JONATHAN BEN AMRAM

JONATHAN BEN AMRAM (late second and early third century), sage of the transitional period between the tannaim and the amoraim and a pupil of judah ha-nasi . He is rarely mentioned in the Talmud (some two or three times). The Talmud relates that once, during a period of famine, when Judah ha-Nasi opened a house of food to scholars only, he failed to recognize Jonathan, who, too humble to proclaim himself a scholar, asked to be fed "as a dog is fed." When Judah later learned Jonathan's true identity, he decided to distribute food to everyone, without distinction (BB 8a). The few halakhot quoted by him (Ḥag. 20a; Av. Zar. 36b) center around details of the laws of levitical cleanness, and he was apparently one of those who observed, even for ordinary meals, all the prescriptions attaching to the eating of terumah (the Priestly Portion), which had to be eaten in a state of ritual cleanness. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 703. (Israel Moses Ta-Shma)