Jeremiah bar Abba Rav Yirmeyah b. Abba , רב ירמיה בר אבא
sages of the talmud , חכמי התלמוד (or Rav Yirmeyah bar Abba ;

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: רב ירמיה בר אבא) was a

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...

n rabbi who lived around the mid-3rd century (second generation of ''

amoraim ''Amoraim'' (Aramaic language, Aramaic: plural or , singular ''Amora'' or ''Amoray''; "those who say" or "those who speak over the people", or "spokesmen") refers to Jewish scholars of the period from about 200 to 500 Common Era, CE, who "sai ...

''). He is cited many times in the

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...

, where he is mentioned simply as Rav Jeremiah, without his patronymic name. Some identify Jeremiah bar Abba with Jeremiah Rabbah (Rabbah = "the Great"), a sage who lived in

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

. According to this assertion he also lived in Basra.

Biography

Little is known about Jeremiah's family: His father was named "Abba", and was a famous ''

Baal teshuva In Judaism, a ''ba'al teshuvah'' ( he, בעל תשובה; for a woman, , or ; plural, , , 'master of return God]') is a Jew who adopts some form of traditional religious observance after having previously followed a Jewish secularism, secular lif ...

'' of his generation. (According to another version: the brother of his father, called "Aha" was the famous ''Baal teshuva''). Huna b. Hiyya (of Pumbdita) was his son-in-law, and his son and grandson are also mentioned as sages. For a certain period of time he lived in a place called ''Shumtamya'', which is not known from any other sources. His son was the rabbi Raba Bar Jeremiah. Jeremiah was primarily a student of

Rav ''Rav'' (or ''Rab,'' Modern Hebrew: ) is the Hebrew generic term for a person who teaches Torah; a Jewish spiritual guide; or a rabbi. For example, Pirkei Avot (1:6) states that: The term ''rav'' is also Hebrew for ''rabbi''. (For a more nuan ...

, and usually acted in accordance with his rulings. However, he was considered as a

Fellow Student Fellow Student (Hebrew: תלמיד חבר) was a Talmudist epithet commonly used to describe the interim status of a disciple between the status of being merely a disciple of a teacher Rabbi and being practically equal in status. In many cases, a F ...

of his, and would address him in a second, and third

Grammatical person In linguistics, grammatical person is the grammatical distinction between deictic references to participant(s) in an event; typically the distinction is between the speaker ( first person), the addressee ( second person), and others (third pers ...

form as is common among students and rabbis. Jeremiah debates many known contemporary scholars:

Rav Huna Rav Huna (Hebrew: רב הונא) was a Jewish Talmud, Talmudist and Exilarch who lived in Babylonia, known as an Amoraim, amora of the second generation and head of the Talmudic Academies in Babylonia, Academy of Sura; he was born about 216 (212 ...

Judah ben Ezekiel Judah bar Ezekiel (220–299 CE) (Hebrew: יהודה בן יחזקאל); 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 ...

and more.

Rav Nachman Rav Nachman bar Yaakov ( he, רב נחמן בר יעקב; died 320) was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an Amora of the third generation. It is generally accepted that references to Rav Nachman in the Talmud refer to Rav Nach ...

once addressed him in a matter of a Jewish law.

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

Bava Batra Bava Batra (also Baba Batra; Talmudic Aramaic: בָּבָא בַּתְרָא "The Last Gate") is the third of the three Talmudic tractates in the Talmud in the order Nezikin; it deals with a person's responsibilities and rights as the owner of pr ...

153a Most of his references in the Talmud are laws delivered by him in the name of the most prominent scholars of his generation:

Samuel of Nehardea Samuel of Nehardea or Samuel bar Abba, often simply called Samuel (Hebrew: שמואל) and occasionally Mar Samuel, was a Jewish Amora of the first generation; son of Abba bar Abba and head of the Yeshiva at Nehardea, Babylonia. He was a teacher ...

, and

Yochanan bar Nafcha :''See Johanan (name) for more rabbis by this name''. Johanan bar Nappaha ( he, יוחנן בר נפחא Yoḥanan bar Nafḥa; alt. sp. Napaḥa) (also known simply as Rabbi Yochanan, or as Johanan bar Nafcha) (lived 180-279 CE) was a leading r ...

. Several times he reports that the

beit midrash A ''beth midrash'' ( he, בית מדרש, or ''beis medrash'', ''beit midrash'', pl. ''batei midrash'' "House of Learning") is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall." It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth knes ...

of Rav asked questions to Samuel after the death of Rav, and gives Samuel's answer.

Jeremiah bar Abba II

Some are of the opinion that there were two sages named Jeremiah bar Abba, one in the second Amora generation, and the other in the third generation, This is based on the words of

Ulla Ulla is a given name. It is short for Ursula in German-speaking countries and Ulrika/Ulrikke in Scandinavian countries. As of 31 December 2011, there were 61,043 females named Ulla in Sweden, with the name being most popular during the 1930s an ...

, that Jeremiah was the student of

, the pupil of Rav.

, Kiddushin 46a According to that opinion, the statements of Jeremiah in the name of

belong to the latter one.

References

External links

JEREMIAH B. ABBA
article at

jewishencyclopedia.com ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeremiah B. Abba Talmud rabbis of Babylonia