Rabbi Chutzpit the Interpreter רבי חוצפית המתורגמן
the voice of the head of the generation; one of the Ten Martyrs
A meturgeman is not a translator in the present sense. The head of the generation spoke quietly, and the meturgeman stood beside him and repeated what was said aloud for the whole house of study, adding explanation where it was needed. Rabbi Chutzpit was meturgeman to Rabban Gamliel of Yavneh (Berachot 27b); by his voice the generation heard its head.
Of his death the Gemara speaks twice, and both times by the same image. Elisha ben Avuyah, seeing a pig dragging Rabbi Chutzpit's tongue, said: "The mouth that uttered pearls licks the dust"—and went out beyond (Chagigah 15a; Kiddushin 39b). That is: the Gemara names Chutzpit's death as the reason a sage lost his faith. That in itself testifies to what he was for his generation.
In the count of the Ten Martyrs he stands fifth.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Berachot 27b — meturgeman to Rabban Gamliel
- Chagigah 15a — «the mouth that uttered pearls licks the dust» — and Elisha ben Avuyah's turning away
Rishonim
- «Eleh Ezkerah», the Yom Kippur Musaf piyyut — the name in the count of the Ten Martyrs
Basis: Talmud and midrash.