One of the phrases most famous attributed to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Jananiápreserved in the Gemara (Bavá Metziá 59b) and cited as an emblem of rabbinic thought, is the following:

“Lo bashamayim hi” — The Torah is not in heaven.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Jananiá (Joshua ben Ḥananyah): life, work and teachings

1) Identification and historical context

• NameRabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananyá (also “Rabbi Joshua”).
• Time: Tanaíta late, late s. I and the beginning of the s. II d. C., the generation immediately after the destruction of the Second Temple (70 ce. C.). Date of death cited by several works: c. 131. d. C. (datum traditional).
• Lineage and craft: Levite; sources rabbinical remember him as part of the singers leviticus of the Temple.
• Teacher and circle: One of the five main disciples of Rabban Yoḥanán ben Zakkai; central figure of the sanhedrin reconstituted in Yavne/Jamnia after the fall of Jerusalem.
• Generational bridge: It is a hinge between the judaism of the Temple and rabbinic judaism post-Temple; principal teacher of Rabbi Akiva according to the Encyclopedia Judaica (JVL).

2) Biography synthetic and career

• Childhood and training: Traditional accounts say that your mother was carrying a child to the house of study to “accustom your ears to the Torah”; “blessed is she who gave birth to him”, praised him and his master.
• Public function: Protagonist of the center rabbinical from Yavne; acts on missions and discussions with authorities and wise non-jews (e.g., “Elders of Athens”; dialogues with roman emperorsin the tradition attributed to Hadrian).
• Character and reputation: Famous for the acuity dialectic and ingenuity in disputes with pagan philosophers; the stories highlight the quick response.

3) Contributions halájicos and institutional key

3.1 Authority calendaria and community unity

• Episode Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur (Mishnah RH 2:8-9): Disagreed with the calculation of Rabban Gamliel II on the fixing of the month; Gamliel, as nasi, ordered him to report “with pole and bag” on the day that Yehoshua was Yom Kippur. Yehoshua finally adheres to avoid calendars parallel and preserve the judicial authority. Text and exegesis: Mishnah and comments.
• Historical reading: JVL underlines the tension between institutional authority and autonomy of the wise, and how the story legitimizes the leadership of the nasi at the time.

3.2 Principle of “Lo bashamayim hi” — autonomy interpretative

• In the famous “Oven Ajnaí” (BM 59a–b), the babylonian tradition presents to the wise —with R. Yehoshua as voice the paradigmatic— stating that the halacha is decided in the earth by a majoritynot voices, heavenly: “It is not in heaven (Deut 30:12)”. Sources and texts: Talmud and collections.
• Scope: This principle reinforces the legal process rabbinical pos-Temple, with the rules of debate and voting, and limited appeals charismatic.

3.3 Position before gentiles and proselytes

• Traditions tanaíticas and amóricas attributed to a vision relatively inclusive: recognition of “righteous of the nations with a portion in the world to come” and favorable attitude toward proselytesin contrast with lines that are more restrictive.

3.4 Practice, work, and leadership

• Sources describe that arguing with your ex-officio (e.g., needles/blacksmith), highlighting its proximity to the common life and its criticism of leaders and aristocratic disconnected.

4) ethical Teachings (Pirkei Avot) and intellectual style

4.1 Maximum Avot

• Avot 2:8-9: Among the disciples of Rabban Yoḥanán, Yehoshua is what commends with “Blessed is she who gave birth to him”. In the exercise of “the best way and the worst way”, Yehoshua answers:
  • Best: “a good friend”;
  • Worst: “a bad friend”.
    These formulas ethical underscore the relationality as a factor in moral decisive.

4.2 Method

• Predilection for parables and insights in public disputes (e.g., “Elders of Athens”, Bekhorot 8b), combining logical reasoning and rhetoric to defend the Torah to the public, pagan and authorities.

5) Relations and disputes

• With Rabban Gamliel II: in addition to the the event calendar, traditions amóricas narrate tensions over whether Arvit is mandatory or optional, which empty into the temporary removal of Gamliel; these stories reflect discussions later on academic authority.
• With Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus: poles competing in the “Oven Ajnaí” —authority of the majority versus charismatic authority of the individual—, y-axis theological about the instead of divine intervention in the legal decision.
• With the greco-roman world: traditions show in dialoguing with emperors (attributed to Adriano), and challenging the “Elders of Athens”as a symbol of the justifying intellectual jewish in the roman era.

6) doctrinal Issues and lines of thought

1. Community unity and legal authority: Preference for avoid schisms (in the case of the calendar) even at the expense of his own position, to hold collective institutions.
2. Epistemology halachic: The law is defined by method and mostnot by miracles; human responsibility in the interpretation.
3. Opening ethics: Recognition of the under among the gentiles and assessment of good friend as a moral criterion.
4. Pedagogy public: Use of parables and discussion to translate the Torah to audiences large and hostile, in defense of the dignity intellectual jewish.

7) Legacy

• In the rabbinic tradition, his death marks the end of the “good advice” in Israel (Sotah 49b), the image that captures your role statesman of knowledge.
• Your leadership model —firm on principles, pragmatic governance— has influenced the transition of judaism sacrificial the textual-legal.
• The maximum “Lo bashamayim hi” became cornerstone the right rabbinical: the Torah as the human project under the authority of the academic community.