ELISHAʿ BEN AVUYAH (first half of the second century CE), also known as Aher (the "other"), a Palestinian tanna (sage), is unique among the Jewish sages of the first centuries of the common era. Even though he was thoroughly versed in rabbinic Judaism and had been the teacher of Meʾir (one of the leading sages of the latter half of the second century), Elishaʿ eventually rejected his heritage.

There are numerous accounts of the life of Elishaʿ as a rabbi and of his eventual rejection of the rabbinic teachings (B.T., Ḥag 14b–15b; J.T., Ḥag 2.1, 77b-c; Ru. Rab. 6.4; Eccl. Rab. 7.8). The Tosefta names Elishaʿ, along with Ben ʿAzzʾai, Ben Zomaʾ and ʿAqivaʾ ben Yosef, as one who entered the "orchard" (pardes) where he "mutilated the shoots" (Tosefta Ḥag 2.3), a phrase explained in several different ways in...