JÖHÄNÄN BEN ZAKKAJ. – ANNATA (v.) of the first half of the 1st century A.D. The title Rabbān, “our master,” by which he is designated, denotes the authority he enjoyed. He was Hillél (v.), but also of Šammaj. A native of Arab, in Galilee, he was head of the tribunal for 18 years; around 50 he was called to join the great tribunal of Jerusalem. There he delivered his lessons in an open square in the shadow of the Temple. In opposition to the Sadducees, he Pharisees (v.) to prevail in theory and practice.
The reports according to which J., a pacifist from the outbreak of the war against the Romans, is said to have left Jerusalem in a coffin and reached Vespasian to predict his appointment as emperor, are legendary in character. It is also of little historical value that, 40 years before the national catastrophe, J. is said to have said at the sight of the Temple, whose doors were opening of their own accord: “O Temple, O Temple, why are you frightened and frightening us? We know that you must perish!” The Roman official who was favorable to J. appears to have been M. Antonio Giuliano, lieutenant of Judea during the wartime period, mentioned by Minucio Felice (Octav., 33, 4) as the author of a work De Iudaeis.
Toward the end of the war (ca. 70), J. Iamnia (v.) and there prepared, by means of new institutions that sometimes met with opposition from priestly circles, the transition from sacrificial worship, which had fallen together with the Temple, to spiritual worship.
On his deathbed J. had a vision of King Ezechia, for whom he had a seat brought. With the death of J., it was said, the splendor of wisdom was extinguished forever.