In the Land of Israel he associated with all the prominent scholars. Eleazar b. Pedat was still living at the time, and from him Zeira received valuable instruction. His most intimate friends were Rabbi Assi and Hiyya bar Abba. In his interaction with Assi he was generally the one who asked questions, and on one occasion Assi made known his approval of one of Zeira's questions by saying: "Right you are, Babylonian; you have understood it correctly". Zeira especially acknowledged the authority of Ammi, the principal of the school at Tiberias, and it is related that he asked Ammi to decide questions pertaining to religious law that had been addressed to himself.