GAMALIEL III

flourished 3rd century AD eldest son of Judah ha-Nasi, and the renowned editor of the Mishna (the basic compilation of Jewish oral law). A direct descendant of the sage Hillel, Gamaliel became patriarch of the Jewish community in Palestine in approximately AD 220 and, consequently, head of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish legislative body of that time. Beyond the fact that Gamaliel helped complete the Mishna, almost nothing else is known about him. Three of his sayings were incorporated in Avot (Fathers), a treatise of the Mishna, and there are a few scattered references to him in other postbiblical sources.