One of the five Sages whom Rabbi Akiva taught and who upheld Torah at that time
רַבִּי יְהוּדָה
Rabbi Yehuda
Rabbi Yehuda, the son of Rabbi Ilai, is one of the five Sages whom Rabbi Akiva taught and who upheld Torah at that time. A teaching in the Gemara in Shabbat calls him "the head of the speakers in every place". A student meets his name in disputes with Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon, and in stories such as the cloak he shared with his wife.
EraTanna
LandEretz Yisrael
Who he was
Who was Rabbi Yehuda?
One of the five who rebuilt Torah
The Mishnah is the main collection of the teachings of the early Sages, who are called Tannaim. The Gemara is the discussion of the Mishnah by the later Sages, who are called Amoraim. The Gemara in Yevamot tells that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students and that all of them died in one period. The world was desolate until Rabbi Akiva came to "our Rabbis in the south" and taught the Torah to them. Five names follow. The second is Rabbi Yehuda, written with no father's name. The Gemara says these five upheld Torah at that time.
The Gemara in Shabbat brings a teaching about the Sages who came to the vineyard in Yavneh. It lists three who were there: Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Yosei, and Rabbi Shimon. A question was asked in front of them. The same passage then gives the first man his full name: Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Ilai answered. So his father was Rabbi Ilai, who also carries the title Rabbi. The passage adds what he was called: "the head of the speakers in every place". He is the first of the three to answer.
The Sifra is a collection of teachings from the time of the Mishnah on the book of Vayikra. In the Gemara in Sanhedrin, Rabbi Yochanan says whose view stands behind a teaching when no name is attached. An unnamed Mishnah is Rabbi Meir. An unnamed Tosefta is Rabbi Nechemya. An unnamed Sifra is Rabbi Yehuda. An unnamed Sifrei is Rabbi Shimon. And all of them follow Rabbi Akiva. The Tosefta and the Sifrei are two more collections of teachings from the time of the Mishnah. The passage gives no father's name for Rabbi Yehuda.
In a baraita (a teaching from the time of the Mishnah that was not included in it), a Sage named Issi ben Yehuda would list the praises of the Sages, ten of them, a few words for each. About Rabbi Yehuda (no father's name is given) he says: wise when he wishes. The baraita counts this as praise. The Gemara there does not explain the words.
In the Gemara in Bava Kamma, Rava brings a story that opens "it happened with a certain pious man". The man had bought from two people and did not know which of them he had bought from, and he came to ask Rabbi Tarfon and then Rabbi Akiva. While it discusses the story, the Gemara states a rule: wherever we say "it happened with a certain pious man", it is either Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava or Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Ilai. It adds that both of them were pious from the start.
"Great is work, for it honors the one who does it"
The Gemara in Nedarim tells that when Rabbi Yehuda went to the study hall he carried a jug on his shoulder. He said: great is work, for it honors the one who does it. The Gemara says the same about Rabbi Shimon, who carried a basket on his shoulder and said the same words. The Gemara does not say what the jug was for.
The Nasi was the head of the Sages in Eretz Yisrael. The Gemara in Menachot tells that a mule belonging to the house of Rabbi died, and the Sages measured its blood by a quarter-log, a small liquid measure. After an objection, the Gemara asks what was decided. Rav Yosef answers: Rabbi Yehuda was the one who gave rulings for the house of the Nasi, and he ruled for him according to his own teaching. The Gemara then brings that teaching, a Mishnah in which Rabbi Yehuda reports the views of Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel on such blood. The Gemara's words give no father's name for Rabbi Yehuda.
In Rashi's commentary the name is Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai, and the house is the house of Rabbi
Rashi is the main commentary on the Gemara. In his commentary on Menachot, the heading that quotes Rav Yosef's words gives the name in full: Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai. The Gemara text used for this page has only "Rabbi Yehuda". Rashi then explains: he was the one who gave rulings for the house of Rabbi. This is not a general rule about every plain "Rabbi Yehuda".
רבי יהודה בר אילעאי מוריינא דבי נשיאה הוה - והיה להם לבית רבי מורה הוראות
"(heading) Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai was the one who gave rulings for the house of the Nasi. (Rashi) He was the one who gave rulings for them, the house of Rabbi."
