JUDAH BEN LAḲISH:

By: Isidore Singer, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach

Tanna of the second century. His name occurs only in the Tosefta and the Mekilta. He is the author of the halakah to the effect that a corpse may be carried on the Sabbath to save it from a fire (Shab. 43b). Besides this halakah, which is transmitted by him alone, there is another (Tosef., Sanh. i. 7) which prescribes that after a judge has heard both sides, and has formed an opinion, he may not say: "I will not judge between you."

A few of Judah's haggadic utterances also have been preserved; e.g.: "The children of Israel had two Arks of the Covenant. In one were the broken tables of stone; in the other, the Book of the Torah" (Tosef., Soṭah, vii. 18). "The Ark of the Covenant was not carried to Babylon, but was hidden inthe Temple itself" (Yoma 53a). "When a scholar neglects learning, Prov. xxvii. 8 may be applied to him" (Ḥag. 9b).

S. J. Z. L.