Rabbi Eliezer b. Hyrcanus

Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus was a rabbinic sage in the first and second centuries of the Common Era and one of the most frequently quoted rabbis in the Mishnah. Considered to be R. Yochanan ben Zakkai's greatest student, R. Eliezer was nevertheless a controversial figure. Coming from a wealthy but uneducated family, he left them to study Torah in poverty and eventually directed an academy in Lod. Highly conservative in his approach to Torah, he was isolated and eventually excommunicated by his colleagues.