Rabbi Aha


Rabbi Aha was a rabbi of the Land of Israel, of the fourth century.

Biography

He resided at Lod, but later settled in Tiberias where Huna II, Judah ben Pazi, and himself eventually constituted a beit din. He was also a colleague of Rabbi Jonah and Jose bar Zevida. He was either a kohen or a Levite.
It is said that when he died, the sky darkened to the point that stars were seen at midday.

Teachings

Most of his work on halakha and aggadah is cited in the Jerusalem Talmud and the midrash, and very little is cited in the Babylonian Talmud. He is quoted hundreds of times in the Jerusalem Talmud.
Like his elder namesakes, he was a recognized authority on halakhah; but in aggadah he surpassed them, being by far the most frequently quoted by aggadists of his own times and of subsequent generations.
Commenting on Abraham's attempt to sacrifice Isaac, Aḥa tries to prove that the patriarch misunderstood the divine call. He refers to the verse "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips," which he construes thus:

Quotes