Jeremiah bar Abba

(Redirected from Jeremiah b. Abba)

Jeremiah bar Abba [1] (or Rav Yirmeyah bar Abba ;[1] Hebrew: רב ירמיה בר אבא) was a Babylonian rabbi who lived around the mid-3rd century (second generation of amoraim). He is cited many times in the Jerusalem Talmud, where he is mentioned simply as Rav Jeremiah, without his patronymic name.[2]

Some[3] identify Jeremiah bar Abba with Jeremiah Rabbah (Rabbah = "the Great"),[4] a sage who lived in Basra. According to this assertion he also lived in Basra.

Biography

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Little is known about Jeremiah's family: His father was named "Abba", and was a famous Baal teshuva of his generation. (According to another version: the brother of his father, called "Aha" was the famous Baal teshuva).[5] Huna b. Hiyya (of Pumbdita) was his son-in-law,[6] and his son and grandson are also mentioned as sages.[7] For a certain period of time he lived in a place called Shumtamya,[8] which is not known from any other sources.

His son was the rabbi Raba Bar Jeremiah.

Jeremiah was primarily a student of Rav, and usually acted in accordance with his rulings.[9] However, he was considered as a Fellow Student of his, and would address him in a second, and third Grammatical person form as is common among students and rabbis.[10]

Jeremiah debates many known contemporary scholars: Rav Huna, Judah ben Ezekiel and more. Rav Nachman once addressed him in a matter of a Jewish law.[8] Most of his references in the Talmud are laws delivered by him in the name of the most prominent scholars of his generation: Rav, Samuel of Nehardea, and Yochanan bar Nafcha. Several times he reports that the beit midrash of Rav asked questions to Samuel after the death of Rav, and gives Samuel's answer.[11]

Jeremiah bar Abba II

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Some are of the opinion that there were two sages named Jeremiah bar Abba, one in the second Amora generation, and the other in the third generation,[12] This is based on the words of Ulla, that Jeremiah was the student of Rav Huna, the pupil of Rav.[13] According to that opinion, the statements of Jeremiah in the name of Yochanan bar Nafcha belong to the latter one.

References

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  1. ^ a b Rav Yirmeyah b. Abba | רב ירמיה בר אבא, sages of the talmud | חכמי התלמוד
  2. ^ The identity of the two is proven in comparison between the Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 12b, and its equivalent in the Jerusalem Talmud, Shabbat 1:3.
  3. ^ Sefer Yuhasin
  4. ^ Cited once in the Talmud: Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 29b
  5. ^ Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 56a
  6. ^ Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 156a; Hullin 93a
  7. ^ Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot, 26a, 31a
  8. ^ a b Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 153a
  9. ^ Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 12b, Pesahim 106b
  10. ^ Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 27b
  11. ^ Yitzhak Isaac Halevy Rabinowitz, Dorot Harishonim, ch. 43
  12. ^ Tosafot to Pesahim 106b; Yitzhak Isaac Halevy Rabinowitz, Dorot Harishonim, part 5, p. 229; Aaron Hyman, Toldoth Tannaim Ve'Amoraim, Article: Jeremiah b. Abba
  13. ^ Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 46a
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