Hoshaiah II
HoshaiahorOshaya(Also spelled:Oshaia;Hebrew:אושעיא,הושעיה; died ca. 350 CE) was aJewishamoraof the 3rd and 4th amoraic generations.
Biography[edit]
It is supposed that his colleagueHaninawas his brother.[1]They were lineal descendants fromEli the priest,which circumstance they assigned as reason forJohanan's failure to ordain them. For a living they plied the shoemaker's trade. Furthermore, theTalmudrefers once to Hoshaiah and Hanina as rabbis (with the generic termRav),[2]when dealing with the laws differentiating magic asillusionand aswizardry.Hoshaiah and his colleague stand out as producing magic while studyingSefer Yetzirah,which is there considered neither illusion (aḥizat eynayim,literally "catching of the eyes" ) nor sorcery.
Hoshaiah and Hanina are also mentioned in connection with a certain bath-house, the ownership of which was contested by two persons, one of whom turned over the property as "hekdesh"(for sacred use), causing Hoshaiah, Hanina, and other rabbis to leave it.[3]
On the day Hoshaiah died, it is claimed, the largest date-palm inTiberiaswas uprooted and fell.[4]
Modern figures by this name[edit]
Since the late twentieth century, a Jewish illusionist borrowed this name in being calledOshaya the Seer,obviously inspired by the famousamoraand his skills in the magical arts. By late 2023, an artists’ collective had emerged from the work of this conjurer.[5]
References[edit]
- ^Sanhedrin14a; seeEdels,Ḥiddushe Agadot,ad loc.
- ^Sanhedrin67b
- ^Bava Metziah6b
- ^YerushalmiAvodah Zarah3 42c
- ^Artist Collective Oshaya Oumana
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Singer, Isidore;et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Hoshaiah".The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York: Funk & Wagnalls.It has the following bibliography:- Yuḥasin. ed.Filipowski,p. 118, London, 1857;
- Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot,ii.36, Warsaw, 1878;
- Frankel, Mebo,p. 75, Breslau, 1870;
- Jolles, Bet Wa'ad, p. 20a, Cracow, 1884;
- Bacher,Ag. Pal. Amor.iii.565.