Rabbi Jonathan (Hebrew: רבי יונתן, romanized: Rabi Yonatan) was a tanna of the 2nd century and schoolfellow of R. Josiah, apart from whom he is rarely quoted.
[2] Jonathan and Josiah were educated together at the academy of Ishmael ben Elisha,[3] whose dialectic system, as opposed to that of Rabbi Akiva, they acquired.
It is even reported that Jonathan all but converted Ben Azzai, a "fellow student" of Akiva, to Ishmael's system, and made him deeply regret his failure to study it more closely.
[5] Together, Jonathan and Josiah devoted their analytical minds to midrash halachah, interpreting laws as they understood them from the corresponding Scriptural texts, but not suggesting them.
[11] Contrary to the astrological views of his times, Jonathan taught the Scriptural idea of natural phenomena; quoting Jeremiah 10:2, he added: "Eclipses may frighten Gentiles, but they have no significance for Jews".