Rabbi Zerika (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: רבי זריקא) was an '' Amora'' 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. The definition ...

of the fourth generation of the Amoraic era.

Biography

He studied under R.

Abbahu Rabbi Abbahu () was a Jew and Talmudist of the Talmudic Academies in Syria Palaestina from about 279 to 320 CE and is counted a member of the third generation of Amoraim. He is sometimes cited as Rabbi Abbahu of Kisrin (Caesarea Maritima). Biog ...

along with his colleague R. Yirmeyah. He was the student of

Rabbi Ammi Rabbi Ammi, Aimi, Immi (Hebrew: רבי אמי) is the name of several Jewish Talmudists, known as amoraim, who lived in the Land of Israel and Babylonia. In the Babylonian Talmud the first form only is used; in the Jerusalem Talmud all three forms ...

(his principle teacher), R.

Shimon ben Lakish Shimon ben Lakish (; ''Shim‘on bar Lakish'' or ''bar Lakisha''), better known by his nickname Reish Lakish (c. 200 — c. 275), was an amora who lived in the Roman province of Judaea in the third century. He was said to be born in Bosra, eas ...

, R.

Eleazar ben Pedat Eleazar ben Pedat () was a second and third-generation amora or Talmudist from Babylon who lived in Syria Palaestina during the 3rd century. He became a scholar at the Talmudic academy at Tiberias, where he was held in great esteem and served ...

, and R.

Judah ben Ezekiel Judah bar Ezekiel (220–299 CE) () often known as Rav Yehudah, was a Babylonian amora of the 2nd generation. Biography Judah was the most prominent disciple of Rav, in whose house he often stayed, and whose son Hiyya b. Rav was his pupil. Af ...

. He used to copy

Baraita ''Baraita'' ( "external" or "outside"; pl. ''bārayāṯā'' or in Hebrew ''baraitot''; also baraitha, beraita; Ashkenazi pronunciation: berayse) designates a tradition in the Oral Torah of Rabbinical Judaism that is not incorporated in the Mi ...

s and arrange them. He also cites

Rav Huna Rav Huna (Hebrew: רב הונא) was a Jewish Talmudist and Exilarch who lived in Babylonia, known as an amora of the second generation and head of the Academy of Sura; he was born about 216 CE (212 CE according to Gratz) and died in 296–297 ...

's maxims. His colleague was

Rav Zeira Rabbi Zeira (), known before his ''semikhah'' as Rav Zeira () and known in the Jerusalem Talmud as Rabbi Ze'era (), was a Jewish Talmudist of the third generation of ''Amoraim'' who lived in the Land of Israel. Biography He was born in Babyloni ...

. He was a colleague of Abba, with whom he decided the controversy of

Judah ha-Nasi Judah ha-Nasi (, ''Yəhūḏā hanNāsīʾ‎''; Yehudah HaNasi or Judah the Prince or Judah the President) or Judah I, known simply as Rebbi or Rabbi, was a second-century rabbi (a tanna of the fifth generation) and chief redactor and editor of ...

and Nathan on the problem whether the night should be divided into three or four watches, and by whom he was informed of a correction in a halakhic tradition given by

. In Babylonia, it was said that he had called Rav Safra's attention to the difference between the modesty of "pious Palestine" and the audacity of "bold Babylonia" on the occasion of the prayer for rain. No aggadic teachings of Zerika's have been preserved, the only saying ascribed to him actually belonging to Ḥidka, whose name was incorrectly transliterated "Zerika".Compare Hagigah 16a, where the correct name, "Ḥidka," is given

References

Talmud rabbis of Syria Palaestina {{israel-rabbi-stub