Baba ben Buta

Baba ben Buta () was a Jewish sage who lived at the time of Herod the Great, who is mentioned in the Talmud.

Biography

He may have been a member of the prominent family known as ''The Sons of Baba'' ("Bnei Baba"), who, at the time of the siege of Jerusalem by Herod (37 BC), resisted its surrender, and whom Costobarus protected from the wrath of Herod for twelve years, until they were discovered and put to death.

Baba ben Buta is also the subject of several traditions which are found in the Babylonian Talmud. While Baba ben Buta supposedly lived in the 1st century, the extensive traditions about him come from the 4th to the 8th centuries, when this Talmud was composed and redacted.

According to a tradition preserved in the Babylonian Talmud, Baba ben Buta was the only teacher of the Law who was spared by Herod. According to this tradition it was Baba ben Buta, deprived of his eyesight by Herod, who advised Herod to rebuild the Temple in expiation of his great crimes. The following conversation between the king and the blind teacher, with its aggadic embellishments, forms the principal part of this tradition, and is considered likely to have some historical foundation:

"One day Herod came to visit the blind teacher and, sitting down before him, said, 'See how this wicked slave erodacts.' Said he abato him, 'What can I do to him?' Said he, 'Curse him, sir.' Said he, 'It is written, "Curse not the king; no, not in thy thought."' 'But,' said Herod, 'he is no king.' Upon which Baba said, 'Let him be only a man of wealth, it is written (ib.), "And curse not the rich in thy bedchamber"; or let him be merely a chief, it is written, "Curse not a ruler of thy people."' 'But,' said Herod, 'this is interpreted to mean a ruler that acts according to the customs of thy people; but that man eroddoes not act according to the customs of thy people.' Said he, 'I am afraid of him,' to which Herod replied, 'There is no man here to go and tell him; for I and thou sit here alone.' Said he, 'It is written (Ecclesiastes l.c.), "For a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter."'

"Herod now disclosed himself, and said, 'Had I known that the rabbis were so discreet, I should not have put them to death. What, now, can a man like me do to repair this wrong?' 'He,' said Baba, 'has extinguished the light of the world ut to death the teachers as it is written (Prov.