person · P0130
Rabban Gamliel HaZaken רבן גמליאל הזקן
Grandson of Hillel and Nasi of the Sanhedrin in the generation before the destruction of the Second Temple — the first to bear the title "Rabban." He taught from the Temple Mount, issued enactments for the public good, and appears in Pirkei Avot urging: "Make for yourself a teacher and remove yourself from doubt." The Mishnah eulogizes that with his death "the honor of the Torah ceased."
I. Who
- Hebrew
- רבן גמליאל הזקן
- Also known as
- Rabban Gamliel I, Gamaliel the Elder
- Era
- tannaim
- Generation
- T1
- Received the mesorah from
- Hillel
- Transmitted the mesorah to
- Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel I
- Children
- Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel I
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3770–3812 AM
- Academic
- c. 10–52 CE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈42 years
- Precision
- approximate
III. Where
- Places
- Jerusalem
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taught: "Make for yourself a teacher, remove yourself from doubt, and do not tithe by estimation." | rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| The Mishnah records that when Rabban Gamliel the Elder died, the honor of the Torah ceased, and purity and abstinence died. | rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| The New Testament presents Paul of Tarsus as having been educated "at the feet of Gamaliel," and depicts Gamaliel as a respected Pharisee in the Sanhedrin counseling restraint toward the early Jesus movement.
External (Christian) source; the identification with Rabban Gamliel HaZaken is widely accepted but rests on the New Testament alone — rabbinic literature does not mention Paul.
|
external | ★★★☆☆ | |
| A baraita relates that when a Targum (Aramaic translation) of the Book of Iyov was brought before him on the Temple Mount, he instructed the builder to bury it beneath a course of masonry.
The Temple Mount setting identifies this Rabban Gamliel as the Elder; the same sugya has his grandson citing the episode.
|
rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| Traditional placement c. 3770–3812 AM (c. 10–52 CE), anchored to the baraita that Hillel, Shimon, Gamliel, and Shimon held the office of Nasi for the hundred years while the Temple still stood.
Schematic traditional dating. |
tradition reconstruction | ★★☆☆☆ |