Hanina bar Hama

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Hanina bar Hama (died c. 250) (

Midrashim
.

He is generally cited by the name R. Hanina, but sometimes with his patronymic (Hanina b. Hama), and occasionally with the cognomen "the Great".[1]

Biography

Whether he was a Judean by birth and had only visited

Judah haNasi.[4] Under Judah, he acquired great stores of practical and theoretical knowledge,[5] and so developed his dialectical powers that once in the heat of debate with his senior and former teacher Hiyya he ventured the assertion that were some law forgotten, he could himself re-establish it by argumentation.[6]

Relations with Judah I

Judah thought highly of him, and chose him in preference to his other disciples to spend time with him. Thus when

halakhah,[11] and where he also practiced as a physician.[12]

His unpopularity

According to Hanina, 99% of fatal diseases result from colds, and only 1% from other troubles.[13] He therefore would impress mankind with the necessity of warding off colds, the power to do so, he taught, having been bestowed upon man by Providence.[14] But neither his rabbinical learning nor his medical skill gained him popularity at Sepphoris. When a pestilence raged there, the populace blamed Hanina for failing to stamp it out. Hanina heard their murmurs and resolved to silence them. In the course of a lecture, he remarked, "Once there lived one Zimri, in consequence of whose sin twenty-four thousand Israelites lost their lives;[15] in our days there are many Zimris among us, and yet ye murmur!"

On another occasion, when drought prevailed, the murmurs of the Sepphorites again became loud. A day was devoted to fasting and praying, but no rain came, though at another place, where Joshua ben Levi was among the supplicants, rain descended; the Sepphorites therefore made this circumstance a reflection on the piety of their great townsman. Another fast being appointed, Hanina invited Joshua ben Levi to join him in prayer. Joshua did so, but no rain came. Then Hanina addressed the people: "Joshua ben Levi does not bring rain down for the Southerners, neither does Hanina keep rain away from the Sepphorites: the Southerners are soft-hearted, and when they hear the word of the Law, they humble themselves, while the Sepphorites are obdurate and never repent".[16]

His family and pupils

Hanina had a son, ShibHat or ShikHat, who died young,[17] and another, Hama, who inherited his father's talents and became prominent in his generation. One of his daughters was the wife of a scholar, Samuel b. Nadav.[18] Another daughter died during Hanina's lifetime, but he shed no tears at her death, and when his wife expressed astonishment at his composure he told her that he feared the effects of tears on his sight.[19]

He lived to be very old, and retained his youthful vigour to the last. He attributed his extraordinary vitality to the hot baths and the oil with which his mother had treated him in his youth.[20] He recognized his longevity as a reward for the respect he had shown his learned elders.[21]

Among his pupils were

Eleazar II, both of whom became rabbinical authorities in Hanina's lifetime. One morning, while walking, leaning on the arm of an attendant, Hanina noticed throngs of people hurrying toward a certain place. In answer to his inquiry, he was informed that R. Johanan was to lecture at the academy of R. Benaiah, and that the people were flocking there to hear him. Hanina thereupon exclaimed, "Praised be the Lord for permitting me to see the fruit of my labours before I die".[22]

Teachings

As an

aggadist
, Hanina was prolific and resourceful and often epigrammatic. Among his aphorisms were:

He predicted everlasting punishment for he who seduces a married woman, or he who publicly puts his neighbour to shame, or he who calls his neighbour by a nickname.[26]

References

  1. Taanit 27b; Pesikta Rabbati
    5:15a
  2. Sotah
    1 17b
  3. Shevuot 6 35c; Yerushalmi Niddah
    2 50a
  4. ^ Ronald L. Eisenberg The Streets of Jerusalem: Who, What, Why 2006- Page 301 "Rabbi Hanina (second/third century), Palestinian amora. Born in Babylonia, Hanina came to the Land of Israel and settled in Sepphoris, where he became a wealthy honey trader. One of the prominent disciples of Judah ha-Nasi, Hanina is "
  5. ^ Yerushalmi Niddah 2 50b
  6. Ketuvot
    103b
  7. ^ Avodah Zarah 10a
  8. Ketuvot
    103a
  9. OCLC 58417078
    .
  10. Shab.
    59b
  11. Beṣah 1 60a; Yerushalmi Gittin
    4 46b
  12. Taanit
    1 64a
  13. Shab.
    14 14c
  14. ^ Bava Metzia 107b
  15. ^ See Numbers 25:6-15
  16. Taanit
    3 66c
  17. ^ Bava Kamma 91b
  18. ^ Arachin 16b
  19. Shabbat
    151b
  20. Hullin
    24b
  21. ^ Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:7
  22. Horayot
    2 48b
  23. Berachot 33b; Niddah
    16b
  24. Peah.
    1 16a
  25. 50a
  26. ^ Bava Metzia 58b
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainSinger, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Hanina b. Hama". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Its bibliography:
  • Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. i. 1 et seq.;
  • Frankel, Mebo, p. 86b;
  • Grätz, Gesch.
    2d ed., iv. 254 et seq.;
  • Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot
    , ii. 74d, Warsaw, 1897;
  • Halévy, Dorot ha-Rishonim, ii. 129b et seq.;
  • Weiss, Dor, iii. 44 et seq.;
  • Zacuto, YuHasin, ed. Filipowski
    , pp. 141b et seq.