ABBAHU

ABBAHU or Avahu (c. 300), usually counted a second generation Palestinian amora. He is often presented as the disciple of R. Johanan who purportedly called him "Abbahu my son." He also is said to have studied with Resh Lakish (See simeon b. lakish ) and eleazar b. Pedat. Abbahu most likely lived in Caesarea, then the center of Roman rule and of Palestinian Christianity. He seems to have been an important halakhic figure and his aggadic sayings are significant in the fields of religion, ethics, and philosophy. Abbahu is presented in rabbinic literature as learned in mathematics, rhetoric, and Greek, which, we are informed, he taught his daughters. Tradition also endows him with good looks and physical strength and great wealth. It is reported that the Romans "showed favor to his generation for his sake," perhaps a token of the great esteem in which they may have held him. His access to government circles may have given him a special position among his colleagues. The Babylonian Talmud (Sot. 40a) tells us that Abbahu declined academic leadership in favor of abba of Acre because the latter was poor and debt ridden. This legend goes on to show Abbahu concealing his true reasons. Various passages also depict him in the following ways: He was a peacemaker even when others gave offense. He judged all men favorably and appreciated even a single merit of a sinner. He had special esteem for the scholars and taught that a scholar who had committed an offense deserving niddui ("the minor ban"), should be treated with consideration (TJ, MK 3:4, 81d). He enjoyed a position of honor in the community. He was an ordained judge, entitled to sit in judgment alone, but earned his livelihood in trade. He was apparently head of a group of scholars known as "the rabbis of Caesarea" and trained many outstanding disciples, among them the amoraim R. Jeremiah, R. Jonah , and R. yose . He enacted ordinances, issued proclamations, and introduced usages such as the now accepted order of blowing the shofar on Rosh Ha-Shanah (RH 34a). Because of his position within the Jewish community and his connections with the authorities he made many official trips, both in Ereẓ Israel and abroad. On such occasions he always deferred respect to the customs of the local community. His aphorisms include: "Where the penitent stand, the wholly righteous cannot reach" (Ber. 34b); "A man should never tyrannize his household" (Git. 7a); "Be among the persecuted rather than persecutors" (BK 93a); "The world endures only on account of the man who utterly abases himself" (Ḥul.   89a). A prayer ascribed to him reflects the times in which he lived: "May it be Thy will … to save us from the arrogance and harshness of the evil times which threaten to overtake the world" (TJ, Ber. 5:1, 8d). With regard to Christianity he said, "If a man tells you 'I am God,' he is lying; 'I am the son of man,' he will eventually regret it; 'I shall go up to heaven,' he promises but will not fulfill" (TJ, Ta'an. 2:1,65b). Similarly he explained the verse (Isa. 44:6) "I am the first" means "I have no father"; "I am the last" means "I have no son"; "and beside me there is no God" means "I have no brother" (Ex. R. 29:5). It is stated in his name: "it was ordained (some say, in Usha) that 'Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever' be recited in a loud voice- to offset any false charges by sectarians" (Pes. 56a; Rashi explains "lest they say that we add something improper in a low voice"). Abbahu isolated the Samaritan priests in his town from the Jewish community and decreed that they should be regarded as Gentiles in all ritual matters. When the Samaritans asked him "Your fathers found our food and wine acceptable, why not you?" he answered, "Your fathers did not corrupt their ways, but you have yours" (TJ, Av. Zar. 5:4, 44d). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frankel, Mevo, 58b–60a; Weiss, Dor, 3 (19044), 91–93; Halevy, Dorot, 2 (1923), 350–6; Bacher, Pal Amor, 2; Hyman, Toledot, 62–71; S. Lieberman, Greek in Jewish Palestine (1942), 21–33; S. Klein (ed.), Sefer ha-Yishuv, 1 (1939), 145–8; Lachs, Samuel Tobias "Rabbi Abbahu and the minim," in: JQR, 60 (1970) 197–212; Perlitz, in: MGWJ, 36 (1887), 60–88; Alon, Meḥkarim, 2 (1958), 255–8. L.I. Levine, "R. Abbahu of Caesarea," in: Smith IV (1975) 56–76; (Simha Assaf)