Meir was not a student of Zakai at Yavneh. Teachings Halacha First a disciple of Elisha ben Abuyah and later of Rabbi Akiva, Meir was one of the most important Tannaim of the Mishnah. Akiva's teachings, through his pupil Meir, became the basis of the Mishnah. According to the Babylonian Talmud, all anonymous Mishnas are attributed to Meir. This rule was required because, following an unsuccessful attempt to force the resignation of the head of the Sanhedrin, Meir's opinions were noted, but not in his name, rather as "Others say...". However, in a few places the opinion of "Others" is recorded alongside a contradictory opinion of "Rabbi Meir", suggesting that this identification is not universal. Meir "was able to give 150 reasons to prove a thing legally clean, and as many more reasons to prove it unclean". This excess of dialectics is given in the Talmud as the only reason why his halakhot did not receive the force of law; the pros and cons offered by him were so nearly equal in strength that one never knew his real opinion on a subject. In the deduction of new halakhot from the Biblical text, Meir used with great caution the hermeneutic rules established by his teacher Ishmael, regarding them as unreliable; and he rejected Akiva's method of deducing a new halakhah from a seemingly superfluous particle in the Scriptural text. Quotes Why was the Torah given to Israel? Because they are impetuous. He that occupies himself in the study of the Torah for its own sake merits many things; still more, he is deserving of the whole world. He is called friend, beloved, lover of God, lover of mankind, he that makes God happy, he that makes mankind happy; and it clothes him with humility and with reverence, and makes him fit to become a pious man, saintly, upright, and faithful, while keeping him away from sin and bringing him near to virtue; while others enjoying from him counsel and sound knowledge, understanding and [deriving from him] fortitude... "Have little business, and be busied in the Torah"; "Be lowly in spirit to every man"; "If thou idlest from the Torah, thou wilt have many idlers against thee"; "If thou laborest in the Torah, He hath much to give unto thee" "He who does not work on week-days will end by being compelled to work even on Sabbaths; for idleness leads to