ELISHA BEN ABUYAH (fl. c. A.D. zoo), a unique figure among the Palestinian Jews of his day, was born before the destruction of the Temple (A.D. 7o). He refused to accept the current rabbinical views, though the Talmud cites his legal de cisions. Most authorities believe that he was a Gnostic, but it is possible that he was simply a Sadducee, and thus an opponent not of Judaism but of Pharisaism. The efforts of his disciple, the famous Pharisee Meir, to reclaim his former master are among the most pathetic incidents in the Talmud. In later ages Elisha was regarded as the type of a heretic whose pride of intellect betrayed him into infidelity to law and morals.