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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

^nunon

AMMI, AIMI, orlMMI



The

iiiimc of several

In llie ISiiliylimiaii Taliiuid the nnioniim. only is used: in the I'lilestiniiiii Tsilnuid

first fnriii

«U

tliree

niipeai' proniisciiously, Iniini piednniinatin.!;, " soMietiines 1{. Ainini is conlnietecl into " Hitbini

forms

aud

or " Hiililminini " (Yer. 'Ab. Zunih, v. 4'tii. h). The most dislinuuished of these is a Palestiidan ninom His native of the third ireneration (third eenliiry). country is not named, but it is {leiieridly assumed to

seems ])robaliU' that the lifeloii!; friendship exislinjr between H. Ammi and H. Assi had its orijrin in lies of blood. 1{. Assi is identieal with H. Assi (Jose) b. Natlian. and H. Ammi's full name, as •;iven by himself, is Ammi b. Nathan (Oil. 44(/); both of them, moreover, wen'of )iriestlv deseent (Mep. •iin. Hul. l(l7/<). so" that they seem to have been the sons of the Descent. same father; and as ]{. Assi is a nativ<' Babyloidan. there is reason for assuminfr K. Ammi's be Haliylonia.

It

Ammi

atIJabyloniaii nativity. In his earlj- aire tende<l the eollejre at Ca'.sjirea, presided over by H. Hoshaiah I. (Yer, Shah. iii. 5(/). and later he went to Tiberias and berame the disciple of H. Johanan. at

whose death he voluntarily observed the ritual iieriod of mourniiiir |ireserilieil on the death of neari'st relaWhen he once lieard that tives only (.M. K. ~'ili). his Habylcinian contemporary. K. Nahman. had expres.sed himself disresp<-(t fully of a misajijilied opinion of K. Johanan. he indiirnantly exclaimed. "Does Nahman think that bccatise he is the son-in-law of the exilarch. he may speak dispurai.Mnjrly of R. Jolianan's opinions'/" (Hul. Ii4(. In Tiberias lie becaniethe ccnierof a lafL'!' circlcof learned friends, amonii whom were R. Abliahu. H. Hanina (Hineii.-i) b. Pa]!])!. K. Isaac, and R. Samuel b. Nahmani CM. K. 17.(, 20.( Yeb. 4*); but the clo.sest and m<ist enduring frieiidslii]) existed between liim ami K. Hiyya b. Abba and R. Assi (I?er. Ifw, Yer, Pes. iii, Wh). both of whom were Babylonian imndirrants. Althouirh H, Ammi had been in Palestine lonu' bi'fore 1{. Assi, they were both orilained at the sametime. and received a warm irreet inn from thestudents, who .sanir, "Such men, such men ordain for us! Ordain for us not those who use words like 'sermis' and 'sermit, or iicmis and tremis " (ICct. ITr;, Sanh. 14<(see the cxjdanation of these expressions in Bacher, "Ag, Pal. Amor," ii, 145, note 1; Krauss, "'Lelinwortcr,"ii, 2T; Jastrow, "Diet." p, 477; idfiii, " Future of Talmudic Texl.s." p, ir>). which Tamar's was an allusion to the simple language Lawsuit, used by these rabbis as contrasted with the ailmixtures of foreign terms employed by other teachers. These two, together with R. Hiyya, constituted a court of justice, the administration of which at one time endangered tlu'ir liberty, if not their lives. Fora certain offense they had passed a severe sentence on a woman named Tamar, whereupon she preferred charges against them before the proconsular goverimient for inlerfering with the Roman courts. Fearing the conse(|uences of this denunciation they requested R, .bbahu to exert his influence with the govermnent in their belialf; but he had anticipated the rei|uest, and nothing more was lieard of the ease (Yer. Meg. iii. 74^/). Among their Babylonian contemporaries. Ammi and Assi were known as "the Palestinian judges." or as "the distinguished i)riests of Palestine " ((Jit. .WA. Sanh, 17A), On the other hand, when R. .mmi (|Uoted a doctrine of Rab or of .Samuel, he introduced it with the expression, "Our masters in Babylonia ssiy " (Sliebu. 47a compare Sanh. I.e.). Eventually R. Ammi succeeded to the rectorate of the college at Tiberias (Hul. 134A); but that did not prevent liim from attending to his judicial functions, in conjunction with

