Rabbi Yishmael beRabbi Yose רבי ישמעאל ברבי יוסי
son of Rabbi Yose, keeper of his father's tradition
Rabbi Yishmael was the son of Rabbi Yose ben Halafta, compiler of Seder Olam Rabbah; he carried his father's tradition to the generation of the Mishnah, and the Talmud constantly cites his "thus my father taught me". Rabbi Yehuda haNasi reckoned with him particularly: the words of Rabbi Yishmael beRabbi Yose were accepted where others were disputed.
Like Rabbi Elazar beRabbi Shimon, he was appointed by the Roman power to catch thieves among his own, and the Talmud gives one and the same rebuke to both: "Vinegar, son of wine! How long will you deliver the people of our God to slaughter?" His answer was: "What can I do—it is the king's command". And he heard: "Your father fled to Asia—flee you to Laodicea" (Bava Metzia 84a). In the same place is the account of how the two of them were so stout that a yoke of oxen could pass between them; the Talmud sets that detail beside their service not by accident.
The sources give no years of life; the window of activity is set by generation, following Aharon Hyman's Toldot Tannaim ve-Amoraim.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Bava Metzia 84a — «vinegar, son of wine»: the Roman office and the rebuke
- Chullin 57b and many others — «thus my father taught me»
Basis: Talmud and midrash.