For a great part of his life he followed a mercantile pursuit, and earned his bread by manual labor.

His originality as a teacher lay in his perception that Judaism could survive the loss of its national centre.

He felt that "charity and the love of men may replace the sacrifices." He would have preferred his brethren to submit to Rome, and his political foresight was justified when the war of independence closed in disaster.

As Graetz has well said, like Jeremiah Jochanan wept over the desolation of Zion, but like Zerubbabel he created a new sanctuary.

Jochanan's new sanctuary was the school.
In the "Vineyard" at Jamnia, the Jewish tradition was the subject of much animated inquiry.