ELEAZAR (LAZAR) B. JOSE II.:
Palestinian amora of the fifth generation (fifth century); senior of Naḥman II. and Aḥa III. (Pesiḳ. v. 55a). Most of his utterances are remarks which he had directly or indirectly heard from Abbahu, Ḥanina b. Abbahu, Tanḥum b. Ḥiyya, and others (Yer. Ber. vii. 11d; Yer. Ma'as. i. 49a, ii. 49c; Yer. 'Er. iii. 23d; Lam. R. iii. 17); but he also expresses his own views, both doctrinal and homiletical (Yer. Shab. xvi. 15d; Yer. Kil. viii. 31a; Yer. Ḥallah, ii. 58b; Ex. R. xxiii. 5; Lev. R. xi. 6; Pesiḳ. l.c.). His father, Jose II., seems to have been his principal teacher, for frequently it was before him that Eleazar propounded his views (Yer. Ber. i. 3d, iv. 8a; Yer. Ned. iv. 38d); and it is related that his father often chided him for lack of zeal. Quoting the statement (I Chron. ix. 20), "In time past the Lord was with him [Phinehas]," he used to say, "As long as Phinehas was zealous for the Law, the Lord was with him; but when he ceased to be zealous the Lord forsook him" (Yer. Yoma i. 38d; Yer. Meg. i. 72a; Yer. Hor. iii. 47d).
