Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, better known as Rebbi, or the ultimate teacher, lived around 135-215 CE in Eretz Yisrael. He is credited as the redactor of the Mishna and served in the role of Nasi, or head of the Sanhedrin, a political position that allowed him to have relationships with Roman leaders like Antoninus (see Sanhedrin 91 and Avodah Zarah 10).
Possibly the most pertinent description of Rebbi, found in Gittin 59a, where he qualifies on the very short list of those who have “Torah u’gedulah be’makom echad,” Torah knowledge and political greatness simultaneously. That description clearly reflects his prowess as a leading tanna and his political role as a Nasi.
We can fully appreciate what this means in light of the others included on the list: “From the days of Moshe until Rebbe we did not find Torah and greatness in the same place… from the days of Rebbi until Rav Ashi we did not find Torah and greatness in the same place.”
Moshe wrote down Hashem’s Torah and presented it to Bnei Yisrael; Rav Ashi was the “Sof Hora’ah,” the final authority, understood as the redactor of the Babylonian Talmud. Introducing a new composition, especially a legal one, is a complicated task requiring both great erudition and political power. These three great leaders were uniquely up to the task.
May we soon be zoche to see another leader like Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, speedily in our days!
