Jacob the heretic is the name given to a 2nd-century heretic (Hebrew min) whose doings were used as examples in a few passages of the Tosefta and Talmud to illustrate laws relating to dealing with heresy (minut). Accounts Jacob comes to heal a snake bite Tosefta Chullin 2:22-23 tells how Rabbi Eleazar ben Damma was bitten by a snake. Jacob came to heal him in the name of Yeshu ben Pandera. Rabbi Ishmael tells Rabbi Eleazar that Jacob is not allowed to heal; Rabbi Eleazar insists that it is allowed, but dies before he is able to provide proof. Rabbi Ishmael comments that Rabbi Eleazar is fortunate to have died before breaking the law, and quotes Ecclesiastes 10:8, "He who breaks a fence will be bitten by a snake." ("Fence" is used to refer to decrees of the sages meant to protect Jews from situations where they may unwittingly break a commandment. Typically, Jews are allowed to break the law in order to save a life; here Rabbi Ishmael teaches that one should rather die than traffic with minim.) The Jerusalem Talmud Avodah Zarah 2:2 IV.I and Babylonian Talmud Avodah Zarah 27b provide a similar account to Chullin 2:22-23. Jacob prepares medicine for a leg Avodah Zarah 28a in the Babylonian Talmud continues the discussion which included the above example and again mentions Jacob. This time noting that he prepared medicine for the leg of Rabbi Abbahu, a distinguished man. The name Jacob the Min for him comes from this passage. The arrest of Eliezer ben Hyrcanus Tosefta Chullin 2:24 tells how Rabbi Eliezer was once arrested and charged with minuth. When the chief judge (hegemon) interrogated him, the rabbi answered that he "trusted the judge." Although Rabbi Eliezer was referring to God, the judge interpreted him to be referring to the judge himself, and freed the Rabbi. The remainder of the account concerns why Rabbi Eliezer was arrested in the first place. Rabbi Akiva suggests that perhaps one of the minim had spoken a word of minuth to him and that it had pleased him. Rabbi Eliezer recalls that this was indeed the case, he had met Jacob of the town of Sakhnin in the streets of Sepphoris who spoke to him a word of minuth in the name of Yeshu ben Pandera, which had pleased him. Avodah Zarah, 16b-17a in the Babylonian Talmud essentially repeats the account of