The Torah Atlas

person · P0074

Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas רבי דוסא בן הרכינס

Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas is portrayed as an elderly, wealthy authority whose memories reached back to earlier traditions. He appears in major Yavneh-era disputes over calendar authority and levirate law. Pirkei Avot preserves a concise ethical teaching attributed to him.

I. Who

Hebrew
רבי דוסא בן הרכינס
Also known as
Dosa ben Harkinas
Era
tannaim
Generation
T1
Colleagues
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah, Rabban Gamliel of Yavneh

II. When

Traditional
c. 3750–3860 AM, spanning the late Second Temple and early Yavneh periods
Academic
fl. late 1st century CE.
Lifespan (traditional)
≈110 years
Precision
approximate

V. How do we know

ClaimEvidenceConfidenceSources
Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas taught that morning sleep, midday wine, children's conversation, and sitting in assemblies of the ignorant remove a person from the world.
Directly stated in the cited source.
 rabbinic ★★★★★
When sages visited him regarding the co-wife of a daughter, the Bavli portrays him as very old and wealthy and warmly receiving Rabbi Yehoshua.
The cited source supports this summary; minor wording or identification details are interpretive.
rabbinic ★★★★☆
Dosa denied issuing the disputed permissive ruling, explained that it came from his brother Yonatan, and testified to a received tradition in the name of Chaggai supporting the position of Beit Hillel.
The passage explicitly presents Dosa's testimony; the chain back to Chaggai is itself a rabbinic tradition.
rabbinic tradition ★★★★☆
In the calendar dispute, Dosa initially said the witnesses accepted by Rabban Gamliel were false, but later joined Rabbi Akiva in persuading Rabbi Yehoshua to accept the authority of Rabban Gamliel's court.
Directly stated in the cited source.
 rabbinic ★★★★★
The traditional placement c. 3750–3860 AM, spanning the late Second Temple and early Yavneh periods, is a schematic Mesorah Atlas reconstruction from his portrayal as an aged authority participating in Yavneh-era controversies; the cited sources do not state an absolute AM range.
The cited sources establish relative chronology or regnal duration; they do not state the absolute AM range.
tradition reconstruction ★☆☆☆☆