person · P0082
Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair רבי פנחס בן יאיר
Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair is remembered as a rigorous pietist, miracle worker, and moral teacher. His stories stress redemption of captives, scrupulous avoidance of untithed food, and refusal to benefit from others. A famous ethical ladder attributed to him became foundational for later Jewish moral literature.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- רבי פנחס בן יאיר
- Also known as
- Pinchas ben Yair
- Era
- tannaim
- Generation
- T5
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3880–3970 AM, in the later tannaitic period
- Academic
- fl. late 2nd century CE.
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈90 years
- Precision
- approximate
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| On his way to redeem captives, Pinchas ben Yair ordered the River Ginai to split; the Bavli says it split for him and, after further requests, for companions as well.
Miracle narrative. |
rabbinic | ★★★☆☆ | |
| His donkey refused to eat barley until it had been tithed, and the sages concluded that the animal of a righteous person would not be made to consume forbidden produce.
Miracle-ethical narrative. |
rabbinic | ★★★☆☆ | |
| The Bavli says Pinchas would not benefit from other people and, after reaching adulthood, would not even eat at his father's table.
The cited source supports this summary; minor wording or identification details are interpretive.
|
rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| A baraita in his name gives a ladder beginning with Torah leading through caution, diligence, cleanliness, separation, purity, piety, humility, fear of sin, holiness, divine inspiration, and resurrection.
Directly stated in the cited source. |
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi invited Rabbi Pinchas to dine with him; Rabbi Pinchas initially agreed but ultimately departed after seeing dangerous white mules on the property.
Concrete meeting between the two figures. |
rabbinic tradition | ★★★★☆ | |
| The traditional placement c. 3880–3970 AM, in the later tannaitic period, is a schematic Mesorah Atlas reconstruction from his placement among later tannaitic pietists in the Bavli's narratives; 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 | ★☆☆☆☆ |