Nehunya ben HaKanah[pronunciation?

] (Hebrew: was a tanna of

the 1st and 2nd centuries. It appears from Bava Batra 10b that Nehunya was a
contemporary, but not a pupil, of Johanan ben Zakai. He was the teacher of Ishmael ben
Elisha. Nehunya was rich and had a large retinue of servants; but he was distinguished
for his meekness and forgiving nature, to which he attributed his attainment of great age
(Megillah 28a); two short prayers composed by him exhibit the same qualities (Berakhot
iv. 2; Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot iv. 2).

According to the statement of Rabbi Yochanan (Shevu'ot 26a), Nehunya interpreted the
entire Torah by the hermeneutic rule known as the "general and particular" ("kelal uferat "), which rule has also been adopted by his pupil Rabbi Ishmael as the eight of his
13 hermeneutic rules. Nehunya is frequently mentioned in the Talmud; in Hullin 129b he
is referred to as the antagonist of Eliezer and Joshua in regard to a halakhah (comp.,
however, Eduyot vi. 2). He said that the Pharaoh of the Exodus was rescued from the
Red Sea, that he repented, that he afterward reigned in Nineveh, and that it was he who
in the time of Jonah exhorted the inhabitants of Nineveh to repentance (Pirke De-Rabbi
Eliezer xliii.). Nehunya is known also for his ethical saying: "Whoso receives upon him
the yoke of the Torah, from him is removed the yoke of royalty and that of worldly care;
and whoso throws off the yoke of the Torah, upon him is laid the yoke of royalty and that
of worldly care" (Pirkei Avot iii. 6; Avot of Rabbi Natan recension B, xxxii. [ed. Solomon
Schechter, p. 68]).

As Ishmael b. Elisha, Nehunya's disciple, is regarded by the kabbalists as their chief

representative, Nehunya is considered to have been Ishmael's teacher in mysticism
also. He is generally supposed to have been the author of the daily prayer beginning
, the initials of which form the forty-two-lettered name of God. He is also supposed
by some to have been the author of the Bahir and of the Sefer ha-Peli'ah.