Judah ben Dosotheos

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JUDAH BEN DOSOTHEOS

JUDAH BEN DOSOTHEOS (Dostai ; first century c.e.), tanna. In *Simeon b. Shetaḥ's name he transmitted the legal rule that a sentence passed by a Palestinian court over a person who later escaped abroad is not set aside for a new hearing, but in the case of a person who escaped to Palestine the sentence is set aside (Mak. 7a). In some versions, however, the reading here is Dosotheos b. Judah. The former reading is almost certainly a scribal (or printer's) error and, in all likelihood, no such first century c.e.tanna ever existed. On the other hand, the halakhic dictum that an "eye for an eye" (Ex. 21:24) refers only to pecuniary compensation, which is rendered in the name of Dosotheos b. Judah (bk 83b), is quoted in some manuscripts in the name of Judah b. Dosotheos.

bibliography:

Hyman, Toledot, 559.

[Stephen G. Wald (2nd ed.)]