AMRAM

AMRAM, name of two Babylonian amoraim. AMRAM I (third century). His preceptors were Rav and R. Assi, whom Amram quotes both in halakhah and aggadah (Pes. 105a; Ned. 28a; et al.). He was once requested by his colleagues to relate "those excellent sayings that you once told us in the name of R. Assi" (Er. 102a). Among his aggadic statements are "(There are) three transgressions which no man escapes for a single day: sinful thought, calculation on (the results of) prayer, and slander" (BB 164b). On Psalms 112:1 ("Happy is the man that feareth the Lord") he comments, "happy is he who repents while he is still a man," i.e., while he is still in the prime of life (Av. Zar. 19a). AMRAM II (early fourth century) was a pupil of R. Sheshet, whose halakhic rulings he quotes (Yev. 35a, et al.). Sheshet affectionately called him "My son Amram" (Av. Zar. 76a). Once when Amram was guilty of hairsplitting, Sheshet remarked: "Perhaps you are from Pumbedita where they try to make an elephant pass through the eye of a needle?" (BM 38b). Only a few sayings are transmitted in his own name (e.g., Nid. 25b), as he generally quotes halakhah in the name of others such as R. Isaac (Zev. 6b); R. Naḥman (Ber. 49b); Ulla (Git. 26b); and Rabbah b. Bar Ḥana (Yoma 78a). He engaged in discussions on halakhah with Rabbah and R. Joseph (Sot. 6a). According to the aggadah, in one of these, Rabbah expressed himself so sharply when opposing Amram that a pillar in the academy cracked (BM 20b). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 983. (Yitzhak Dov Gilat)