Judah Ha-nasi

´də hä-nä´sē), c.135–c.220, Palestinian Jewish communal leader (tanna). He occupied the office of patriarch (nasi) which was reestablished by the Romans after 135. Under his leadership, Palestinian Jewry rebuilt its economy, which had been devastated during the revolt against Rome (132–135). Tradition has presented him also as a learned rabbi and as the redactor of the Mishna, although his role in the production of the Mishna has been questioned by recent scholarship.