Hanina ben Pappa () was a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ist living in 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 ...

halakhist ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

, and aggadist who flourished in the 3rd and 4th centuries (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 ...

). His name is variously written "Ḥanina", "Hananiah", and "Ḥinena".

Biography

He was a younger contemporary of

Samuel ben Nahman Samuel ben Nahman (), or Samuel arNahmani (), was a rabbi and amora mentioned throughout the Talmud and Midrashic literature who lived in the Land of Israel from the beginning of the 3rd century CE until the start of the 4th century CE. Biograp ...

. That he possessed great stores of learning is shown by the frequency with which he is cited in both

and

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

, and he enjoyed the companionship of the foremost teachers of his generation. He discussed exegetics with Shimon ben Pazi, and he was associated with

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 ...

and

Rabbi Isaac Nappaha Rabbi Isaac Nappaha (), or Isaac the smith, was a rabbi of the 3rd–4th centuries (second generation of Amoraim) who lived in Galilee. Name He is found under the name "Nappaha" only in the Babylonian Talmud, not in the Talmud Yerushalmi. In the l ...

on the judiciary. It is told that Hanina was very charitable, and distributed his gifts at night so as not to expose the recipients to shame. But as the night is assigned to the evil spirits, his procedure displeased the latter. Once the chief of the spirits met him and asked, "Do you not teach the

Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

inhibition, 'You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark'? Why then do you invade my province?" Hanina answered, "Does not the Bible also teach, 'A gift in secret pacifies anger'?" thus reminding the spirit that no evil could befall him. On hearing this the spirit became disheartened and fled. Hanina is reputed to have been providentially guarded against errors of judgment. Once he made a mistake in connection with a mourning, and in the succeeding night was corrected by a dream in which he heard the message, "You have disobeyed the mouth of the Lord". It is told that Hanina had a friendship with the Angel of Death. When his time came to die, the angel came to inform Hanina. Hanina requested a 30-day delay in which to review his studies (in accordance with the saying "Happy is one who comes to he World to Comewith his studies in his hand"). After 30 days, Hanina asked the angel to show him Hanina's place in the World to Come, and the angel agreed. Hanina then asked the angel to give him his knife, so as not to scare Hanina on the way. When the angel heard this, it remembered an incident where Rabbi

Joshua ben Levi Joshua ben Levi or Yehoshua ben Levi (220 – 250 CE) was an amora—a scholar of Jewish law during the period in which the Gemara was codified—who lived in the Land of Israel in the first half of the third century. He lived and taught in the ...

had similarly requested the knife, and then took the opportunity to escape. The angel therefore tried to push off the request, saying "Do you think you are on the level of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi?" The angel described an incident in which Joshua had shown his righteousness in a way Hanina had not, and Hanina was left without an answer. Nevertheless, when Hanina died, due to his greatness a pillar of fire appeared to separate his body from the living.

Teachings

Many of Hanina's

aggadic Aggadah (, or ; ; 'tales', 'legend', 'lore') is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporat ...

teachings are recorded in the

. In his public lectures Hanina frequently illustrated God's wisdom as manifested in nature, and expressed many

eschatological Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negative world ...

thoughts. Starting with

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

43:9 ("Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified"), he delivered the following homily, perhaps the longest and most connected of all aggadot:

Avodah Zarah ''Avodah Zarah'' (Hebrew: , or "foreign worship", meaning " idolatry" or "strange service") is the name of a tractate of the Talmud, located in '' Nezikin'', the fourth Order of the Talmud dealing with damages. The main topic of the tractate ...

2a et seq.

References

It has the following bibliography: *Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. ii. 513 et seq.; *

Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot Jehiel ben Solomon Heilprin (; c. 1660 – c. 1746) was a Lithuanian rabbi, kabalist, and chronicler. Biography He was a descendant of Solomon Luria, and traced his genealogy back through Rashi to the tanna Johanan HaSandlar. He was rabbi of H ...

, ii. {{Amoraim Talmud rabbis of Syria Palaestina