Judah ben Bava was a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

in the 2nd century who

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

a number of rabbis at a time when the Roman government forbade this ceremony. The penalty was execution for the ordainer and the new rabbis. The rabbis ordained by Rabbi Judah ben Bava include

Judah ben Ilai Judah bar Ilai (), also known as Yehuda bar Ma'arava (, lit. "Judah of the West") and Rabbi Judah, was a rabbi of the 2nd century (fourth generation of tannaim). Of the many Judahs in the Talmud, he is the one referred to simply as "Rabbi Judah" a ...

. Rabbi Judah ben Bava was killed by Hadrian's soldiers at the age of seventy, and is known as one of the

Ten Martyrs The Ten Martyrs ( he, עֲשֶׂרֶת הָרוּגֵי מַלְכוּת ''ʿAsereṯ hāRūgēi Malḵūṯ'', "The Ten Royal Martyrs") were ten rabbis living during the era of the Mishnah who were martyred by the Roman Empire in the period after ...

. Rabbi Judah ben Bava was caught by Hadrian's soldiers while ordaining his students in a place between Usha and

Shefaram Shefa-Amr, also Shfar'am ( ar, شفاعمرو, Šafāʻamr, he, שְׁפַרְעָם, Šəfarʻam) is an Arab city in the Northern District of Israel. In it had a population of , with a Sunni Muslim majority and large Christian Arab and Druze m ...

. He told his students to run, but he himself was too old. Hadrian's soldiers threw 300 javelins at him, causing his death.

Contributions to Talmud

Judah ben Bava is the subject of many sayings and legends. He was known as "the Ḥasid," and it is said that wherever the Talmud speaks of "the Ḥasid", it is a reference either to him or to

. He authored several decisions in the

Halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

, including the ruling that one witness to the death of the husband is sufficient to justify permitting the wife to marry again.

Rabbi Akiva Akiva ben Yosef (Mishnaic Hebrew: ''ʿĂqīvāʾ ben Yōsēf''; – 28 September 135 CE), also known as Rabbi Akiva (), was a leading Jewish scholar and sage, a '' tanna'' of the latter part of the first century and the beginning of the second c ...

was his most powerful opponent in halakhic disputes.Bacher, "Ag. Tan." i. 404

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Judah ben Bava Mishnah rabbis 2nd-century rabbis Jewish martyrs People executed by the Roman Empire Deaths by javelin