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30 Abba Arika Abba Hoshaya lions

nnd

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

practical applicatious of the religious

T^w.

The lejrul and ritual opinions recorded in lijib's name and his disputes willi .Samuel constitute the hody of the Haliylonian Talmud. His numersome of wliom were very inHuential and wlio. for the most part, were also disciples of ntain

ous

ilisciples

Sainuil

—

—amplitied and. in their capacity as instruct-

and by their discussions, continued the work of I{)il). In the Babylonian schools Hub was rightly re ferred to as "our great master." liuh Rab as also e.xercised a great intluence for Teaclier. good uiion the moral and religious

ors

conditions of his native land, not only indirectly through his disciples, hut directly by reason of the strictness with whidi he reprc.ssed abuses in matters of marriage and ilivorce, and denounced ignorance and negligence iu matters of ritual observance. Rab, says tradition, foiuid an open, neglected field and I'eiiced it in (Hul. 1 10(0. Especial attention was given by him to the liturgy of the Synagogue. He is reputed to be the author of one of the linest compositions in the Hebrew prayer-book, the JIusaf .serviceof the Mew Year. In tliisnoble prayer are evinced profound religious feeling and e.alt"ed thought, as wi'll as ability to use the Hebrew language in a natural, expressive, and classical manner (Yer. R. H. i. ')'(!) The many honiiletic and ethical (haggadistic) sayings recorded of him show similar ability. As a liaggadist ]{ab is surpassed by none of the Babylonian Amoraim. He is the only one of the Babylonian teachers whose haggadistic utterances ajii'roach in number and contents tho.se of the Palesliinau haggadists. The Palestinian Talmud has preserved a large number of his halakic and haggadistic utterances; and the Palestinian ilidrashim also contain many of his Ha,a:gadot. Rab delivered honiiletic discourses, both in the college (,/ii't /miiiiilriixh) and in the synagogues. Heesjiecially loved to treat in his homilies oif the events and per.sonages of Biblical history: and many beautiful and genuinely poetic embellishments of the Biblical record, which have become comtuon posEthical session of llie Ilaggadah. are his creaTeaching. tions. His Haggadah is particularly rich in thoughts concerning the moral life and the relations of human beings to one another. few of these utterances may be quoted here: .

A

" The commandments of tbe Torati were only given to purify men's morals " (Gen. K. xliv.). •' Wlintever ma'v not propiTly lip done In public la forlildden even in tin- most snrrt cljiiiiiluT" (Slial). l>4/<). "It Iswell tliat peopli' Imsv tlicniM-hes with the study of Uie Law and tlie in-i-fornianie cf cliiiriliilile ilrcds. even

when

not cntlrvlvdisiiuerrstid; fnitlic huliit of riL'lit-d.dnc will llnally niakeilicinr.Mition puiv" I'l-s. Tiii/. i. will h.. called nt f'lr liavinn deprived himself of ihc u I tliint's which the world olTcn-il " ( Ver. Kid. end). " Wh.isoevcr hath not pitv upon his fellow man Is no child of .Abraham" (l!eadi.:Mii. '• It ishi-ItiTto lasl oneself Into allery furnace than puhlli-lv to put to

"Man

i

to acr

shame

one's fellow creature" (B. M.

.'ilVi).

"Oneshould never

woman without haying seen her; one might disioviT in her a blemish because of which one her and thus iranss-'ress the coininandnient: "Thou shall loVE.tliyn.-iL'liiiurastiiyself'MKld. 41a). " A father should never |irefer one child above another; the example of Joseph shows what evil results may follow therefrom " (Shah. li)li). belp.ih

hiiiisilf to a

suhsi'ii

ily

miL'lii loiiihc

liab loved the Book of Eccle.siasticus(Sirach). and his disciple Hamnnna against unjustifiable asceticism l)y quoting advice conReproves tained therein" that, considering the Extreme transitorinessof liuniiin life ('Er.>)4(/),

warned

—

Asceticism, one should not despise the good things of this world. To the celestial jovs of the future he was accustomed to refer in the following poetic words " There

Is

naught on earth to compare with the future

the world to

come there

life.

In

shall be neither eating nor drinking.

30

neither trading nor toll, neillier hatreil nor envv hut the righteous shall sit Willi crowns uinm Ihidr heads, and ivjolce In the i-adlance of the Divine I'n-,sc-iice " (Her, ITiii,

Rid) also devoted much attention to mystical ami tnuiscendenlal speculations which the rabbis connect with the Biblical account of creation (Gen. i., Ma'aseh Bereshil), the vision of the mysterious chariot of God (Ezek. i., Ula'aseh Merkabah). and the Divine Name. Many of his im])orlant utterances testify to his teudeiicy iu this direction (Hair. 12.', Kid. 71rt). Concerning the social position and the personal history of Rab we are not informed. That he was rich seems probable: for lie appears to have occiijiied himself for a time with commerce and afterward with agriculture (Hul. lO.'xO. That he was highly respected by the Gentiles as as by the .Jews of Babylonia is lunved by the friendship which existed between him and the last Parthian king, Artaban ('Ab. Zarali. 10//). He was deeply alTeeted by the death of Artaban (22(i) and the downfall of the Arsacidan dynasty, and does not appear to have sought the fiiendship of Ardeshir, Status founder of the Sassanian dynasty, alin Life. tlmugh Samuel of Neliardeii probably did so. Rab became closely relateti, through the marriage of one af his daughters, to the family of the e.xilarch. Her .sons. Mar Ikba and Nchemiah, were considered types of the highest aristocracy, Rab had many sons, several of whom arc mentioned in the Talmud, the mo.st distinguished being the eldest, I.Iiyya. The latter did not, however, succeed his failier as head of the academy: this post fell to Rab's disciple Huna. Two of liis grandsons occupied in succession the ofiice of exil-

wM

arcli (irs/i r/altitu,

Hul.

'J'ia).

Rab

died at an advanced age. deeply mourned by numerous disciplesand the entire Babylonian .Jewry, which he had raised from comi)arative insignificance to the leading position in Judaism (Shab. 110a, M. K. 24«)

KdMw

Bini.inr.R.iPHT: I. H. WeLss, In Yizhah. No. S. pp.22:!»; No. 9, pp, 49-5i); No, 10, pp, 111-^1; 'the'same. Dm: ill. 147-liil; Abr. Levvy.sohn, In Kobak's Jeschurun (Hebrew nartl.vl. 114-120 and vll.li-IO: .los. ('manskMn (iriiber's i izitiha-Sifrut, v. l.VJ-212; M, I. Miihlfehler, lidhh. Kin Liln'nxhilil, ISTl Bacher. An. linli. Amur. pp. !-:«; Rcitmann, In Ha-Mamii<l. 1S71, No. Vi; D. Kahana, in Hn-fSliilniiii, l.sjls, pp. 4.'i3-t4(l : M. S. Antokolskl, In Ild-Antf, U„ with notes by SIraschun.

w.

r,

ABBA BAR BENJAMIN BAR HIYYA, Abba b. Minyomi

or Miny'omin b. Palestinian seljolar of the third and fourth centuries, contemporary of R. Abbahu. While the country of his birth" can not be named with certainty, he was probably born in Babylonia for he is found there (ijul, SOri) seeking halakic information from Rab Huna b. Hiyya, the son-in-law of R. .Jeremiah b. Abba, who "lived in Babylonia (Bek. 'iln) and who was proliably the brother of Benjamin b. Hiyya, the father of 'Abba and disciple of Rab Ilisda, "who also lived in ISabylonia. Hence, it may be assumed that Abba b. Benjamin was a native of the same country and that he removed to Palestine, where he established himself at .rbela. Here R. .bbaliu once visited him (Yer. Shebi'it, vi. ;j(irf). In the Palestinian Talmud he is always referred to as Abba b. Benjamin. Twice (Yer. Ber. v. 9d, and Yer. Git. v. 47A) he is quoted by the name of Aliaye b. B. this, however, is the result of a clerical error, as clearly appears from the rea<ling of the manuscript Syrileio(Yer. Ber. fi(? hir.) and of the parallel passages" iu the Babylonian Talmud (R. H. ;«</; Sotah, 384). In the latter Talmud he is sometimes quoted by the appellation of (called also

Hiyya): A