person · P0204
Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat רבי אלעזר בן פדת
Babylonian-born student who moved to Eretz Yisrael, became Rabbi Yochanan's close disciple, and succeeded him at Tiberias (second–third generation, Eretz Yisrael). So routinely does the Talmud transmit "Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan" that he functions as the main conduit of his teacher's Torah; he died in the same year as his master.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- רבי אלעזר בן פדת
- Also known as
- Rabbi Elazar (the amora)
- Era
- amoraim
- Generation
- A3
- Received the mesorah from
- Rabbi Yochanan
- Teachers
- Rabbi Yochanan
II. When
- Traditional
- d. c. 4039 AM
- Academic
- d. c. 279 CE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈59 years
- Precision
- approximate
III. Where
- Places
- Tveria
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| His personal closeness to Rabbi Yochanan is attested in the famous sickbed scene: "Rabbi Elazar fell ill, and Rabbi Yochanan came to him... he saw that he was weeping," and the two wept together over mortal beauty that ends in the dust. | rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| He studied first under Rav and Shmuel in Bavel before ascending to Eretz Yisrael and Rabbi Yochanan's academy, which he ultimately headed after his teacher's death.
The Bavel period is documented in scattered talmudic notices; only the Rabbi Yochanan reception is drawn as an edge.
|
external | ★★★☆☆ | |
| He lived in extreme poverty; after bloodletting he found only a clove of garlic to eat, fainted, and described a dream concerning whether his economic circumstances could be changed.
Aggadic biographical narrative.
|
rabbinic tradition | ★★★★☆ | |
| Rabbi Zeira fasted a hundred fasts that Rabbi Elazar not die in his lifetime, so that the burden of communal affairs would not fall upon him — indicating that Rabbi Elazar headed the academy and its public affairs.
The passage explicitly connects Rabbi Elazar's life with bearing the communal burden.
|
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| Later chronological tradition dates Rabbi Elazar's death to approximately 279 CE, in the same year as Rabbi Yochanan.
The absolute date derives from post-Talmudic chronology.
|
tradition reconstruction | ★★★☆☆ |