Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/209

Rh R A E R A B 191 The Hellenistic RABBONI (pa/BfSowei, John xx. 16) is the Aramaic ribboni used by a slave of his master, a son of his father, a wife of her husband, a worshipper of his God. (Com- pare the similar variation of the vowel in pisho = Trac^a.) RABBENTT signifies " our teacher " par excellence, and means in Palestine R. Yehudah Hannasi, and in Baby- lonia Rab (i.e., Abba Arekha). Kabbah (TGI), also Rubbo and Rubboh, a title placed in the Palestinian Talmud and Midrashim after the names of certain teachers (T. Y., Berakhoth, i. 1 ; Kilayim, ix. 3, and elsewhere), corresponds to the Hebrew THUn in the same connexion in the Babylonian Talmud (Berakhoth, 6a, and elsewhere), and does not, as has hitherto been supposed, mean "the great" but simply "the elder." Thus many questionable Talmudic magnitudes disappear^ (S. M. S.-S.) _ RABA (RoBo) i.e., RAB ABA B. YOSEPH B. KAMA (Homo) was, like his teacher Rabbah and his fellow-pupil Abayye, a scion of the house of Eli, on whom rested the double curse of poverty and that none of them should reach old age (1 Sam. ii. 31-36). According to T. B., JRosh Hasshanah, ISa, 1 he sought to remove this curse, if not by sacrifices and offering then by the study of the Law, while Abayye also practised works of charity. Raba was rabbi and judge of the congregation and head of the school (methibta) of Mahuza. He lived in the middle of the 4th Christian century, and became on the death of his fellow-pupil Abayye head of the famous academy of Pum- baditha, which was only closed in 1040. He was noted, like his predecessor, for his genius ; and the discussions between them (and similar ones of others) are known in the Babylonian Talmud as the Havayoth de-Abayye ve-Rdbd (SuJckah, 28a). Raba was also noted for the liberality of his religious decisions (T. B., Berakhoth, 22b ; Pesahim, 30a, and elsewhere). Being a man of considerable wealth, he showed, in accordance with Scriptural truth (Prov. xviii. 23), his independence in every way. Thus he hesi- tated not to include the exquisites of the congregation of Mahuza, who were noted for their luxurious style of living, among the candidates for Gehenna, whose faces would one day become as dark as the sides and the bottom of a sauce- pan (T. B., Rosh Hasshanah, 17a), whilst he most un gal- lantly applied to their idle wives the passage of Amos iv. 1 (T. B., Shabbath, 32b). Raba was in fact the Abraham a Sancta Clara of his day, minus the cloister life of the latter. He was married to one of the beautiful, accomplished, and amiable daughters of his teacher, R. Hisda, whom he so dearly loved that he was ready to forgive Bar Hadya (an interpreter of dreams who had much vexed him by his adverse interpretations) everything except the interpreta- tion of a dream foreboding her death. Raba, relying on Gen. xli. 12, 13, believed that the fulfilment of dreams within certain limits was influenced by the interpretation given to them (T. B., Berakhoth, 55b). (s. M. s.-s.) RAB AD (T2&n). Under this abbreviation five Jewish scholars are known, all of whom, singularly enough, lived during the 12th century. I. RAB AB-BETH-DIN, i.e., the chief rabbi par cxceJlcnce. His real name was R. Abraham b. Yishak of Narbonne. He was the teacher of the most distinguished rabbis of Provence, including his famous son-in-law (Rabacl III.) and Rabbenu Zerahyah Hallevi, the author of the Maor. It has always been known that a great deal of literature on the Talmud belonging to him is mixed up with the works of others, notably with those of Rabad (see III. below). 1 See Rashi, catchword K311 "UN ; Hullin, 133a, catchwords P p*O and KrDDD "6 "'ST. The Tosaphoth and printed editions (II. cc. ) put RABBAH (q.v. ) for Raba; but Rashi's traditional reading (TiyDt? n3) must be right. For, in the first place, it would have been on the part of the Talmud superfluous to state that Rabbah and Abayye were of the house of Eli, seeing that the latter was the sou of the brother of the former. And secondly, the story goes (Rosh Hasshanah, I. c. ) that he who only studied the Law died at the age of forty (Abayye living to sixty), whereas the synchronisms of Rabbah's life show that he must have lived to a much greater age. In 1867-69, however, Dr B. H. Auerbach, rabbi of Halberstadt, edited for the first time Rabad's chief work, The Eshkol, in three parts, 4to. II. R. ABRAHAM