Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah רבי יהושע בן חנניה
said “it is not in heaven” — and thereby settled how the law is decided
In the dispute over the oven of Akhnai he rose to his feet and spoke two words from Deuteronomy: "it is not in heaven." The meaning, explained on the spot: the law was given to human beings, and it is decided by the majority of living scholars, not by signs — even when the signs are real.
The second time he clashed with Rabban Gamliel, the Nasi, over the reckoning of the Day of Atonement. Gamliel ordered him to appear with staff and purse on the day that by Rabbi Joshua's own reckoning was Yom Kippur. He obeyed. Later, when Gamliel humiliated him publicly for the third time, the study hall revolted — and the Nasi was deposed.
Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah was put in his place. The guard was removed from the door of the study hall, and hundreds of benches were added that day: previously only those "whose inside matches their outside" were let in; now everyone was.
He is also remembered as the man who answered the Romans and the sages of the nations: the Talmud is full of his dialogues with the emperor and with philosophers.
On the timeline
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Bava Metzia 59b — “it is not in heaven”
- Rosh Hashanah 25a–25b — the staff and purse on the day he himself reckoned to be Yom Kippur
- Berakhot 27b–28a — the deposing of the Nasi and the opened doors of the study hall
Basis: Talmud and midrash.