ʿAQIVAʾ BEN YOSEF (c. 50–c. 135 CE), Palestinian tanna. ʿAqivaʾ lived during the time of the transformation of Palestinian Judaism from a religion centered on the Temple of Jerusalem to one focused on the study of Torah, the totality of God's revelation to Moses and the Jewish people. ʿAqivaʾ was born shortly before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE and died during the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–135), the Jews' last attempt to wrest freedom from the Romans. Described as a poor shepherd, ʿAqivaʾ, encouraged by his wife, supposedly began his rabbinic studies at the age of forty and learned the alphabet together with his young son (Avot de-Rabbi Natan 6; B.T., Ket. 62b–63a, Ned. 50a).

The influence of ʿAqivaʾ touched all areas of rabbinic thought and all levels of rabbinic lore. The Talmud relates that

the...