Aeur ben Jakeh A^a b. Isaac
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
>Iuiiii<mi>I('s ("llilkot
the iimttiT in " I*t
It
tlit'se
GiTusliin."
29)
xiii.
sums up
words;
nol w-ein Imnl to theo thnt the sages have permitted
In.si.siM
upon the
tt-stiiiiony
two
ot
ilie olhi-r ruli-s of cvliU'ncT only when the otherwise ilctennined— ilm, for instanee, to |)rove Miurdor. or lo prove a loan- liut where the matter can lit> otlnTNVIsr ilcteniilneil ami the testimony of u witness I'an Ix' refuted, as In the case when' he Icstllles that some one Is dead. It Hence, Is nol lo U' ini'sutnert th:it he will iH'ar false witness. the rule Is iclaxed so thai Jewish women shall not In- 'AKunot."
Hitni'siSfs
ami upon
matter can not
Ih'
For •Aguuali
in liistory see
Gkt; Social Like. D.
AGUR BEN JAKEH.— Biblical cimiiiilir
111
11
<iillcctiiiii cif
W.
Data:
]irii itIis riHiiiil
in
A.
between Palestineaiid Babyhniia. and the traces of nomadic or scniiiiciniadic life and thought found in Gen. xxxi. and xxxii. give some .supiiort to the liypolhesis. (Jraetz, followed by I{iel<elland Chcyne. conjectures that the original reading is " HaJIoshel." "the collector of i)roycrbs." The true ex])lanatiou tinct
J.
F.
McC
In Rabbinical Literature: "Agur," and the enigmalieal names and words winch follow in Proy. XXX. 1, are interpreted by the Ila.iigadali as epithets of .Solomon. ])laying upon tlu' words as follows: "Agur" <lenoles "the compiler; the one
"The son of first gathered maxims together." Jakeh" denotes "the one who spat out," that is, ^yho
"despised" (from Xip. "to spit"). h-Ithiel, "the ("^ "word"; Kl, "God"), exclaiming, "I can [iikiil] transgress the law against marrying many wives vithout fear of being misled Another cx|iosition is that "Agur" by them." means "the one who is brave in the pursuit of wisdom " " the son of Jakeh " si.snifies " he who is free from sin" (from iKilii, "pure"); /(i/-»Hrt,i(.w (" the bur-
words of God"
den"), "be who bore the 3-oke of God"; le-Ithiel, "he wlio understood the signs" (ot. "sign") and deeds of God. or he who understood the alphabet of God. that is the creative "letters" ("f. "letter") (see Ber. 5.5^); ve-Uhd. "the master" (Tau..Wacra. ed. Buber, 2, p. 18; Midr. Prov. xxx. I; Valk. on L. G. the jiassage, § 962).
ABLA. or A^LA.1 The name of nearly fourscore rabbis qnotcd in the Talmud and in niidrashic literature. Some of these are misnamed throujrh the errors of copyists; others ajuiear hut once or twice. and, consequently, can not be identified with any de.grec of certainty. Those mentioned below embrace the most prominent teachers of their respective generations; and the foremost of themarethe following three sa.ffcs, who are always quoted by that name, alone, witlunit any patronymic or cognomen.
S.
AHA
A
S. 31.
Tlio
(vir. 1| seems tn siv thul lie was a geiitilie teniiinalimi imt liein,u; iii" lenin(licateil in the tniilitiDiial writing " lla ^Nlassa pare Ovn. xxv. 14). Tliis jilaee has l)een identilied by some As.syri()logisls wilh the luml (if Mash, a dis-
uncertain.
he derives from Deiit. vi. 7 ("And tliou shall talk of them [llieeoinniandmeiitsl when thou sillesl in thine house, and when Ihuu walkesi by the way ") the duly of man to have set hours for the study of the Torah, and not to make it subject to <ipportiiiiil v (Yonia, 1W-; Tosef., Ber. 2. 2; Tosef., Shab. 1"), "iT; Bab. Shab. Vi~,<i; Tosef.. Yeb. 14. 4; Tosef., Git. 3, 1; Tosef., Niddah, (1, 13; Bab. Niddah, 21^).
Prov.
xxx. The text "Massaite," the
is still
them, had not Moses, Ids chosen, stood before him the lireach. to turn away his wnith. lest lie should destroy thi-nr'; and ii'inarks. "The I.ordsidd For thy sjike to Moses, 'Wliy criist thou unto me? Had it not been for tliy prayers I will save Isniel. I should have destroyed theiu ere this, because of Elsewhere their idolatry'" (Mek., Beshallal.i. 3). in
retniirrlndi' "t llii' wife iip<m the ti'stlmnny nf a nniiian. or a sluvi' (imileor t»Miiule].(ii-unl'lnl;it'T |»|>.'uklnt.' wlthoul inollvrj, or uiKin hearsiiv or diK-iiiiu'ntaiy eviih-in-c, und without rross-
exainlimlicm; for the Tonili
276
M.
