Chaninah
Encyclopedia
- For the Amora sage, see HaninaHaninaR. Hanina was second and third generation Amora Sage of the Land of Israel, a pupil of Rabbi Yannai and R. Yochanan bar Nafcha , brother of the famous Amora sage R. Hoshaiah.R. Hanina was the scion of a family of great sages...
.
Chaninah, also called Haninah, Chananiah, etc. (Hebrew: חנינא, חנניה) was a Tanna
Tannaim
The Tannaim were the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 70-200 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 130 years...
of the 2nd century, contemporary of Judah ben Bathyra
Judah ben Bathyra
Judah ben Bathyra or simply Judah Bathyra was an eminent tanna. He must have lived before the destruction of the Temple, since he prevented a pagan in Jerusalem from partaking of the Paschal offering...
, Matteya ben Ḥeresh
Matteya ben Heresh
Matteya ben Heresh or Mattithiah was a Roman tanna of the 2nd century. He was born in Judea, probably a pupil of R. Ishmael, and certainly a contemporary and friend of his pupils R. Josiah and R...
, and Jonathan
Rabbi Jonathan
Rabbi Jonathan was a Palestinian tanna of the 2nd century and schoolfellow of R. Josiah, apart from whom he is rarely quoted. Jonathan is generally so cited without further designation; but there is ample reason for identifying him with the less frequently occurring Jonathan b. Joseph Rabbi...
(Sifre
Sifre
Sifre refers to either of two works of Midrash halakhah, or classical Jewish legal Biblical exegesis, based on the biblical books of Bamidbar and Devarim .- The Talmudic-Era Sifre :The title "Sifre debe Rab" is used by R. Hananeel on Sheb. 37b, Alfasi on Pes...
, Deut. 80). Who his father was is not stated; nor is anything known of his early years. He was named after his grandfather, Hananiah, and educated by his uncle, from whom he received his cognomen. In some baraitot, however, he is cited by his prænomen alone (Suk. 20b; Ket. 79b; see Hananiah b. 'Akabia , Hebrew: חנינא בן עקביא).
Emigration to Babylonia
In the days of Gamaliel IIGamaliel II
Rabban Gamaliel II was the first person to lead the Sanhedrin as Nasi after the fall of the second temple, which occurred in 70 CE. Gamliel was appointed nasi approximately 10 years later. Gamaliel II was the son of Shimon ben Gamaliel, one of Jerusalem's foremost men in the war against the...
, he once ventured to give a decision, for which he was summoned before that patriarch, but his uncle—by reporting that he himself had given Hananiah the decision—mollified Gamaliel (Niddah
Niddah
Niddah is a Hebrew term describing a woman during menstruation, or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh ....
24b). It was probably about that time that Hananiah fell in with some sectaries at Capernaum
Capernaum
Capernaum was a fishing village in the time of the Hasmoneans. Located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of about 1,500. Archaeological excavations have revealed two ancient synagogues built one over the other...
. To remove him from their influence his uncle advised him to leave the country, which he did, emigrating to Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
, where he opened a school that eventually acquired great fame (Sanh. 32b; Eccl. R. i. 8, vii. 26). He returned to his native country with ritualistic decisions which had been communicated to him by a Babylonian scholar, and which he submitted to his uncle (Suk. 20b). But during the evil days following the Bar Kokba rebellion, seeing the noblest of his people fall before the vengeance of the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, he again emigrated to Babylonia, settling at Nehar-Peḳod (see A. Neubauer, G. T. pp. 363 et seq.).
The appearance of Hananiah in Babylonia threatened to produce a schism in Israel fraught with far-reaching consequences: it created a movement toward the secession of the Babylonian congregations from the central authority hitherto exercised by the Israeli Sanhedrin
Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel made of 71 members...
.
Movement for Independence of Babylonian Schools
Believing that RomanAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
tyranny had succeeded in permanently suppressing the religious institutions which, in spite of the Jewish dispersion, had held the remnants of Israel together, Hananiah attempted to establish an authoritative body in his new home. To render the Babylonian schools independent of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
, he arranged a calendar fixing the Jewish festivals and bissextile years on the principles that prevailed in Israel. In the meantime, however, Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
's death had brought about a favorable change in Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
.
In March, 139 or 140, a message arrived from Rome announcing the repeal of the Hadrianic decrees (see Meg. Ta'an. xii.); soon thereafter the surviving rabbis, especially the disciples of Akiba, convened at Usha, and reorganized the Sanhedrin with Simon ben Gamaliel II as president (R. H. 31b et seq.; see J.L. Rapoport, Erek Millin, pp. 233b et seq.). They sought to reestablish the central authority, and naturally would not brook any rivals. Messengers were therefore despatched to Nehar-Peḳod, instructed to urge Hananiah to acknowledge the authority of the parent Sanhedrin, and to desist from disrupting the religious unity of Israel.
