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.
13 Facts About Abbahu
1.
2.
Abbahu is sometimes cited as Rabbi Abbahu of Kisrin.
3.
Abbahu frequently made pilgrimages to Tiberias even after he had become well known as rector of the Caesarean academy.
4.
Abbahu learned Greek in order to become useful to his people, then under the Roman proconsuls, that language having become, to a considerable extent, the rival of Hebrew even in prayer.
5.
Indeed, it was said of Abbahu that he was a living illustration of the biblical maxim: "It is good that you should take hold of this [the study of the Law]; yea, from that [other branches of knowledge] withdraw not your hand: for he that fears God shall come forth of them all".
6.
On one occasion, when his senior colleagues, Hiyya bar Abba, Rabbi Ammi, and Rabbi Assi, had punished a certain woman, and feared the wrath of the proconsul, Abbahu was deputed to intercede for them.
7.
Abbahu had anticipated the rabbis' request, and wrote to them that he had appeased the informers but not the accuser.
8.
Abbahu thereby illustrated his own doctrine that it is a divine virtue to sympathise with a friend in his troubles as well as to partake of his joys.
9.
Abbahu did not confine his activity to Caesarea, but visited and taught in many other Jewish towns.
10.
At this apparent slight, Hiyya manifested chagrin, and Abbahu hastened to comfort him by comparing himself to the peddler of glittering fineries that always attracted the eyes of the masses, while his rival was a trader in precious stones, the virtues and values of which were appreciated only by the connoisseur.
11.
Abbahu left behind him a number of disciples, the most prominent among whom were the leaders of the 4th amoraic generation, R Jonah and R Jose.
12.
Abbahu had many interesting disputes with the Christians of his day.
13.
Abbahu's comment on Numbers 23:19 has a still more polemical tone: "God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent; if a man says: 'I am God,' he is a liar; if he says: 'I am a son of man,' he will have cause to regret it; and if he says, 'I will go up to heaven,' he has said [something] but will not keep his word".