Rav Yosef bar Hiyya (), or simply Rav Yosef, was a
Babylonian rabbi of the third generation of
amoraim
''Amoraim'' ( , singular ''Amora'' ; "those who say" or "those who speak over the people", or "spokesmen") refers to Jewish scholars of the period from about 200 to 500 CE, who "said" or "told over" the teachings of the Oral Torah. They were p ...
.
Biography
Yosef was a student of
Judah bar Ezekiel and was
Abaye's teacher, and a scholarly disputant (''bar plugata'') of
Rabbah bar Nahmani. When his teacher Judah died, Yosef was expected to take Judah's place as the
gaon of the
Pumbedita Academy
The Pumbedita Academy or Pumbedita Yeshiva (; sometimes ''Pumbeditha'', ''Pumpedita'', ''Pumbedisa'') was a Talmudic academy in Pumbedita, an unidentified location in modern Iraq, during the Amoraic and Geonic eras. It was founded by Judah bar ...
, due to his excellent knowledge of
rabbinic law (as opposed to Rabbah, who excelled in analysis rather than knowledge). Yosef, however, refused to take the position. Rabbah took it instead at the age of 18 and held it until his death at the age of 40. At this point, Yosef agreed to become head of the academy. He held this position for two years, until he died.
Yosef was accustomed to recite a sermon on Shabbat before the
mussaf prayer.
Despite being blind, Yosef managed to accumulate an exceptional knowledge of both written and
Oral Torah
According to Rabbinic Judaism, the Oral Torah or Oral Law () are statutes and legal interpretations that were not recorded in the Five Books of Moses, the Written Torah (), and which are regarded by Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jews as prescriptive ...
. When some of the canonical Biblical translations were forgotten, he managed to restore them from his memory. However, at one point he contracted a disease which caused him to forget his studies. With the help of his main student,
Abaye, he was then able to reconstruct his knowledge.
He was greatly respected by his students
Rava and
Abaye.
He is recorded as speaking, paradoxically, of his humility: "
tanna recited:">Tannaim.html" ;"title=" Tannaim">tanna recited:Since Judah ha-Nasi">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 t ...
died, there is no more humility or fear of sin [in the world]. Rav Yosef said to him: Do not teach this regarding humility, for there is still me."