Eleazar of Modi'im


Eleazar of Modi'im was a Jewish scholar of the second tannaitic generation, disciple of Johanan ben Zakkai, and contemporary of Joshua ben Hananiah and Eliezer ben Hyrcanus.

Rabbinic career

Eleazar of Modi'im was an expert aggadist and frequently discussed exegetical topics with his distinguished contemporaries. Gamaliel II often deferred to Eleazar's interpretations, admitting, "The Moda'i's views are still indispensable".
Few of his teachings are preserved in halakha and most of what is known about him comes from hearsay. As he lived through the Hadrianic persecutions and the Bar Kokba insurrection, many of his homilies refer, explicitly or implicitly, to existence under such conditions. Eleazar expressed his confidence in Providence in this comment on the biblical statement, "the people shall go out, and gather a certain rate every day" : "He who creates the day creates its sustenance." From this verse he also argued, "He who is possessed of food for the day, and worries over what he may have to eat the next day, is wanting in faith; therefore the Bible adds, 'that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not'".
Eleazar's final days were during the insurrection headed by Bar Kochba. According to rabbinic tradition, he died in the besieged city of Betar:
The story adds that a bat ḳol thereupon pronounced the immediate doom of the chief of the insurrection and of the beleaguered city, which soon came to pass.

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography