Talk:Judah

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The early classic work of rabbinic literature are often ambiguous on who is being spoken of; they often do not clearly distinguish between Judah I, Judah II, and Judah III. Later commentaries on the Talmud sometimes differ with each other in attributing quotes and actions because of this lack of clarity. We need to note this when working on articles relating to these men. The 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia provides the following information which may be of some use:


 * Judah I. Patriarch; redactor of the Mishnah; born about 135; died about 220. He was the first of Hillel's successors to whose name the title of hereditary dignity, "ha-Nasi" (= "the prince"), was added as a permanent epithet; and accordingly in traditional literature he is usually called "Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi." In a large portion of such literature, however, and always in the Mishnah, he is simply called "Rabbi," the master par excellence. He is occasionally called "Rabbenu" ("our master)


 * Judah II. Patriarch; son of Gamaliel III. and grandson of Judah I.; lived at Tiberias in the middle of the third century. In the sources he is called "Judah," "Judah Nesi'ah" (= "ha-Nasi"), and occasionally "Rabbi" like his grandfather; as Judah III. is also designated as "Judah Nesi'ah," it is often difficult, sometimes impossible, to determine which one of these patriarchs is referred to. In halakic tradition Judah II. was especially known by three ordinances decreed by him and his academy; one of these ordinances referred to a reform of the divorce laws (Yer. Gi&#7789;. 48d; Gi&#7789;. 46b).


 * Judah III. Patriarch; son of Gamaliel IV. and grandson of Judah II. The sources do not distinguish between Judah II. and Judah III., and, since the title "Nesi'ah" was borne by both, which of the two in any citation is meant by "Judah Nesi'ah" can be gathered only from internal evidence, especially from the names of the scholars mentioned in the context. Judah III. held the office of patriarch probably during the close of the third and the beginning of the fourth century.

Etymology

 * Judah (&#1497;&#1492;&#1493;&#1491;&#1492; "Praise", Standard Hebrew Y&#601;huda, Tiberian Hebrew Y&#601;hû&#7695;&#257;h)

The word יהודה does not mean "praise." According to Genesis 29:35, Leah chose the name to resemble the Hebrew word for "thanks", not "praise", and the word isn't the same in any case&mdash;"thanks" is תודה (toda) or הודיה (hodaya), not יהודה. If there are no objections, I'll change all these definitions to be accurate. --Simetrical 23:47, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Confusing
"Judah is the name of several Biblical ... figures."

"The Bible itself mentions no other people of the name"

Huh? Both statements cannot be correct. Which is it, or what needs clarifying? –OrangeDog (talk • edits) 15:24, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

There is a page
 * Judah (given name), or Yehudah, including a list of people with the name.

Why are these people listed here, and not there?
 * Judah (son of Jacob) (other than in the lead, because he's the source of ALL the other names).
 * Judah ha-Nasi, or Judah the Prince, Judah I, a second-century rabbi
 * Judah II, third-century Jewish sage
 * Judah III, third and fourth-century sage
 * Judah IV, fourth-century Talmudic sage
 * Judah b. Meremar, Babylonian sage

I will move them for now. If there are good arguments against it, we can bring them back. Arminden (talk) 22:51, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Judah (son of Jacob) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 13:02, 19 July 2022 (UTC)