Huna ben Joshua

Huna ben Joshua (Hebrew: רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע, read as Rav Huna BeReia DeRav Yehoshua; died 410^[1]) was a Babylonian rabbi, of the fifth generation of amoraim.

Biography[]

He was considered one of the most prominent Amoraic sages of his generation.

He was a student of Rava,^[2] who seems to have been his principal teacher, and who sometimes praised him,^[3] but occasionally blamed him.^[4] He appears to have been the pupil of Abaye also.^[5]

He was a colleague and a scholarly opponent (bar plugata) of Rav Papa, from whom he was inseparable, both in and out of school.^[6]

When Rav Papa became head of the yeshiva of Naresh (an academy that later was relocated to Mata Mehasia, a suburb of Sura and its Yeshiva there), Huna was appointed president of the general assembly ("resh kallah") in the same school.^[7]

During his studies under Rava, he earned his livelihood from a small landed property, enabling him to make the time needed for his studies. Later on, he became a business partner of his colleague Rav Papa, and earned his living from selling sesame.

Huna was wealthy.^[8] He never walked more than four cubits bareheaded.^[9] He ate very slowly, so that Rav Papa consumed in the same time four times as much and Rabina eight times as much.^[10]

Huna lived to a great age, outliving Rava by 57 years. Once in the lifetime of Rav Papa, Huna fell desperately ill, but his life was spared because he was forbearing.^[11]

References[]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Huna b. Joshua". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

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