some say for thirty years (between A.D. 188 and 219)j at Nehardea as meturgeman, or amora, under Shila and Samuel; and at the close of that relationship, he entered upon the higher sphere of school rector and judge at Sura (or Sora), where he exercised those offices till the end of his life. "In this college, which was called Be- Rab (H^3), being an abbreviation of Beth-Rab (S";ni2), the school of Rab, the disciples assembled two months in the year — viz. Adar and Elul—'m autumn and spring, for which they were denominated Yarche Kallah ppll? 1-&3), the months of assembly ; and into it all the people were admitted a whole week before each principal fes- tival, when this distinguished luminary delivered ex- pository lectures for the benefit of the nation at large. So eager were the people to hear him, and so great were the crowds, that many could find no house accommoda- tion, and were obliged to take up their abode in the open air on the banks of the Sora River (Succa, 20 a). These festival discourses were denominated riffle ("^"i), and during the time in which they were delivered all courts of justice were closed (Baba Kama, 113 a)." After hold- ing the presidency for about twenty-eight years, Rab died in A.D. 247, lamented by the whole nation. The esteem in which he was held during his lifetime is best expressed in the title " Rab," i. e. teacher, by which they called him, just as Jehudah the Holy was called "Rabbi" or "Rabbenu" in Palestine. One of Rab's main works was the systematic exposition of the Mishna (q. v.), a copy of which, as revised and somewhat amended by Rab himself, in his later years, he had brought from Palestine. This second recension of the Mishna be- came the authorized or canonical form of that work, and, under the Aramaic name of Mainita de Bi-L'ab, " the Mishna of the School of Rab," constituted the text of the Babylonian Talmud. But, besides his labors as an oral expositor on the Mishna, Rab was the author of two important works which greatly contributed to the advancement of Biblical exegesis. These were, Siphra or Sijihra de Be-Rab, " the Book of the School of Rab" (3"l'1-1 K120), a Midrash on Leviticus; and Siphre or Siphre de Be-Rab p"lh21 "H£5), a similar com- mentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy. These works have, indeed, been sometimes attributed to other au- thors, but the greatest weight of authority assigns them to the doctor of Sura. An analysis of these works is given in the article Midkash, where also some of the editions are mentioned. The best edition of the Siphra is that of M. L. Malbim, with the commentary llatora r< hamitzra (Bucharest, 1800), and that of Weiss (Vienna, 1862) ; tin1 Siphre has been best edited by M.Friedmann (ibid. 1804). Rab also enriched the present Seder Tephi- loth, or Ora\ r of Common Prayers, and some of the finest prayers and thanksgivings are the production of his pen. See Gratz, Gesck. d, Juden, iv, 214, 232, 279, 289, 293; Fiirst, Kultur- u. Literaturgeschichte der Juden in Asien, p. 33 sq. ; id. Bibliofheca Judaica, iii, 1 25 sq. ; Etheridge, Introduction to Hebrew Literature, p. 157 sq.; Ginsburg, in Kitto, art. "Rab;" De Rossi, Dizionario degli Autori Ebrei (Germ, transl. by Hamberger), p. 272 sq. ; Joel, Etwas iiber die Biicher Sifra und Sifre (Breslau, 1873) ; but above all, the excellent, monograph by Miihlfelder, Rab: ein Lebensbild zur Geschichte des Talmud (Leips. 1871). (B.P.)
Rabad ("CXI), or Abraham Ibn-Daud, for which the acrostic stands, a noted rabbi, was born at Toledo about 1110, and died as a martyr 1180. He was one of the most renowned Talmudists of his time, highly es- teemed for his historical knowledge. He is the author of the nba^tl O (The Successions of Tradition), written in the form of annals, giving the history of the world from Adam to his own time (1101), and showing the uninterrupted chain of tradition to his day, against the opinion of the Karaites, who denied all tradition. As a supplement to this chronicle, Ibn-Daud wrote a succinct
RABANUS MAURUS
862
RABBAII
history of the Roman empire, from its foundation by Romulus till the West Gothic king Reccared, entitled Memoirs of th Events of Rorm C811 —Zi yz:.,. and the History ofth* Jewish h'in;/.< during the Second Tempi | -:r r"Z ;x--- -Zfz'^zn). These his- tories were tirst published, together with 1 1 j < - Seder Olam, in Mantua (1513), then in Venice (1545), and Basle ' L580) ; the Sepher Ha-kabbalah by itself, with i! Rabba and Sutta (Cracow, 1820), and
with a Latin translation by Gilbert Genebrard (Paris, 1572). He also wrote a work in Arabic, Akida Rqfina ; in Hebrew, Emunah Ramah (ed-Weil, Frankfort-on-the- Main, L857), on the elements of nature and tlnir capa- bility of leading to elements of religious faith ; on these elements of faith, and on the medicine for the soul in its infirmities. He also wrote Astronomical Notices and Replies to Abn-Alpharag on the section of the law named the "Journeyings,"i.e. Numb, xxxiii, etc. See Flirst, Bibl. Jud. i. 7 Bq.; (iriii/. Gesch. der Juden, vi, 176- 183, 212; Jost, Gesch. des Judenth. u. s. Sekten, ii, 425; Dessauer, Gesch. der Juden, p. 295; Braunschweiger, Gesch. der Juden in <!<n romanischen Staaten, p. 70 sq.; Lindo, History of the Jews in Spain, p. 60; Finn, Se- phardim, p, L93; Etheridge, Tntrod. to Hebrew Litera- ture, p. 251; Ueberweg, History of Philosophy, i. 420, ■127; (iuggcnheimer, Du ReJigionsphUosophie des JR. Abr. ben-David ha-Li vi I Augsburg, L860); Levita. M{ts- soreth Jia-Massoreth (ed. Ginsburg, Lond. 1867), p. 108. (13. P.)