Yochanan HaSandlar
100 CE–170 CE · Tannaim · Alexandria
Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar (the Cobbler) was a third-generation Tanna who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, in the second century CE. He was known for combining manual labor—shoemaking—with Torah study, exemplifying the rabbinic ideal of productive work alongside intellectual pursuits. Though details of his specific teachings are sparse in the Talmudic record, he is remembered as a figure who bridged the world of craftsmen and sages, demonstrating that one need not abandon livelihood to engage seriously with Jewish learning. His life reflects the vibrant Jewish communities of the Diaspora during the Roman period.
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AlexandriaEgypt
We know they were here, but the specifics of what they did at this stop aren’t recorded yet in our corpus.
About Alexandria
Alexandria (al-Iskandariyya) is the great Mediterranean port-city of northern Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE and a leading centre of learning in antiquity. After the Muslim conquest of Egypt (642) it remained a major commercial and scholarly hub; the Shadhili Sufi Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari (d. 1309) took his nisba from the city, and the modernist reformer Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905) was active in Egypt's intellectual life there and in Cairo.
Across the traditions, in Alexandria at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Yochanan HaSandlar’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
- Aretaeus of Cappadocia· Alexandria
- Dionysius Periegetes· Alexandria
- Appian of Alexandria· Alexandria
- Claudius Ptolemaeus· Alexandria
- Valentinus· Alexandria
- Harpocration· Alexandria
- Achilles Tatius· Alexandria
- Apollonius Dyscolus· Alexandria
- Vettius Valens· Alexandria
- Galen· Alexandria
- Athenagoras· Alexandria
- Sextus Empiricus· Alexandria
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Yochanan HaSandlar’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Jewish world
- Anonymous (Sefer Yetzirah author)· 200 BCE–500 CE
- Yochanan ben Nuri· 60 CE–140 CE
- Yose HaGalili· 60 CE–140 CE
- Yishmael ben Elisha· 60 CE–135 CE
- Eleazar ben Chisma· 70 CE–140 CE
- Elisha ben Avuya (Acher)· 70 CE–135 CE
- Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma· 70 CE–135 CE
- Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava· 75 CE–135 CE
- Shimon ben Azzai· 90 CE–135 CE
- Shimon ben Zoma· 90 CE–135 CE
- Rabbi Nehorai· 100 CE–170 CE
- Shimon ben Gamliel II· 100 CE–165 CE
- Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai· 100 CE–160 CE
- Yehoshua ben Korcha· 100 CE–190 CE
- Beruriah bat Chananyah ben Teradion (wife of R. Meir)· 110 CE–170 CE
- Rabbi Meir· 110 CE–175 CE
- Yehuda bar Ilai· 110 CE–180 CE
- Eleazar ben Shamua· 110 CE–180 CE
- Nechemia· 110 CE–180 CE
- Eliezer ben Yaakov (II)· 110 CE–180 CE
- Natan HaBavli (the Babylonian)· 110 CE–180 CE
- Rabbi Yose ben Halafta· 110 CE–180 CE
- Symmachus ben Joseph· 120 CE–190 CE
- Eliezer ben Shimon (son of Rashbi)· 130 CE–200 CE
Graeco-Roman world
Scientists
Christian world
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.