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Assi. Indeed, it is reported that they interrupted their studies hourly, and, rajiping at the college door, aunounccd their readiness to hear causes if rccpiired (Shab, lO(i), They woidd offer their Rector at prayers in the college building, proTiberias, ferring for that purjiose the spaces between the jiillars to all the thirteea .synagogues in the city (Her. S,(. ;il)/;). Besides tilling

together with R. Hiyya. acted a,s inspectors and, where necessary, as organizers of schools for children and for adidts. One of the instructions givi'u by Anuni to the sclioolmasters was to accommodate itinerant scholars in the schoolrooms (Yer. jMcg. iii. 74(0!'• connection with one of the tours of inspection, the following characteristic anecdote is related: these ollices, thi-y.

They eiinie to a place where ttiere were nellhi'r iiriniiiry fur cliiltin'n nor iidvaiu-ed sclmols for adults, and reiiuested ttiat tile jriianlliins ef the ell.v t)e HiiniiiiiHiett. When the scliiMiIs

rllc<i, "The inslnictors of the yoiintr ami the masters of the old; for thus the Scripture says (I's. c.xxvli. li, 'Except the I.ord keep ihi' city, the uatchmun wuketh but in yaln'" (Yer. I.lair. I. The,

city I"

Mldr. Teh. on

(,c.i.

Besides their familiarity with Halakah and Ilaggadah, Ammi and Assi also possessed some knowledge of the sciences of their time. They prescribed remedies in cases of sickness ('.li, Zarali, 2H(, and studied the habits of animals (Lev, R. xix., Midr. Sam, v.). Aluchasthey valued the study of the Law. Ihey prized jiious deeds still higher. Therefore they and U. Iliyya did not scruple to absent themselves from college and to miss a lecture by R. Kleazar, when the interment of a stranger required their attention (Yer. Pes, iii. liOA) and when once a considerable sum of money was jircsented to the college, Ammi took possession of it in the name of the poor, among whom it was subseipiently distributed (Mill, 184/'), Once R. Ammi, accompanied by R, Samuel b. Nahmani, undertook a journey to the court of Zeiiobia. (|Ueen of I'alniyra ('Jli7-'J7:!), to intercede for Zeir b. Hi'"'"''- who had been seized by her orders, Zenobia refused to liberate him, remarking, "Your God is accustomed to work miracles for you," when a Sanicen, liearing a sword, entered and reported, " With this sword has Bar Nazar killed his brother": this inci). On another occasion he was ready to ransom a man who had repeatedly sold himself to the Ludi (lanist;e. ]irocurers of subjects for gladiatorial contests Jastrow. "Diet." p. (i'.t'i). He argued that although the Mishnah ((!it. iv. 9) exempted a .lew from the duty of ransoming a luan who repeatedly sells himself to non-Israelites, still it was his duty to ransom the chihlrcn (to save them from sinking into idolatryl; so much the greater was this oliligation in a case where violent death was imminent. .mmi's coUi'agues. however, convinced

—

him that the ap|)licaiit for his jirotection was totally unworthy of his compassion, and he finally refused to interfere (Git. 4(i// rl xeq.). and R. Assi are very frequently cited in R.

Ammi

both Talmuds and in the Midrashim. and often together, cither as being of the sjime ojiinion or as opposed to each other. Owing to this

R.

Ammi

circumstance, the same doctrines are (pioted sometimes in the name of one as Exegete. and sometimes in that of the other

(compare Ber. 9/); Pes. 119rt; Siik. Sin; Ta'anit, Sii; Suk. 44//; M, K, :«), The same uncertainty manifests itself even where the reporter had probablv received the tradition directly from one of them (Hul, 844; Ber, 20b; Sotah, 44; (3it, 7a),