Halafta

Helpetha's tomb in the "Florence Scroll", a c. 1315 Jewish pilgrimage guide
Rabbinical eras

Helpetha I (Aramaic: חֶלְפְּתָא, romanized: 'Helpetha, lit. 'willow'),[a] commonly mispronounced Halafta, was a rabbi who lived in Sepphoris in the Galilee during the late 1st and early 2nd centuries CE (second generation of tannaim). He was the father of Jose ben Helpetha and Shimon ben Helpetha, also serving as their teacher. He is cited without patronymic or cognomen in the Mishnah, but as Abba Helpetha in the Talmuds.[11]

In Derekh Eretz Rabbah a certain Abba Helpetha cites his father Abba Hagra,[b] and the same Helpetha ben Hagra cites Johanan ben Nuri in t. Bava Kamma 9:31 and b. Shabbat 105b. According to Paul Romanoff, Helpetha I and Helpetha ben Hagra are the same person,[12][13] but most other scholars disagree. Helpetha I is certainly not to be confused with any of the scholars named "Helpetha of Kiruya",[c][14] or with "Helpetha ben Shaul" and "Helpetha of Huna", later scholars.[11] In the printed m. Avot, "Helpetha ben Dosa of Kfar Hananiah", but according to Moses da Rieti, "Helpetha ben Dosa" was from Tamarta, and Helpetha of Kfar Hananiah is Helpetha I.[15]

His descent is traced back to Jonadab the Rechabite.[16] He was a senior contemporary of Gamaliel II and Johanan ben Nuri[17] and conducted a rabbinic school at Sepphoris. Here he introduced some ritual reforms.[18]

Tradition relates that, together with Hananiah ben Teradion and Eleazar ben Mattai, he saw the monuments which Joshua had placed in the Jordan River.[19]

Helpetha seems to have attained an advanced age. He communicated to Gamaliel II an order given by his grandfather Gamaliel I, and which he had himself heard in the last years of Judea's independence;[20] he subsequently participated in the Akavia controversy,[21] and later he is met with in the company of Eleazar ben Azariah, Ḥoẓpit the Interpreter, Yeshebab, and Johanan ben Nuri, when they were old.[22] But few halakhot are preserved in his name, and most of these were transmitted by his more famous son, Jose.[23]

One of Jose's sons was named Helpetha after his grandfather, but he died young.

  1. ^ "Dávid Kaufmann and his collection". kaufmann.mtak.hu. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  2. ^ Oktzin 3:13 in Parma B
  3. ^ "Dávid Kaufmann and his collection". kaufmann.mtak.hu. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  4. ^ בר-אשר, משה (2009). מחקרים בלשון חכמים (in Hebrew). מוסד ביאליק. p. 148. ISBN 978-965-342-991-8.
  5. ^ "Dávid Kaufmann and his collection". kaufmann.mtak.hu. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  6. ^ Ya'akov, Doron (2015). מסורת העברית שבפי יהודי דרום תימן: מערכת ההגה ולשון המשנה (in Hebrew). המרכז לחקר מסורות קהילות ישראל. p. 160.
  7. ^ Taanit 2:5 in Parma A
  8. ^ ריז׳יק, מיכאל (2008). מסורות לשון חכמים באיטליה: על פי מחזורים מימי הביניים (in Hebrew). מוסד ביאליק. p. 338. ISBN 978-965-342-982-6.
  9. ^ "ספרי דברים | מפעל המילון ההיסטורי". maagarim.hebrew-academy.org.il. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  10. ^ Leiden Codex, passim; once (Bikkurim 3:11) erroneously written חלופתא. In the Vienna Tosefta, חילפתא Hilpetha.
  11. ^ a b "Seder HaDorot, Tanaim and Amoraim 1323:1". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  12. ^ רומנוב, פינחס (1936). תולדות משפחה של תנאים בארץ ישראל (in Hebrew). המאסף חורב. p. 127.
  13. ^ Romanoff, Paul (1935). "Onomasticon of Palestine". Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research. 7: 147–227. doi:10.2307/3622261. ISSN 0065-6798. JSTOR 3622261.
  14. ^ "Introductions to Tanaitic Literature, Introduction to Halakhic Midrashim, Halakhic Midrash 71". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
  15. ^ Rieti), Moses ben Isaac (of; Rieti, Moses ben Isaac da (1851). מקדש מעט: ... [שיר דידקתי כתבנית השיר של דנטי] (in Hebrew). דפוס אלמנת י"פ זולינגער. pp. 77v, 81r.
  16. ^ Yerushalmi Ta'anit 4 68a; Genesis Rabbah 118:4
  17. ^ Tosefta Shabbat 13(14):2; Tosefta Ma'aser Sheni 1:13
  18. ^ Ta'anit 2:5; Rosh Hashana 27a
  19. ^ Sotah 34a
  20. ^ Shabbat 115a
  21. ^ see "R. E. J." 41 41
  22. ^ Tosefta Kelim, Bava Batra 2:2
  23. ^ Kilaim 26:6; Tosefta Ma'aser Sheni 1:13; Tosefta Bava Batra 2:10; Tosefta Ohalot 5:8; Bekhorot 26a


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