| Joshua
ben Perachya (Hebrew: יהושע בן
פרחיה) was Nasi of the Sanhedrin in
the latter half of the second century BCE. He and his colleague
Nittai of Arbela were the second of the five pairs (Zugot) of scholars
who received and transmitted the tradition (Avot i.6; Haggigah 16a).
At the time of the persecution of the Pharisees by John Hyrcanus
(r. 134-104 BCE), Joshua was deposeda disgrace to which his words
in Men. 109b apparently allude. (According to the entry on Yeshu,
it was Alexander Jannaeus, not John Hyrcanus whose persecution he
fled: In Sanhedrin 107b and Sotah 47a a Yeshu is mentioned as a
student of Joshua ben Perachiah who was sent away for judging a
woman by her physical appearance. This happened during their period
of refuge in Egypt during the persecutions of Pharisees 88-76 BCE
ordered by Alexander Jannĉus.) He fled to Alexandria, Egypt; but
he was recalled to Jerusalem when the persecutions ceased and the
Pharisees again triumphed over the Sadducees (Sotah 47a). The same
passage refers to a pupil of Joshua's who according to some scholars
may have been Jesus (comp. Krauss, "Das Leben Jesu," p.
182, Berlin, 1902). Only a single halakhah of Joshua's has been
preserved (Tosef., Maksh. iii. 4), besides the following ethical
maxim which shows his gentle judgment of his fellow men and his
eagerness to spread knowledge among the people: "Get thee a
teacher; win thee a friend; and in judging incline toward the side
of innocence" (Avot i. 6). |