Eleazar ben Arach was one of the tannaim of the second generation (1st century). Little is known about him.
Described as first among the disciples of Yohanan ben Zakkai,[1] it was said, "If all the sages of Israel were placed in one scale, and Eleazar ben Arach in the other, he would outweigh them all".[2] Yochanan described him as a "gushing stream" or "ever-flowing spring".[2] Alon Goshen-Gottstein and Bertrand Badie wrote that this metaphor of rabbinical sage as spring was central to Eleazar's role in Talmud.[3] They continue by noting he represented a symbol of a particular kind of rabbinical learning, one that not only repeated existing wisdom from the scripture but also innovated, providing new lessons for new circumstance as a spring or a well provides fresh (new) water.
Crusader-period Jewish sources identify Eleazar ben Arach's tomb at the Upper Galilee town of Alma. Benjamin of Tudela mentions his tomb in a "large cemetery of the Israelites" at Alma, which also houses the tombs of Eleazar ben Azariah, Honi HaMe'agel, Simeon ben Gamliel and Jose the Galilean.[4] An anonymous Hebrew manuscript of the same period states that the Jews and Muslims of Alma light candles on Eleazar ben Arach's tomb on Shabbat Eve, and mention a nearby miracle-working tree.[5]
The Jewish Encyclopedia cites the following bibliography: