Nachum from Gimso

Nachum from Gimso (also: Nachum from Gimzo , Hebrew : נחום איש גמזו, Nachum Ish Gamzu ) was an ancient Jewish scholar who was said to be distinguished by special piety and belonged to the 1st generation of Tannaites . He lived and worked in the 2nd century AD. Much more than what is reported in two places in the Babylonian Talmud in the tract Ta'anit ( bTaanit 21a ) and in the tract Chagiga ( Chag. 12a ) is not known about him.

There are two theories to explain his nickname, he could either go back to his origins in the city of Gimso in southwestern Judea or to his motto gam su le-towa ("this too is for the better "; Nachum is said to have always uttered these words, as soon as he heard of any adversity, negative circumstances and hardship or was affected himself; he was also called Isch gam su , "the man with the gam-su saying", but possibly also to read instead of גמזו גמ זו = Gimso, that is "Man from Gimso").

Nachum from Gimso was Akibas' teacher ( Chag. 12a ), who is said to have learned the rules of inclusion and exclusion from him.

Haggadic is Nachum of a number of alleged miracles reported ( bTaanit 21a ). Because Nachums could not be confused with an alleged Nehemia Imssoni (consonant change from Gimel to Ajin ? Nehemia subsidiary form to Nachum - jer. Ber. IX. 14b), many questions about his life remain open.

Sources / literature (selection)

• Bacher , The Agada of the Tannaites , 1884 ff.
• Aaron Hyman , Toldoth Tannaim we-Amoraim , Vol. III., London 1910
• Samuel Atlas, article Nachum from Gimso , in: Jüdisches Lexikon , Berlin 1927, Vol. IV./1
• Hermann L. Strack and Günter Stemberger , Introduction in Talmud and Midrash , 7th edition, Beck, Munich 1982

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Krupp: The Talmud / An introduction to the basic script of Judaism with selected texts , Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1995, p. 237