Yochanan HaSandlar
100 CE–170 CE · Tannaim · Alexandria
Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar (the Cobbler) was a third-generation Tanna who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, in the second century CE. He was known for combining manual labor—shoemaking—with Torah study, exemplifying the rabbinic ideal of productive work alongside intellectual pursuits. Though details of his specific teachings are sparse in the Talmudic record, he is remembered as a figure who bridged the world of craftsmen and sages, demonstrating that one need not abandon livelihood to engage seriously with Jewish learning. His life reflects the vibrant Jewish communities of the Diaspora during the Roman period.
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AlexandriaEgypt
We know they were here, but the specifics of what they did at this stop aren’t recorded yet in our corpus.
About Alexandria
Alexandria is the main Mediterranean port of northern Egypt and the country's second city. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, it became the capital of the Ptolemies, whose Museum and Great Library made it the leading centre of Hellenistic learning. It also held one of the largest Jewish communities of antiquity, where the Greek Bible translation known as the Septuagint was produced and Philo wrote. Church tradition traces its patriarchate to Mark the Evangelist, and its catechetical school was led by Clement and Origen. Arab forces under Amr ibn al-As took the city in 641, and it remained a commercial and scholarly hub of the Islamic world; the Sufi master Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari was born there.
Across the traditions, in Alexandria at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Yochanan HaSandlar’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
- Plutarch· Alexandria
- Aretaeus of Cappadocia· Alexandria
- Dionysius Periegetes· Alexandria
- Appian of Alexandria· Alexandria
- Claudius Ptolemaeus· Alexandria
- Valentinus· Alexandria
- Harpocration· Alexandria
- Achilles Tatius· Alexandria
- Apollonius Dyscolus· Alexandria
- Vettius Valens· Alexandria
- Galen· Alexandria
- Athenagoras· Alexandria
- Sextus Empiricus· Alexandria
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Yochanan HaSandlar’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.