Speaking: Rashi; the first words are the heading of his comment, which quotes the Gemara
one of the five to whom Rabbi Akiva taught Torah in the south
Teacher
Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya
the Gemara in Megillah calls him "his teacher"
Teacher
Rabbi Tarfon
the Gemara in Nedarim shows him sitting before Rabbi Tarfon; it does not use the word teacher there
Family
Rabbi Ilai
his father, known here from the name "Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Ilai"
Family
His wife
not named; she made the one cloak they shared
As a boy he read the Megillah in front of Rabbi Tarfon
The Megillah is the scroll of Esther, read on Purim. The Mishnah says that Rabbi Yehuda rules a minor fit to read it. The Gemara in Megillah brings his proof: "I was a minor, and I read it before Rabbi Tarfon and the elders in Lod." They said to him: one does not bring a proof from a minor. The next line is about Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, who is called simply "Rabbi". He said: I was a minor, and I read it before Rabbi Yehuda. They said to him: one does not bring a proof from the one who permits.
The Gemara in Nedarim tells that Rabbi Yehuda was sitting before Rabbi Tarfon. Rabbi Tarfon said to him: today your face is glowing. He answered: last night your servants went out to the field and brought us beets, and we ate them without salt. Had we eaten them with salt, our faces would glow all the more.
The Gemara calls Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya his teacher
The Gemara in Megillah has two teachings with no name attached and asks whose view each one follows. It finds that they cannot both follow Rabbi Yehuda's own view. It answers: one is his own view, and one is his teacher's. It then brings a baraita in which Rabbi Yehuda says a law about reading the Shema in the name of Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya. A line later the Gemara adds that one can even say Rabbi Yehuda holds like his teacher.
The Gemara in Nedarim tells that Rabbi Yehuda's wife went out, got wool, and made a cloak. When she went out to the market she covered herself with it. When Rabbi Yehuda went out to pray he covered himself with it and prayed. When he put it on he said a blessing: "Blessed is He who wrapped me in a robe." The Gemara does not give his wife's name.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin reads a verse from Mishlei (Proverbs) as being about generations. The words "fear of Hashem, it shall be praised" are the generation of Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Ilai. The Gemara explains: they said about Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Ilai that six students would cover themselves with one cloak and study Torah. The Hebrew word here is "tallit". In this passage it is a cloak that people cover themselves with.
"They said about Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Ilai that six students would cover themselves with one cloak and study Torah"
Speaking: The Gemara, in the third reading of the verse (the second "another explanation"), after a teaching of Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman in the name of Rabbi Yonatan
Each story is told from one book, named under the quote.
He praised the works of "this nation"
The Gemara in Shabbat tells that Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon were sitting together, and a man named Yehuda ben Gerim sat with them. Rabbi Yehuda spoke first. He said: how fine are the works of this nation. They built markets, they built bridges, they built bathhouses. Rabbi Yosei said nothing. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai answered that everything they built, they built only for their own needs. The passage does not name the nation.
The Gemara tells that story as its answer to a question: why did they call him "the head of the speakers in every place"? Yehuda ben Gerim went and repeated what the three had said, and it was heard by the government. They said: Yehuda, who praised, will be raised up. Yosei, who was silent, will be exiled to Tzippori. Shimon, who condemned, will be killed.
יְהוּדָה שֶׁעִילָּה: יִתְעַלֶּה
"Yehuda, who praised, will be raised up"
Speaking: The Gemara, reporting what the government said
To ordain a Sage means to give him the authority of a judge. The Gemara in Sanhedrin tells that the wicked government once decreed that anyone who ordained would be killed and anyone who was ordained would be killed. A different Sage, Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava, went and sat between two large mountains, between the towns of Usha and Shefaram, and ordained five elders there. The second name is Rabbi Yehuda, written with no father's name. When their enemies found them, Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava told the five to run. He stayed, and he was killed.
