasion to free his slave. Joshua, however, told him that he was mistaken, since no witnesses had been present and since he had confessed to the act himself. When Tavi died, his master received condolences from his friends, a rare occurrence in the case of slaves. It is said in

Menahem Azariah da Fano Menahem Azariah da Fano (also called Immanuel da Fano, and Rema MiPano ( he, רמ״ע מפאנו)) (1548 – 1620) was an Italian rabbi, Talmudist, and Kabbalist. Life He was a disciple of Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, to whose widow he off ...

's ''Gilgule Neshamot'' that Gamaliel's soul emanated from that of

Shem Shem (; he, שֵׁם ''Šēm''; ar, سَام, Sām) ''Sḗm''; Ge'ez: ሴም, ''Sēm'' was one of the sons of Noah in the book of Genesis and in the book of Chronicles, and the Quran. The children of Shem were Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, L ...

, while Tavi's soul emanated from that of

Ham Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...

, who was, according to the Bible,Genesis 9:25 (though this is said of Ham's son Canaan, not Ham himself) destined to be a slave to his brother. Besides, according to the lesser numerical values of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the names of Ham and Tavi both have the same numerical value, namely, twelve.

References

{{reflist 1st-century Jews Ancient slaves