Avot243

1:
In all probability the Rabbi Yoĥanan of our present mishnah was born in Alexandria in Egypt. However, if this is the case, we do not know at what age he arrived in Eretz-Israel. One thing we do know: he must have been an adult (or on the verge of adulthood) in the last year of Rabbi Akiva's life (136 CE). We may derive both these facts from accounts given in the Talmud of Eretz-Israel.

2:
The first account [Yevamot 68b] is concerned with the last year of Rabbi Akiva's life. The mishnah records a dispute among the sages as to whether Ĥalitzah (the formal act which puts an end to the marital linkage of a childless widow to her brother-in-law) must be performed before a Bet Din or whether it may be performed privately. The only person whose decision would clinch the matter was imprisoned by the Romans awaiting execution: Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Yoĥanan the sandal-maker, at great personal risk, undertook to ascertain the sage's opinion in this matter. He dressed himself up as a peddler and stationed himself outside the prison, as near to Akiva's cell as possible. Then he called out his wares: "Who needs needles? Who needs hooks?" And then, in the same sing-song voice he called out "Private Ĥalitzah – What's the law?" Rabbi Akiva, from his cell, called out in a similar voice: "You have spindles? It's valid!" This account demonstrates that in the year 136 CE Yoĥanan was of an age to undertake this dangerous mission.

3:
The fact that he hailed originally from Alexandria may be derived from a different account in the Talmud of Eretz-Israel [Ĥagigah 15b]. Some time after the Hadrianic persecutions were over the generation of sages that survived found themselves in charge of the administration of halakhah and to a certain extent thought that they were unworthy of the task – at least to begin with.

The intercalation of the year (the decision to add an extra month before Passover) was the prerogative of the Sanhedrin. The fact that only seven sages assembled in some remote place suggests that they were still in great danger. Rabbi Me'ir announced what had been the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, an opinion with which Rabbi Yoĥanan the sandal-maker vehemently disagreed.

He was so vehement that the other sages said "Yoĥanan the sandal-maker is a true Alexandrian" – because Alexandrian Jews were known for their hot tempers and their argumentative nature. However, all's well that ends well: the Gemara concludes the account with the words:

4:
We have mentioned in previous shiurim [Avot 238 and Avot 239] that sages of this period seriously considered emigrating from Eretz-Israel, so bad was the situation. The midrash [Sifré, Re'eh 28] records a similar attempt by our Rabbi Yoĥanan:

5:
On the face of it the teaching attributed to Rabbi Yoĥanan the sandal-maker in our mishnah seems simple, verging on trite. I can't help thinking that the operative word in the mishnah is "assembly", a rather strange word to use in mishnaic Hebrew. The same word occurs in the account mentioned above of the heated altercation in the Rimon Valley. It seems to me that in our present mishnah Rabbi Yoĥanan the sandal-maker is saying to his colleagues: "If our assembling here is in the name of Heaven (and not for personal aggrandisement) its success is assured; if the opposite is true it is doomed to failure."

6:
On many occasions in the past we have mentioned that the sages supported themselves by manual labour and did not receive a stipend from the community. Rabbi Yoĥanan in our present mishnah is an example. Other occupations of which we are aware include the following:

Hillel was a wood-chopper; Shammai was a builder; Rabbi Yehoshu'a was a blacksmith; Rabbi Yosé the father of Rabbi Yishma'el was a tanner; Abba Hoshayah of Turya was a fuller (laundryman); Rabbi Ĥanina and Rabbi Oshaya were shoemakers; Karna was a wine-taster; Rav Huna was a water-carrier; Rav Ĥisda and Rav Pappa were brewers of mead; Rabbi Yitzĥak was a smith; and Rabbi Avin was a carpenter. There are many more.

It seems to me that all these occupations have one thing in common: they do not require acute concentration, thus leaving one's mind free to continue reviewing one's knowledge and one's learning even while earning an honourable living.