Rav Hanina
(or Hananiah,
sometimes spelled: Hananyah; he, רב חנינא or ) was second and third generation
Amora Sage of the
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isr ...
.
Biography
He was a student of
Rabbi Yannai and R.
Yochanan bar Nafcha
:''See Johanan (name) for more rabbis by this name''.
Johanan bar Nappaha ( he, יוחנן בר נפחא Yoḥanan bar Nafḥa; alt. sp. Napaḥa) (also known simply as Rabbi Yochanan, or as Johanan bar Nafcha) (lived 180-279 CE) was a leading r ...
.
He was the scion of a family of great sages, and the brother of R.
Hoshaiah Rabbah
Hoshaiah Rabbah or Hoshayya Rabbah (also "Roba", "Berabbi", Hebrew: אושעיא בריבי) was a '' Amora'' of the Land of Israel from the first amoraic generation (about 200 CE), compiler of Baraitot explaining the Mishnah-Tosefta.
Biograph ...
. Hoshaiah is once referred to as "Rabbi Hoshaiah bar Rabbi Hama", which suggests that Hanina is the same as
Hanina bar Hama
Hanina bar Hama (died c. 250) ( he, חנינא בר חמא) was a Jewish Talmudist, halakhist and aggadist frequently quoted in the Babylonian and the Jerusalem Talmud, and in the Midrashim.
He is generally cited by the name R. Hanina, but some ...
, though other opinions suggest they were different individuals.
Hanina was a bachelor all his life, and together with his brother Hoshaiah sold shoes for prostitutes, and yet they did not raise their eyes to see them.
Rava stated that it was with respect to these two brothers that it is said that if a bachelor lives in a city and does not sin, God proclaims his praise every day.
Several stories indicate that he had extensive medical knowledge.
R.
Yochanan bar Nafcha
:''See Johanan (name) for more rabbis by this name''.
Johanan bar Nappaha ( he, יוחנן בר נפחא Yoḥanan bar Nafḥa; alt. sp. Napaḥa) (also known simply as Rabbi Yochanan, or as Johanan bar Nafcha) (lived 180-279 CE) was a leading r ...
wanted to
ordain him a Rabbi but failed, until R. Hanina explained to him that he is a descendant of the house of
Eli the priest, on whom upon a curse was uttered: " and there shall not be an elder in thy house for ever". A curse that is aimed in its biblical sense, "an elder" – a Rabbi – a descendant of Eli.
Quotes
* No man can hurt his finger in this terrestrial world, unless it were first decreed upon him in the celestial world.
*Never let the blessing of a commoner be esteemed a light thing in thy sight.
Megillah 15a
/ref>
References
Talmud rabbis of the Land of Israel
{{MEast-rabbi-stub