PAPPUS BEN JUDAH

PAPPUS BEN JUDAH (end of the first and beginning of the second century C.E.), tanna and aggadist. A contemporary of Rabban Gamaliel and R. Joshua (TJ, Ber. 2:9 according to the correct reading of the Kaftor va-Feraḥ; cf. L. Ginzberg, Perushim ve-Ḥiddushim ba-Yerushalmi, 1 (1941), 410), Pappus was imprisoned with Akiva at the time of the Hadrianic persecutions. Before their imprisonment Pappus had attempted to deter Akiva from continuing to teach his disciples, fearing the spies who were all around them. Thereupon Akiva told him the famous fable of the fox and the fish which illustrated that the Jewish people without Torah would be like fish out of water and would suffer a spiritual death. When Pappus later found himself in prison with Akiva, he said to him: "It is well with thee, Akiva, who hast been imprisoned for studying Torah, but woe to Pappus who has been imprisoned for vain, worldly things" (Ber. 61b). Pappus was distinguished for his pious character, and conducted himself with special stringency. He would lock his wife indoors when he went out so that she would not talk to other people (Git. 90a). This behavior was compared by Meir to a man who when finding a fly in his drink would throw away both fly and drink. Pappus' aggadic interpretation of Genesis 3:23 to the effect that man is equal to the angels was rejected by Akiva (Gen. R. 21:5). A long aggadic discussion between him and Akiva occurs in Mekhilta Be-Shallaḥ, 6.