B. DAVID (Baud, 118*1) HALLEVI of Toledo, the historiographer, who suffered martyrdom in 1180. His chief work has been printed innumerable times, and repeatedly with historical additions from earlier sources. Some of the parts of this " Tradi- tion" and of these additions have been translated into Latin, English, and German. (1) His historical work, r6apn "ISO, is a chronicle down to 1161, preceded by Seder 'Olam and Megillath Ta'anith (Mantua, 1513, 4to) ; cheap editions are to be got in Poland. (2) His philosophico-theological work (composed in Arabic, translated into Hebrew by R. Shelomoh Ibn Labi 14th century and into German by Weil) came out at Frankfort in 1852, 8vo. III. R. ABRAHAM B. DAVID, disciple and son-in-law of Rabad I. This is the "great Rabbi of Posquieres." the only opponent whom Maimonides thought a match for himself. He died in 1198. His works are: (1) Commentary on the Mishnic treatise 'Eduyyoth (see MISHNAH, vol. xvi. p. 506), which accompanies some early and all later editions of the Babylonian Talmud (that on Tumid, as- cribed to him, is not his). (2) Commentary on Siphro (see vol. xvi. p. 507). (3) Much of Temim Dc'im, part of the collection Tummath Yesharim, on various Rabbinic matters, Venice, 1622, fol. (4) Ba'ale Hannephesh, on laws relating to women (first inde- pendent edition, Prague, 1811, 4to). (5) Hassagoth, or Strictures on the Mishnch Torah of MAIMONIDES (q.v.}. These accompany most early and all later editions of the Mislmeli Torah. IV. R. ABRAHAM B. DAVID, author of the commentary on the Sepher Yesirah. 2 His commentary has been printed innumerable times with the work itself, the editio princeps at Mantua in 1562, 4to. Part of its preface was done in Latin by Rittangelius (Am- sterdam, 1642, 4to). V. R. ABRAHAM B. DAVID. He wrote Strictures (Hassagoth) on Rashi on the Pentateuch. This little and most interesting book was either written by a Sepharadi or Provencal, and lies in MS. (Add. , 377, 3, 1) in the Cambridge University Library. No other copy is known. (S. M. S.-S.) RABAN (p&O) i-e., RABBENTJ ELI'EZER B. NATHAN of Mainz was one of the most famous Halakhic teachers of the 12th century. He lived at Mainz and corresponded with Rashi's son-in-law, Rabbenu Meir b. Shemuel, and his three distinguished sons, RASHBAM (q.v.), Ribam (R. Yishak b. Melr, who died young and left seven orphans), and Rabbenu Tham (R. Ya'akob). His great Halakhic work, n3J?2 rusv, or "ityn px, is commonly called by the combination of the author's initials which heads this article, the Book of Raban, and was printed at Prague in 1610 fol. 3 Other Halakhic literature by him is to be found in Kol Bo, 123 (without place or date, but probably Naples, towards the end of the 15th century), and its reprints. More lies in MS. in libraries ; thus the Eben Haroshah, of which no other copy is known, is preserved in the Cambridge University Library (Add., 498). R. Eli'ezer was also a fine liturgical poet, vying both in senti- ment and elegance with the poets of the Sepharadic school, as appears, for example, from the Ophan and other pieces designed for a Sabbath when there is a circumcision. Rabbenu Eli'ezer died in the 12th century. The date 5007 ( = 1247) which appears in the formulas of a bill of divorcement and a deed of manumission of a slave is most assuredly due to a scribe of the 13th century, who in transcribing Raban's book conformed the date to his own time a practice often to be met with. Dr A. Jellinek of Vienna has published a History of the First Crusade (V'3nn ITDM D1D31p, Leipsic, 1854, 8vo) a little book interesting in more than one way which bears the name of Raban. It cannot, however, be by the subject of this article, as one can see by comparing with his genuine work the questionable poetic stuff which forms part of the Konteres. The author is no doubt Raban of Cologne. Nor does the commentary on DTPS? ?N (for Pentecost eve) under the title of Pat^H "IOXE, which has been often printed, and of which the Cambridge Library has an old MS. (Add., 493, 1), 2 The idea that R. Yoseph Arukh Ma/c/ws (a Greek) or Lotigus (a Roman) was the author of this commentary must be given up. On the other hand, it is not quite impossible that this commentator and the writer of the Strictures on Rashi are one and the same person. 3 The thanks of the writer of these lines are due to the curators and librarian of the Bodleian for the loan of this book.