Deputation from Palestine
The messengers at first approached him in a kindly spirit, showing him great respect. This he reciprocated, and he presented them to his followers as superior personages; but when he realized their real mission he endeavored to discredit them. They, for their part, contradicted him in his lectures; what he declared pure they denounced as impure; and when at last he asked them, "Why do you always oppose me?" they plainly told him, "Because thou, contrary to law, ordainest bissextile years in foreign lands." "But did not Akiba do so before me?" asked he; to which they replied, "Certainly he did; but thou canst not compare thyself with Akiba, who left none like him in Palestine." "Neither have I left my equal in Palestine," cried Hananiah; and the messengers retorted, "The kids thou hast left behind thee have since developed into horned bucks, and these have deputed us to urge thee to retrace thy steps, and, if thou resist, to excommunicate thee."The Jerusalem Talmud
Jerusalem Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud, talmud meaning "instruction", "learning", , is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd-century Mishnah which was compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th-5th century. The voluminous text is also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael...
relates that the deputies, to impress upon him the enormity of secession from the parent authority, publicly parodied Scriptural passages. One of them substituted "Hananiah" for "the Lord" in "These are the feasts of the Lord" (Lev. xxiii. 4). Another recited, "Out of Babylonia shall go forth the Law, and the word of the Lord from Nehar-Peḳod," instead of "Out of Zion" and "from Jerusalem" (Isa. ii. 3). When the people corrected them by calling out the proper readings, the deputies laconically replied, גבן (= "With us!" Yer. Ned. vi. 23a). They also declared that the steps taken by Hananiah and his followers were tantamount to building an altar on unholy ground and serving it with illegitimate priests. Altogether, they pointed out, his course was a renunciation of the God of Israel.
The people recognized their error, and repented, but Hananiah held out. He appealed to Judah ben Bathyra
Judah ben Bathyra
Judah ben Bathyra or simply Judah Bathyra was an eminent tanna. He must have lived before the destruction of the Temple, since he prevented a pagan in Jerusalem from partaking of the Paschal offering...
—then in Nisibis
Nisibis
Nusaybin Nisêbîn) is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey, populated mainly by Kurds. Earlier Arameans, Arabs, and Armenians lived in the city. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009.-Ancient Period:...
—for support, but the latter not only refused to participate in the secession movement, but prevailed on Hananiah to submit to the orders emanating from the Judean Sanhedrin
Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel made of 71 members...
(Ber.
Berakhot (Talmud)
Berachot is the first tractate of Seder Zeraim, a collection of the Mishnah that primarily deals with laws relating to plants and farming...
63a; Yer. Ned. l.c.). Hananiah ended his life peacefully in Babylonia (Eccl. R. i. 8).
Although Hananiah was a prominent figure in his day, rivaling for a time the patriarch in Judea, his name is connected with but few halakot, either original (Tosef., Peah, iii. 3; Ket. 79b) or transmitted (Er.
Moed
Moed is the second Order of the Mishnah, the first written recording of the Oral Torah of the Jewish people . Of the six orders of the Mishna, Moed is the third shortest. The order of Moed consists of 12 tractates:# Shabbat: or Shabbath deals with the 39 prohibitions of "work" on the Shabbat...
43a; Beẓah 17b; Suk. 20b; Niddah
Niddah
Niddah is a Hebrew term describing a woman during menstruation, or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh ....
24b), and with still fewer halakic midrashim (Mek., Bo, 16; Sifre
Sifre
Sifre refers to either of two works of Midrash halakhah, or classical Jewish legal Biblical exegesis, based on the biblical books of Bamidbar and Devarim .- The Talmudic-Era Sifre :The title "Sifre debe Rab" is used by R. Hananeel on Sheb. 37b, Alfasi on Pes...
, Num. 49, 116; Ḥag. 10a; Shebu. 35b). As to haggadot, only two or three originated with him. One declares that where Scripture says, "King Solomon loved many strange women" (I Kings xi. 1), it does not mean to impugn his chastity, but it implies that he transgressed the Biblical inhibition, "Thou shalt not make marriages with them" (Deut. vii. 3; Yer. Sanh. ii. 20c). Another asserts that the tablets of the Decalogue
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
(Deut. iv. 13) contained after each command its scope in all its ramifications, that the Commandments were interwoven with expositions as are the billows of the sea with smaller waves (Yer. Sheḳ. vi. 49d; Cant. R. v. 14).
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
- W. Bacher, Ag. Tan. i. 389;
- Z. Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, p. 137;
- Grätz, Gesch. iv. 202;
- Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, ii.;
- JostIsaak Markus JostIsaak Marcus Jost was a Jewish historical writer.He studied at the universities of Göttingen and Berlin. In Berlin he began to teach, and in 1835 received the appointment of upper master in the Jewish commercial school at Frankfort-on-the-Main...
, Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten, ii. 109; - Kobak's Jeschurun, vii. 14;
- Weiss, Dor, ii. 177;
- Zacuto, Yuḥasin, ed. Filipowski, pp. 35a, 66b.
External links
- Jewish Encyclopedia article for the tanna Chaninah, by Solomon SchechterSolomon SchechterSolomon Schechter was a Moldavian-born Romanian and English rabbi, academic scholar, and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of the American Conservative Jewish...
and S. Mendelsohn