Hoshaiah Rabbah

Hoshaiah Rabbah or Hoshaʻyā Rabbā was an amora of the first generation in Rabbinic Judaism and a compiler of baraitot explaining the Mishnah and the Tosefta. He is known from tractates of the Jerusalem Talmud.

Biography He was closely associated with the successors of Judah ha-Nasi, as was his father, Hama, with Judah ha-Nasi himself. Hama lived in Sepphoris, the residence of Judah ha-Nasi and the seat of the patriarchs. And The esteem in which Hoshaiah was held by his pupils may be gauged by the statement that, even after Johanan had himself become a great scholar and a famous teacher and no longer needed Hoshaiah's instruction, he continued visiting the master, who in the meantime had grown old and moved his school to Caesarea in the Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin, Chapter 11, page 30b. Hoshaiah's consideration for others is exemplified in his gracious apology to the blind teacher whom he had engaged for his son and whom he did not suffer to meet visitors at dinner for fear that he might be embarrassed. It is also indicated by his remarkable interposition regarding the Mishnah, which declares that "a Gentile's testimony in the case of an agunah is allowed only if stated as a matter of fact and without any intention to testify" in the Jerusalem Talmud, Yebamot 16:5; and the Babylonian Talmud, Yebamot 121b. and Bava Kamma, Chapter 4, page 4c, Hoshaiah was called the "father of the Mishnah"; not so much because of his collection and edition of the mishnayot as because of his ability to explain and interpret them. His most important halakhic decision is directed against the standard weights and measures, held by Johanan bar Nappaha to be traditional from the Sinaitic period. Hoshaiah's radical point of view can be traced to his theory of the development of the Mishnah. He even goes so far as to overrule both the Houses of Hillel and Shammai concerning offerings brought during the Three Pilgrimage Festivals in Hagigah 1:2. The custom of greeting mourners on Shabbat was permitted in southern Galilee, including Caesarea Maritima, and prohibited in other places. According to the Jerusalem Talmud, Mo'ed Katan, Chapter 3, page 82d, Hoshaiah happened to be in a specific town on the Shabbat, and, meeting mourners, greeted them, saying, "I do not know your custom, but I greet you according to our custom". In a dialogue with Hoshaiah regarding circumcision, a "philosopher" (identified as Origen by Bacher) asked: "'If circumcision is so dear to Him [God], why was it not given to Adam the first man?'" Hoshaiah replied that man, with all things created on the first six days, needs improving and perfecting and that circumcision conduces to perfection. Bacher quotes a passage in which Hoshaiah refuted the incarnation dogma: There are more examples in the Talmud to justify the assertion that Hoshaiah, as the representative of Rabbinic Judaism, was in constant touch with early Christians at Caesarea Maritima, particularly with Origen, who was ordained presbyter (bishop) at Caesarea in 228 and who in 231 opened a philosophical and theological school attended by persons from all parts, anxious to hear his interpretation of the Christian Scriptures. Origen died in 254 at Tyre, so his last twenty-five years were spent in the region where most of the Amoraim lived. The "philosopher" whom the latter mention as controverting Hoshaiah's exegesis was doubtless Origen himself or one of his students. The influence brought to bear by Hoshaiah and others probably induced Origen to formulate the doctrine of the different degrees of dignity in the Trinity, for which Origen was accused as a heretic. It is explained that such an exchange would be considered as unequal and as giving the impression that one book is holier than another. This is more easily understood because Judaizing Christians exalted Psalms over the other books of the Hebrew Bible, especially the Books of Chronicles, in contrast with the Jewish view, which recognizes no preference between the various books.