"and he ordained five elders there. And these are they: Rabbi Meir, and Rabbi Yehuda"
Speaking: A tradition that Rav Yehuda (an Amora, one of the later Sages, and a different person) says in the name of Rav; it opens at the end of the page before
The story continues. Once Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel decreed a public fast, and Rabbi Yehuda did not come to the gathering for the fast. They told Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel: he has nothing to cover himself with. He sent him a cloak, and Rabbi Yehuda did not accept it. He lifted the mat and said to the messenger: see what is here. But I do not want to benefit from this world. The Gemara does not say what the messenger saw under the mat.
The Gemara in Ketubot reports: they said about Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai that he would take a branch of myrtle, a sweet-smelling plant, and dance before the bride, and say, "A beautiful and graceful bride."
In the Gemara in Shabbat, Rav Yehuda (an Amora, one of the later Sages, and a different person) says in the name of Rav: this was the custom of Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai. On the eve of Shabbat they brought him a basin full of hot water. He washed his face, his hands and his feet, wrapped himself, and sat in linen sheets that had tzitzit (fringes) on them, and he looked like an angel of Hashem. His students hid the corners of their own garments from him. He said to them: my sons, did I not teach you that Beit Shammai exempt a linen sheet from tzitzit and Beit Hillel require them, and the law follows Beit Hillel? Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel are the two schools of Sages named for Shammai and Hillel. The Gemara explains that the students held there was a decree against it, because of garments worn at night.
The Gemara in Nedarim tells that a certain noblewoman said to Rabbi Yehuda: a teacher, and drunk? He gave her his word that he tastes nothing except kiddush (the blessing over wine that begins Shabbat), havdalah (the blessing that ends it) and the four cups of the Pesach seder, and that he binds his temples from Pesach until Atzeret, the festival of Shavuot. Rather, he said, it is as the verse says: "A person's wisdom lights up his face."
Every item says who is making the claim: the Gemara itself, a classical commentator, or a modern writer.
The Gemara says
An act you do not intend is forbidden
The Gemara in Beitzah quotes a Mishnah about a child's wagon: it may be picked up on Shabbat, and it may be dragged only on top of "kelim", a word that means objects (Rashi explains that here it means garments). The Gemara explains: on the ground it may not be dragged, because it makes a groove. It asks whose view this is, and answers that it is Rabbi Yehuda, who said that something a person does not intend is forbidden ("davar she'eino mitkaven"). It cannot be Rabbi Shimon, who said such a thing is allowed. The Gemara then objects: at the end of the same Mishnah Rabbi Yehuda himself says that on Shabbat nothing may be dragged except a wagon, because it presses the earth down. That means a wagon does not make a groove. The Gemara answers that two Tannaim disagree about what Rabbi Yehuda held.
The Gemara in Shabbat sets him against Rabbi Shimon on a second rule, called "melacha she'eina tzricha l'gufah", work that is not needed for itself. To settle a contradiction between two teachings, it says that one follows Rabbi Yehuda, who said a person is liable for such work, and the other follows Rabbi Shimon, who said he is exempt. The Gemara here does not define the term.
The Torah says not to take a widow's garment as a pledge for a loan. A baraita brings two views. Rabbi Yehuda says this covers every widow, whether she is poor or rich. Rabbi Shimon says a rich widow's garment may be taken and a poor widow's may not, and he gives a reason for the law. From this the Gemara concludes: Rabbi Yehuda does not expound the reason of the verse ("lo darish ta'ama d'kra") and Rabbi Shimon does.
The king's wives: here he seems to rule by the reason
The Torah says a king may not have many wives. The Mishnah sets the limit at eighteen. Rabbi Yehuda says the king may have more, as long as they do not turn his heart away. Rabbi Shimon says he may not marry even one who turns his heart away. The Gemara asks: does this mean Rabbi Yehuda expounds the reason of the verse and Rabbi Shimon does not? But we heard the opposite about them! The Gemara answers the question (see "How the Gemara answers for him").
The Gemara answers: in general Rabbi Yehuda does not expound the reason of a verse. The king's wives are different, because there the verse itself spells out its reason. Why may he not have many wives? Because "his heart shall not turn away".
Right after the rules in Eruvin, Rav Mesharshiya says that they do not hold. The Gemara looks for his proof. The first case it tries is a Mishnah where Rav ruled like Rabbi Shimon, and the one who disagrees with Rabbi Shimon there is Rabbi Yehuda. The Gemara does not accept that case as proof and goes on to try others.
