Background:
Rabban Gamaliel was a great-great-grandson of Hillel the Elder.
He was the first person to lead the Sanhedrin (High Court) as Nasi (president) after the fall of the Second Temple, which occurred in 70 CE. Rabban Gamliel was appointed Nasi approximately 10 years later. rendered immense service in the strengthening and reintegration of Judaism, which had been deprived of its former basis by the destruction of the Second Temple and by the entire loss of its political autonomy.
He put an end to the division which had arisen between the spiritual leaders of Judaism by the separation of the scribes into the two schools called respectively after Hillel and Shammai, and took care to enforce his own authority as the president of the chief legal assembly of Judaism with energy and often with severity. He did this, as he himself said, not for his own honor nor for that of his family, but in order that disunion should not prevail in Israel.
According to the Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 2:8-9), in a dispute between Rabban Gamaliel II and Rabbi Joshua regarding the exact date of Yom Kippur, Gamaliel ordered Joshua to appear before him on "his" Yom Kippur carrying his stick and his money-bag so as to establish the Nasi's authority. According to a Talmudic account (Berakhot 27b-28a), after further humiliations of Rabbi Joshua by Rabban Gamaliel, the latter was deposed, for a time, from the office of Nasi.
Genealogy
(1) Rabban Gamaliel the Elder (Gamaliel I), first half of the first century.
(2) Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel (Simeon ben Gamaliel I), son of (1).
(3) Rabban Gamaliel of Yabneh (Gamaliel II), son of (2).
(4) Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel (Simeon ben Gamaliel II), son of (3).
ת"ר,מעשה בתלמיד אחד שבא לפני ר' יהושע א"ל,תפלת ערבית רשות או חובה,אמר ליה,רשות,בא לפני רבן גמליאל א"ל,תפלת ערבית רשות או חובה,א"ל,חובה,א"ל,והלא ר' יהושע אמר לי רשות,א"ל,
המתן עד שיכנסו בעלי תריסין לבית המדרש,
כשנכנסו בעלי תריסין עמד השואל ושאל,תפלת ערבית רשות או חובה,א"ל רבן גמליאל,חובה,אמר להם רבן גמליאל לחכמים,כלום יש אדם שחולק בדבר זה,אמר ליה ר' יהושע,לאו
א"ל,והלא משמך אמרו לי רשות,אמר ליה,יהושע עמוד על רגליך ויעידו בך,
עמד רבי יהושע על רגליו ואמר,אלמלא אני חי והוא מת יכול החי להכחיש את המת ועכשיו שאני חי והוא חי היאך יכול החי להכחיש את החי,היה
רבן גמליאל יושב ודורש ור' יהושע עומד על רגליו עד שרננו כל העם ואמרו לחוצפית התורגמן: עמוד, ועמד
Our Rabbis taught: a certain disciple came before R. Yehoshua and asked him: Is the evening tefillah obligatory or optional?
He replied: It is optional.
He then presented himself before Rabban Gamliel and asked him: Is the evening tefillah obligatory or optional?
He replied: It is obligatory.
He said: Did not R. Yehoshua tell me that it is optional?
He said: Wait until the men of armor enter the Bet Midrash.
When the men of armor came in, the questioner stood up and asked:
Is the evening Tefillah obligatory or optional?
Rabban Gamliel replied: It is obligatory.
Rabban Gamliel then said to the Sages:
Is there anyone who disputes this?
R. Yehoshua replied: No.
He said to him: Did they not report you to me as saying that it is optional?
He then went on: Yehoshua, stand on your feet and let them testify against you!
R. Yehoshua stood up and said: Were I alive and he dead, the living could contradict the dead. But now that he is alive and I am alive, how can the living contradict the living?
Rabban Gamliel remained sitting and expounding and R. Yehoshua remained standing, until the entire nation called out and said to Huzpith the Orator (the person who called out the teachings of Rabban Gamliel)
Stand! (i.e. stop repeating) And he stood.
