Raba (Amorae)

Raba bar Josef bar Chama (also Raw Abba ben Josef ben Chama or Rawa ; * around 270 or 280 in Mahuza ; † 352 ibid) was one of the most important Amorae of the fourth generation in Babylonia.

Life

He was a student of Rab Nachman bar Jakob and Rab Josef ben Chijja , the head of the school in Pumbedita . He taught in Seleukia-Ctesiphon (known to the Jews as Mahuza ) on the Tigris. Talmudic dialectic reached its climax under Abaje and Raba. Much space is devoted to the debates of the two in the Babylonian Talmud; the halakah has, with few exceptions for Raba and against Abaye decided ( Erubin 15a; Sanhedrin 27a).

When Abaje became head of the school in Pumbedita, Raba went back to Mahuza, where he was born, where he took over the management of the academy there for 14 years, which his students also joined after Abaje's death.

Raba was known for his ingenuity and rigorous reasoning; As a landowner ( Baba Mezia 73a) and wine merchant ( Berachot 56a), Raba had good relationships with the Exilarchen and - suspected by others - connections with the Persian Great King Shapur II ( Chagiga  5b) and his mother.

literature

• Ch. Albeck : raba ha -scheni . In: Festschrift for J. Freimann . Berlin 1937 (Hebrew; Albeck wants to distinguish Raba here from a second Amora, who is said to have been one of their latest)
• J. Neusner : A History of the Jews in Babylonia . 5 volumes. Leiden 1965–1970 (here: Volume 4)
• Strack , Stemberger : Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash . 7th edition. Munich 1982, p. 99
• Schoeps : New Jewish Lexicon . 1992, p. 383
• Raba ben Joseph ben Ḥama . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 22 : Poll - Reeves . London 1911, p. 765 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
• Wilhelm Bacher , Jacob Zallel Lauterbach:  Raba (B. Joseph B. Ḥama). In: Isidore Singer (Ed.): Jewish Encyclopedia . Funk and Wagnalls, New York 1901-1906.

Web links

• Rava on the website of the Orthodox Union at ou.org (English)