Controversy
Gamaliel was a controversial leader. He excommunicated his own brother-in-law, Eliezer ben Hyrcanus. In a dispute about fixing the calendar, Rabban Gamaliel humiliated Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah and this led to a rabbinic revolt against Gamaliel's leadership of the sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin installed Eleazar Ben Azariah as the new Nasi, but then defined his role as Av Bet Din, effectively as a coregent, while restoring Gamaliel.
Read more about this topic: Gamaliel II
Famous quotes containing the word controversy:
“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“Ours was a highly activist administration, with a lot of controversy involved ... but I’m not sure that it would be inconsistent with my own political nature to do it differently if I had it to do all over again.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)