Late Tanaaim
Join Rabbi David Sedley as he looks at the life and teachings of Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi (known simply as “Rebbe”), who compiled the mishna, and of Rabbi Chiya bar Abba, who compiled the Tosefta (the material that was left out of the mishna).
Late Tanaaim: Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi
Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, or Rabbi Judah the Prince, was one of the last of the Tannaim. He collected together all the teachings of his predecessors and codified them into the mishna.
In this class we look at a few details of his life — his piety and wealth, his relationship with Antoninus (though we do not go into a discussion of who Antoninus actually was), his death and some of his teachings.
Late Tanaaim: Rabbi Chiya (the Great)
Rabbi Chiyya (bar Abba or Rabbi Chiyya the Great) was originally from Bavel, but moved to Israel and became a student/study partner with Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the compiler of the mishna.
He should not be confused with the third generation Amora also called Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba.
The Talmud has several stories telling of his greatness. We will go through some of them in this class.
Rabbi Chiyya is also the author of the Tosefta. So we will look a bit at the Tosefta, and see how it is similar to, yet different from, the mishna.
Rabbi David Sedley lives in Jerusalem with his wife and six children. He was born and raised in New Zealand before making Aliya in 1992. He left Israel temporarily (for eight years) to serve as a communal Rabbi in Scotland and England and returned to Israel in 2004. His latest book is "The Elephant of Deliberate Forgetfulness: and other unexpected interpretations of the weekly Torah reading". He has also translated Rabbeinu Yonah's commentary on Pirkei Avos and is the co-author of Sefiros: Spiritual Refinement Through Counting the Omer (both Judaica Press). Over the years Rabbi Sedley has worked as a journalist, a translator, a video director and in online reputation management. He also writes a weekly Torah blog on the Times of Israel.