אמרי עד כמה נצעריה וניזיל בראש השנה
אשתקד צעריה בבכורות במעשה דרבי צדוק צעריה הכא נמי צעריה תא ונעבריה מאן נוקים ליה
נוקמיה לרבי יהושע בעל מעשה הוא
נוקמיה לרבי עקיבא דילמא עניש ליה דלית ליה זכות אבות
אלא נוקמיה לרבי אלעזר בן עזריה דהוא חכם והוא עשיר והוא עשירי לעזרא
- הוא חכם דאי מקשי ליה מפרק ליה
- והוא עשיר דאי אית ליה לפלוחי לבי קיסר אף הוא אזל ופלח
-והוא עשירי לעזרא דאית ליה זכות אבות ולא מצי עניש ליה
Tractate Berakhot 27a-28b (BT)
They then said: How long is he going to continue paining him? On Rosh Hashanna last year he insulted him; he insulted him in the matter of the firstborn in the affair of R. Zadok; (these are two examples where Rabban Gamliel embarrassed Rebbe Yehoshua) now he insults him again! Come, let us depose him! Whom shall we appoint instead?
We can hardly appoint R. Yehoshua, because he is one of the parties involved.
We can hardly appoint R. Akiva because perhaps Rabban Gamliel will bring a curse on him because he has no ancestral merit.
Let us then appoint R. Elazar b. Azaryah, who is wise and rich and the tenth in descent from Ezra.
- He is wise, so that if anyone puts a question to him he will be able to answer it.
- He is rich, so that if occasion arises for paying court to Caesar he will be able to do so.
- He is tenth in descent from Ezra, so that he has ancestral merit and he cannot bring a curse on him.
תנא: אותו היום סלקוהו לשומר הפתח ונתנה להם רשות לתלמידים ליכנס שהיה רבן גמליאל מכריז ואומר כל תלמיד שאין תוכו כברו לא יכנס לבית המדרש ההוא יומא אתוספו כמה ספסלי
אמר רבי יוחנן: פליגי בה אבא יוסף בן דוסתאי ורבנן חד אמר אתוספו ארבע מאה ספסלי וחד אמר שבע מאה ספסלי
הוה קא חלשא דעתיה דרבן גמליאל אמר דלמא חס ושלום מנעתי תורה מישראל אחזו ליה בחלמיה חצבי חיורי דמליין קטמא ולא היא ההיא ליתובי דעתיה הוא דאחזו לי
Tractate Berakhot 28a (BT)
A Tanna taught: On that day the doorkeeper was removed and permission was given to the disciples to enter. For Rabban Gamliel had issued a proclamation that no disciple whose interior did not correspond to his exterior may enter the Bet Midrash. On that day many benches were added.
R. Yohanan said: There is a difference of opinion on this matter between Abba Yoseph b. Dosethai and the Rabbis: one says that four hundred benches were added, and the other says seven hundred.
Rabban Gamliel became alarmed and said: Perhaps, God forbid, I withheld Torah from Israel! A dream took hold of him and he was shown white casks full of ashes. This, however, really meant nothing; he was only shown this to appease him.
...אמר רבן גמליאל הואיל והכי הוה איזיל ואפייסיה לרבי יהושע כי מטא לביתיה חזינהו לאשיתא דביתיה דמשחרן
אמר לו מכותלי ביתך אתה ניכר שפחמי אתה אמר לו אוי לו לדור שאתה פרנסו שאי אתה יודע בצערן של תלמידי חכמים במה הם מתפרנסים ובמה הם נזונים
אמר לו נעניתי לך מחול לי!
לא אשגח ביה
עשה בשביל כבוד אבא פייס
...
אמרי היכי נעביד נעבריה גמירי מעלין בקדש ואין מורידין נדרוש מר חדא שבתא ומר חדא שבתא אתי לקנאויי אלא לדרוש רבן גמליאל תלתא שבתי ורבי אלעזר בן עזריה חדא שבתא
Tractate Berakhot 28a (BT)
...Rabban Gamliel thereupon said: This being the case, I will go and apologize to R. Yehoshua. When he reached his house he saw that the walls were black.
He said to him: From the walls of your house it is apparent that you are a charcoal maker.
He replied: Woe to the generation of which you are the leader, seeing that you know nothing of the troubles of the scholars, their struggles to support and sustain themselves!
He said to him: I apologize, forgive me!
He paid no attention to him.
He said: Do it out of respect for my father.
He then became reconciled to him.
...
They said: What should we do? Shall we depose him [R. Elazar b. Azaryah]? We have a rule that we may raise an object to a higher grade of sanctity but must not degrade it to a lower. If we let one teach one week and one on the next, this will cause jealousy. Let therefore Rabban Gamliel preach three weeks and R. Elazar b. Azaryah one week.