Gamaliel

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Gamaliel. Name of six Jewish sages, descendants of Hillel, who filled the role of nasi. Rabban Gamaliel ha-Zaken (the elder) (early 1st cent. CE) was responsible for many takkanot. According to Acts 22. 3, he was the teacher of the apostle Paul. Rabban Gamaliel II (late 1st cent.) succeeded Johanan b. Zakkai as nasi and was one of the greatest scholars of his generation. Gamaliel III (early 3rd cent.), the son of Judah ha-Nasi, pronounced invalid the method of ritual slaughter of the Samaritans. Rabban Gamaliel IV was nasi in the late 3rd cent., while Rabban Gamaliel V presided in the late 4th cent. Rabban Gamaliel VI (d. 426) was the final nasi. He was deprived of his position in 415 because he had built a synagogue without permission and had defended the Jews against the Christians.

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