See Johanan (name) for more rabbis by this name. Johanan bar Nappaha ( Yoḥanan bar Nafḥa; alt. sp. Napaḥa) (also known simply as Rabbi Yochanan, or as Johanan bar Nafcha) (lived 180-279 CE) was a leading rabbi in the early era of the Talmud. He belonged to the second generation of amoraim. Johanan's opinion is quoted thousands of times across the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds. The compilation of the Jerusalem Talmud is generally ascribed to him. Name He is generally cited as "Johanan," but sometimes by his cognomen only, which he himself uses once; but he is never cited by both together. Opinions vary on whether "bar Nappaha" (literally "son [of the] blacksmith") derives from his father's profession, from the name of his ancestral region, or perhaps represents a physical or psychological quality. Biography Early years Johanan's early years were spent in Sepphoris in the Roman-ruled Galilee (then part of Syria Palaestina province). He traced his descent from the tribe of Joseph. His father, a blacksmith, died prior to his birth, and his mother died soon after; he was raised by his grandfather in Sepphoris. Judah ha-Nasi took the boy under his wing and taught him Torah. Due to the disparity in ages, though — Johanan was only fifteen years old when Rabbi Yehudah died — Johanan was not one of Yehuda's prime students; rather, he studied more under Rabbi Yehudah's students. It is said that initially he sat seventeen rows behind Rav in the school taught by Rabbi Yehudah Ha-Nasi, and could not comprehend the discussions. In later life, Johanan recalled teachings that he had gleaned from the early Sages who moved to Usha. Hanina bar Hama taught him homiletic Bible interpretation—except of the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes—and probably medicine, in which he became skilled. He studied Torah diligently all his life, even selling a field house and an olive shed that he had inherited from his parents in order to be able to devote his time to study. As he expressed it, he exchanged the things that God created in six days for the things the delivery of which required forty days. After that was spent, he lived a life of poverty. For some time, he was compelled to work to support himself. But soon he felt impelled to return to his school, where he earned, not without a struggle, the encomiums of his masters. At last,