Editing Judah ha-Nasi (section)

===His teachers===
His teacher at Usha was [[Judah bar Ilai]], who was officially employed in the house of the patriarch as judge in religious and legal questions.<ref>Menachot 104a; Shevuot 13a</ref> In later years, Judah described how in his childhood he read the [[Book of Esther]] at Usha in the presence of Judah bar Ilai.<ref>Megillah 20a; Tosefta Megillah 2:8</ref>

Judah felt especial reverence for [[Jose ben Halafta]], the student of Akiva's who had the closest relations with Simon ben Gamaliel. When, in later years, Judah raised objections to Jose's opinions, he would say: "We poor ones undertake to attack Jose, though our time compares with his as the profane with the holy!"<ref>Yerushalmi Gittin 48b</ref> Judah hands down a halakhah by Jose in Menachot 14a.

Judah studied from [[Shimon bar Yochai]] in [[Teqoa]],<ref>"when we studied the Torah with Shimon bar Yochai at Tekoa'"; Tosefta Eruvin 8:6; Shabbat 147b; compare Yerushalmi Shabbat 12c</ref> a place some have identified with [[Meron, Israel|Meron]].<ref>See Bacher, l.c. ii. 76</ref> He also studied with [[Eleazar ben Shammua]].<ref>Eruvin 53a; Yevamot 84a; compare Menachot 18a</ref> Judah did not study with [[Rabbi Meir]], evidently in consequence of the conflicts which distanced Meir from the house of the patriarch. However, he considered himself lucky even to have seen Meir from behind.<ref>[https://www.sefaria.org.il/Eruvin.13b.5?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en Eruvin 13b]; Yerushalmi Beitzah 63a, where an anachronistic anecdote is connected with this saying of Judah's</ref>

Another of Judah's teachers was [[Nathan the Babylonian]], who also took a part in the conflict between Meir and the patriarch; Judah confessed that once, in a fit of youthful ardour, he had failed to treat Nathan with due reverence.<ref>Bava Batra 131a; in different version Yerushalmi Ketuvot 29a; Bava Batra 16a</ref> In both halakhic and aggadic tradition, Judah's opinion is often opposed to Nathan's.

In the Jerusalemite tradition, Judah ben Korshai (the halakhic specialist mentioned as assistant to Simon ben Gamaliel<ref>Horayot 13b</ref>) is designated as Judah's real teacher.<ref>Yerushalmi Shabbat 12c; Yerushalmi Pesachim 37b</ref> Jacob ben Hanina (possibly the R. Jacob whose patronymic is not given and in whose name Judah quotes halakhic sentences)<ref>Gittin 14b; compare Tosefta Avodah Zarah 5:4</ref> is also mentioned as one of Judah's teachers, and is said to have asked him to repeat halakhic sentences.<ref>[[Sifre]] Deuteronomy 306</ref>

Judah was also taught by his father (Simon ben Gamaliel);<ref>Bava Metziah 85b</ref> when the two differed on a halakhic matter, the father was generally stricter.<ref>See Frankel, l.c. p. 184</ref> Judah himself says: "My opinion seems to me more correct than that of my father"; and he then proceeds to give his reasons.<ref>Eruvin 32a</ref> Humility was a virtue ascribed to Judah, and he admired it greatly in his father, who openly recognised Shimon bar Yochai's superiority, thus displaying the same modesty as the [[Bnei Bathyra]] when they gave way to [[Hillel the Elder|Hillel]], and as [[Jonathan (1 Samuel)|Jonathan]] when he voluntarily gave precedence to his friend [[David]].<ref>Bava Metziah 84b, 85a</ref>