MATTNAH

MATTNAH (second half of third century C.E.), Babylonian amora. He studied under samuel (Mar Samuel) and was considered one of his outstanding pupils (Er. 6b; Mak. 3b). He quotes numerous halakhic decisions in his name (Ket. 43b; Nid. 27a; et al.) He also studied under rav (Shab. 24a). He was a younger colleague of Judah b. Ezekiel (Kid. 70b), and when, after the death of Rav and Samuel, R. Judah taught at Pumbedita, Mattnah taught at the neighboring town of Popuna (Ḥul. 139b). He is one of the authors of the tradition that the fourth blessing of the Grace after Meals ("He who is good, and bestows good") was instituted by the rabbis after permission was granted to bury the slain of bethar , whose bodies had miraculously not decomposed (Ber. 48b). Matthah had three sons, Aḥadboi, Tobi, and Ḥiyya (Nid. 60b; BB 151a), all of whom were scholars. Among the sages of the next generation who were his pupils and who quote decisions in his name was R. Zeira (Ber. 36a). Another amora called Mattnai lived in the fourth century. He was a pupil of Ḥisda (Kid. 32a), and a colleague of Abbaye (Ket. 35b). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 915–7.