President of the Sanhedrin
Gamaliel the Elder, or Rabbi Gamaliel I was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the mid first century AD.
Gamaliel holds a reputation in the Mishnah for being one of the greatest teachers in all the annals of Judaism: Since Rabban Gamaliel the Elder died, there has been no more reverence for the law, and purity and piety died out at the same time. He was the grandson of the great Jewish teacher Hillel the Elder, and died twenty years before the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem. Gamliel’s great grandson was Yokhanan Hasandlar a pivotal link to Rashi 33 generations later. Gamliel fathered a son, whom he called Simeon, after his father’s name, and a daughter, whose daughter (i.e., Gamaliel’s granddaughter) married a priest named Simon ben Nathanael.
The name Gamaliel is the Greek form of the Hebrew name meaning reward of God. In the early Messianic Writings, Gamaliel is celebrated as a doctor of Jewish Law, who was the teacher of Paul the Apostle; the author of the Book of Acts portrays Gamaliel as a man of great respect and wisdom.
As Rabban In the Talmud, seven leaders of Hillel’s school of thought, of which Gamaliel was the first, are given the title Rabban (master), a rabbinic title given to the Head of the Sanhedrin; although it is not doubted that Gamaliel genuinely held a senior position, whether he actually held this highest position has been disputed]. Gamaliel holds a reputation in the Mishnah for being one of the greatest teachers in all the annals of Judaism: Since Rabban Gamaliel the Elder died, there has been no more reverence for the law, and purity and piety died out at the same time.