לֵיתַנְהוּ לְהָנֵי כְּלָלֵי
"These rules do not hold"
Speaking: Rav Mesharshiya, followed by the Gemara's search for his source
After testing several cases, the Gemara restates what Rav Mesharshiya meant: these rules are not accepted by everyone, because Rav does not hold of them.
These are general rules. The Gemara itself lists exceptions.
The Gemara says
A rule: against Rabbi Meir the law follows him, against Rabbi Yosei it does not
The Gemara in Eruvin brings rules for deciding between certain Sages. First three Amoraim disagree about how strong such rules are: one says they are the law, one says we lean that way, and one says it only appears so. Then, "in this same wording", Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi says in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: when Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda disagree, the law follows Rabbi Yehuda. When Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosei disagree, the law follows Rabbi Yosei. The Gemara does not leave these rules unchallenged (see the items below).
"Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda: the law follows Rabbi Yehuda. Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosei: the law follows Rabbi Yosei"
Speaking: Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi in the name of Rabbi Yochanan (the quoted words), after a dispute of Rabbi Asi, Rabbi Chiya bar Abba and Rabbi Yosei son of Rabbi Chanina
In the same passage Rav Asi quotes Rabbi Abba in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: when Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon disagree, the law follows Rabbi Yehuda.
Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. a later Sage, called simply "Rabbi"; in Megillah he says that as a boy he read the Megillah before Rabbi Yehuda
Rav Yehuda. an Amora in Bavel, with the title "Rav" and not "Rabbi"; he is the one who reports Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai's custom before Shabbat
Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava. the Sage who ordained him; the Gemara in Bava Kamma names both of them as the possible "certain pious man"
Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira. a different Sage, written with "ben Beteira"; no passage about him was opened for this page
Yehuda ben Gerim. the man who repeated the conversation about "this nation"; he has no title
Issi ben Yehuda. the Sage who described him as "wise when he wishes"; the passage does not say who his father Yehuda was
Rabbi Yosei son of Rabbi Yehuda. quoted beside him in Menachot; the passage does not say which Rabbi Yehuda is his father
Honest limits
What the sources do not tell us
The passages on this page do not give the year he was born or the year he died.
It is the accepted convention that a plain "Rabbi Yehuda" in the Mishnah, with no father's name, is Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Ilai. No Gemara or commentator that states this as a general rule was opened for this page. Two things were found. One passage in Shabbat calls the same man "Rabbi Yehuda" and then "Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Ilai". And in Rashi's commentary on Menachot the heading of one comment writes the name in full, Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai, where the Gemara text used here has only "Rabbi Yehuda". Most passages here write only "Rabbi Yehuda", and the page reads them as him by that convention.
The passages opened for this page do not say where he lived. They place him in three spots: in the vineyard in Yavneh with other Sages, between Usha and Shefaram when he was ordained, and in Lod as a boy reading the Megillah.
The Gemara in Nedarim does not give his wife's name.
The Gemara in Nedarim does not say what the messenger saw when Rabbi Yehuda lifted the mat.
The Gemara in Gittin does not explain what Issi ben Yehuda meant by "wise when he wishes".
The Gemara in Menachot tells this about a mule of the house of Rabbi. Rav Yosef's own words say only "the house of the Nasi".
The passages opened for this page do not state one bottom line for his disputes. They bring rules, Rav Mesharshiya's objection to them, and the Gemara's ending that Rav does not hold of these rules.
Last checked 2026-10-12. Found a mistake? Tell us.
Every Hebrew and Aramaic quote on this page was checked by script against the passage it cites.
The texts come from Sefaria: the Talmud Bavli is
the William Davidson Edition (Koren Publishers, vowels by Dicta, CC BY-NC), and the Mishnah is the
Torat Emet edition. English translations and explanations are Torah Tech originals, and any
mistakes are ours.
This page is for learning. It is not a halachic ruling.
The Opportunity Year · Tel Aviv, Israel
Learn like this for a year
Torah Tech is a yeshiva and tech program in Tel Aviv. Mornings in the beit midrash,
afternoons interning at Israeli startups, and a year that changes what a young man
thinks he is capable of.