(AHAI) I.: tanna of the second century, junior contemporary of Simon ben Yol.iai. with whom, as well as with others of the fourth and liftli taunaitic generations, he appears in halakic disputations. Wliile he is, therefore, best known as a lialakist. he is occasionally met also in the lield of the Ilaggadah. Thus, commenting on Ex. xiv. 1."). " Wherefore criest thou unto nie ? speak unto the children of Isniel. that they .eo forward." he quotes Ps. cvi. 2:3. " Therefore he siud that he would destroy
AHA (A^AI)
II,
A
I'alislinlan
amora of the
amoraic genenition (third century), surnamed He sysBerabhi, Ha-Gadol or Roba (" the Great "). tematized Baniitot at the Academy of I.Iiya haGadol. and was teacher of Samuel ha Ziil>en (Ber. first
14((
Yer.
V. 22r-;
Ber.
Bek.
')ii
ii.
24/y).
Yer. Sanh.
ii.
20'-. iv.
22.
The Midrash preserves the folhis on Num. xiii. 2; "Send thou
lowing homily of men. that tliiy may search the land of Canaan, which 1 give linto the children of Israel." the last Prefaclause of which appears to be superfluous. cing this homily with a quotation from Isa. xl. 8.
"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever," he illustrates his subject with the following simile; " A king once had a friend Willi whom he made a covenant ' Kollow me and 1 will licstow a pift upon thee.' The friend obeyed the royal sunnnons, but S(Kin after died. Then the k'lnj? siKjke to his friend's son, saylnpr, ' AlthoiiRh thy father Is dead. I shall not canc-el my proiulse of a gift to him ; come thou, and n-ceive It.' The klnt' Is the Holy due— blessed Iw He I and the friend is Aliraham, as it is said in Isa. xll. S, Mlie s 1
.savinK,
Aliraham my friend,' To him the Holy One bad said, Follow me,' as we read In Gen. xii. 1, (iet thee out of thy country And to him the Ixird promunto a land that I will shcuv thee. ised a (rift: as It is said [(ien. xiii. IT), "Arise, walk tlmiuKh the land; for I Hill iiivc it unto thee": andafiain (<ien. xiii. l.";). . the land which lliou seest, to thee 1 will plve It. and to thy ,braliam. Isaac, and ,Iacob were ih'ad but the seeil forever.' Although I prnmiscd In L'ic the land to Ixird said t<i Mosc*8, '
of
'
"
'
are now dead, I shall imt cancel my jinimise, but fullll It to their children ' : thus we understand the text, 'The word of our God shall stand forever'" (Tan., Sbelati, 3; Num. U. xvi.). Israel's fathers,
who
S.
AHA
(AHAI)
3L
A
III. Palestinian amora of the fourth century and associate of the most prominent tea<'hers of the fourlh amoraic generation, H. Jonah and H. Yose II. He was a native of I.,ydda in .southern Palestine, but settled in Tiberias, where Huna II.. Judah bar Pa/.i, and himself eventually constituted a bet din, or court of justice (Yer. Ter. ii. Ahl; Yer. Shab. vi. 8'/; Yer. B. B. viii. %a; Yer. Sanh. i. Like his elder namesakes, he was a rec18r, end). ognized aulhority on Ilalakah; but in Haggadah he surpassed them, being by far the most frequently quoted by hag.iz-adists of his own times and of subCommenting on Abraham's Secpient generations. attempt to sacrilice Isaac. Aha tries to jirove that the patriarch misunderstood the divine call. He refers to Ps. Ixxxix. 3.5 [A. V. 34], " My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of mj- lips, " which he construes thus:
" Mv covenant will I not break, even that covenant in which I In Isajic shall thy seed be called ' [lien, have a.ssured Abnibam xxi. VS. mir alter the ihlng which is pone out of my ll|is. when ' Take now thy son [Gen. xxil. i]. This may be I said to him. compared to a king, who expressed to his friend a wish to see a lender child put on his table. His friend iinniediately went forth, and returned with his own child, whom he iilaced on the table liefiire the klnjf. He again went forth, and returned with a sword to slay the child, wheretipim the king exclaimed. What Sire,' replied the anxious friend, didst thou art thou doiiig V
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