(1st century C.E.).Religious leader. A student of Hillel and a member of the Sanhedrin, Ben Zakkai advocated a policy of peace with the Romans. The Talmud relates that during the siege of Jerusalem for no reason was anyone allowed to leave the city except to bury the dead. Ben Zakkai instructed his disciples to carry him in a coffin across the city walls. There he met the Roman commander Vespasian who granted him permission to open a Talmudical academy at Yavneh. There, he continued the work of the Sanhedrin, instituting laws and regulations that exerted a lasting influence on the development of Jewish spiritual values.