The Tannaim (Aramaic: ‘repeaters’ or ‘teachers’) are the rabbinic sages whose opinions are recorded in the Mishnah and related literature. The early Tannaim — working at Yavneh in the first generation after 70 AD — are engaged in the urgent project of reconstructing Jewish religious life without Temple, priesthood, or sacrifice. They establish chains of oral tradition tracing back to Sinai (Pirkei Avot 1:1), create the legal framework for prayer replacing sacrifice, and begin the process of codifying the debates that will eventually become the Mishnah. Key figures: Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, Rabban Gamliel II, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Joshua, and in the next generation, the towering figure of Rabbi Akiva.