Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Yose haGlili רבי אליעזר בנו של רבי יוסי הגלילי
A tanna whose name is given to the thirty two middot by which aggadah is expounded
The son of Rabbi Yose haGlili, that Galilean who argued with Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon. Rabbi Eliezer himself belongs to the last generation of the tannaim, a contemporary of Rabbi Judah the Prince: his word stands in baraitot, in the Sifrei and in the Midrash, and the Talmud cites him as a recognised voice in aggadah.
What he is best known for is a list: "Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Yose haGlili says: by thirty two middot the Torah is expounded". The thirteen middot of Rabbi Ishmael are for the law; these thirty two are for aggadah, though several of them work in law as well. The twenty ninth in the list is gematria and the thirtieth notarikon; every discussion of gematria begins here.
The baraita has not come down as a book of its own and entered neither the Mishnah nor the Talmud: it was known by quotation, in the Keritot of Rabbi Samson of Chinon and in the Karaite Judah Hadassi, and the full text was found only in our own time, in manuscript. The attribution of the list to Rabbi Eliezer is tradition, and it is disputed: some scholars date the writing itself much later. Both readings are named here, and we do not decide for the reader.
The sources name no years of his life: the window of activity is set by his generation.
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- The baraita of the thirty two middot, its opening — the words «Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Yose haGlili says: by thirty two middot the Torah is expounded» and the place of gematria in the list
Scholarship
- Talmud hermeneutics: the middot, article in the Jewish Encyclopedia — the list is said to be intended for aggadah, though several middot serve the law as well, and the baraita itself survives only in later works
Basis: Talmud and midrash.