Naḥman ben Isaac
NAḤMAN BEN ISAAC
NAḤMAN BEN ISAAC (d. c. 356), Babylonian amora. His mother was the sister of Aḥa b. Joseph (Shab. 140a). Naḥman studied under his uncle Aḥa, who because of his age leaned upon Nahman's shoulder and was led by him (Shab. 140a). He is referred to as having waited upon a Mar Samuel (Beẓah 25b). According to R.N. Rabbinovicz, however (Dikdukei Soferim, ad loc.), the reference is to Simeon b. Abba and the great amora Samuel of a previous generation. He was the head of the *kallah in the academy of Rava where he was friendly with Adda b. Abba, with whom he attended Rava's discourses (bb 22a). He also taught in Drukeret (Shab. 94b), where he went at the invitation of Naḥman b. Ḥisda (Ta'an. 21b) and assisted him in his teaching (bb 8a), defending him several times against the criticism of Rava (Ket. 63b; Shevu. 12b; Ḥul. 88b). It is probable that he was active in Drukeret before his appointment with Rava. After Rava's death in 352 NaḤman joined the academy of Pumbedita which, since the death of Abbaye in 338, had been combined with Rava's school in Maḥoza, and held this post for the last four years of his life.
Naḥman b. Isaac is frequently quoted in the Babylonian Talmud (the occurrence of his name in the Jerusalem Talmud – bk 9:1; bb 3:3; et al. – is a mistake for Naḥman b. Jacob). Naḥman continually stressed the need for assembling and arranging the material taught, as in Pes. 105a–b, where he calls himself sadrana, an arranger of tradition (cf. Epstein, Introduction, 432; E.S. Rosenthal, Pesaḥ Rishon, 254). As a result he paid careful attention to the correct name of the transmitters of teachings (Pes. 107a; Kid. 44a) and also made frequent use of mnemonic formulae (Shab. 60b; Ta'an. 10a; et al.). He devoted himself to biblical study and was well versed in the masorah (Shab. 28b, 55b; Yoma 75b; et al.), often using it to arrive at the correct text of the Mishnah (Shab. 77a; Beẓah 35b; bk 60a).
The Talmud relates that his mother was told by astrologers when she was pregnant that her son would be a thief, so she watched over him from his childhood, taking care he should always go about with his head covered in order to make him conscious of the fear of Heaven. One day he was sitting and studying under a palm tree when temptation overcame him, and climbing up he bit off some of the dates. He then realized why his mother insisted on his keeping his head covered. This is one of the talmudic sources for keeping the head covered (ibid.; see *Head, Covering of the). It is also told that since Naḥman's father was not a scholar, Naḥman showed greater honor to his friend Naḥman, son of the leading amora Ḥisda, than he would permit his namesake to show him (Ta'an. 21b). Among his colleagues were Mar son of Ravina (Shab. 61a, 108a), Papa, and Ḥuna son of Joshua (bb 22a). He died in Pumbedita.
bibliography:
Halevy, Dorot, 2 (1923), 499–502; S. Albeck, Mishpeḥot Soferim (1903), 181ff.; Hyman, Toledot, 941–5; Ḥ. Albeck, Mavo la-Talmudim (1969), 371f. add. bibliography: E.S. Rosenthal, "The Redaction of Pesaḥ Rishon" (Ph.D. diss., 1959), 222–96.
[David Joseph Bornstein /
Stephen G. Wald (2nd ed.)]