Joshua ben Perachiah

Joshua ben Perachiah lived during the second century BCE, one of the Zugot, the 'pairs' of sages who led the Jewish community and transmitted the oral tradition from generation to generation. His partner was Nittai of Arbel, and together they received Torah from their predecessors Yose ben Yoezer and Yose ben Yochanan. Joshua served during the tumultuous Hasmonean period, when the Maccabean dynasty combined kingship and priesthood and when Jewish religious life faced both internal division and external pressure. The Talmud records that during one of the political upheavals, Joshua fled to Alexandria in Egypt, suggesting he was not merely an ivory-tower scholar but a figure engaged with the dangers of his time. His teaching in Pirkei Avot has become one of the most quoted in Jewish ethical literature: 'Make for yourself a teacher, acquire for yourself a friend, and judge every person favorably.' Each phrase carries weight.