Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar, a Tanna of the fourth generation, was one of the leading disciples of Rabbi Akiva, whom he served, and a contemporary of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. The Jerusalem Talmud calls him "the Alexandrian", from Alexandria in Egypt, though it is unclear whether he was born or lived there. His byname, "the shoemaker", refers by the most common view to his trade, by which he earned his living while devoting himself to Torah.

According to tradition, a great-grandson of Rabban Gamliel, he descended from the royal house of David through Hillel the Elder, and many family trees make him an ancestor of Rashi, the Maharshal and other rabbinic lines, including that of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.

During the Roman persecutions, when Rabbi Akiva was imprisoned, he did all he could to keep receiving his teaching: the Jerusalem Talmud relates that he disguised himself as a peddler and passed by the prison calling out his wares, thus obtaining his teacher's answer to a halachic question.

Pirkei Avot quotes his saying: "Every assembly that is for the sake of Heaven will endure, and one that is not for the sake of Heaven will not endure." He rests in Meron.