Jonathan ben Uzziel

Jonathan ben Uzziel (Hebrew: יונתן בן עוזיאל) was one of the 80 tannaim who studied under Hillel the Elder during the time of Roman-ruled Judea.^[1]

Jonathan ben Uzziel is mentioned several times in the Talmud.^[2] Jonathan rendered an Aramaic translation (targum) of the Major and Minor Prophets which still survives today.^[3] When he wished to procure a translation of the Ketuvim, a Divine voice (Hebrew: bat ḳol) was heard telling him that what he had done was sufficient for humanity.^[3]

Hillel the Elder had eighty disciples: thirty of them were worthy that the Divine Presence should rest upon them as upon Moses our teacher, but their generation was not worthy of it; thirty of them were worthy that the intercalation of the years should be determined by them; and twenty were average. The greatest of them all was Jonathan b. ’Uzziel[.]^[4]