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?alafta (?ilfai) B. ?aruya, Abba

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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?alafta of Huna (Huga, Hewah, ?efa)

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1. Tanna of the second century, contemporary of Gamaliel II. Gamaliel once visited him at ?aruya (Kiryava; see Neubauer, "G. T." p. 277), and solicited his prayers; whereupon ?alafta pronounced over him the blessing of Psalm 20:5 (A. V. 4) (Midr. Teh. ad loc.). As "?ilfa" or "?ilfai" he is cited in connection with some halakot (Tosef., Ma'as. Sh. 4:5; Yer. Ma'as. Sh. 4:54d), and it appears that one of his halakot was taught and practised in Rome (ib.).
2. Palestinian amora of the third century, contemporary of ?iyya b. Abba (B. B. 123a). They both endeavored to reconcile the apparent discrepancy between the statement of Genesis 46:27, "All the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten," and the list preceding it (8-26), which contains one less. ?iyya would have it that the person unnamed in the list was a twin sister of Dinah. This view ?alafta rejects, arguing that a twin sister might as well be ascribed to Benjamin. Finally, ?iyya quotes ?ama b. ?anina as authority for the assumption that Jochebed was born soon after Jacob and his party entered Egypt, and is therefore reckoned among the souls that originally came with Jacob; with her the full count of seventy is completed (B. B. 123a; see also Gen. R. 82:8). Bacher ("Ag. Pal. Amor." 2:177) locates the meeting of these rabbis in Rome. It is nowhere shown, however, that the younger ?alafta ever visited Rome, and the context from which Bacher draws the inference speaks of ?alafta the elder. As to the pr�nomen, it appears variously as "Ilfa," "?ilfai," "?alifa," "Ta?lifa." Once it is altogether omitted, leaving only the title and cognomen (Gen. R. 19:3; comp. Pesi?. Zu?arta to Genesis 3:1). It is probable that to ?alafta b. ?aruya belongs the remark headed with the curious name of R. Bar?irya. Seeing a procession of coffins containing the remains of people who had died in foreign lands, R. Bar?irya remarked to Eleazar: "What benefit can they derive from being buried here? To them I apply the words: 'Ye made mine heritage an abomination [since ye did not choose to live here],' and 'when ye entered, ye defiled my land [since ye entered as corpses]'" (Jeremiah 2:7). Eleazar, however, told him that as soon as such processions reach Palestine, clods of Palestinian earth are laid on the coffins, and that that makes atonement, as the Bible says, "His earth will atone for His people" (Deuteronomy 32:43, Hebr.; Yer. Kil. 9:32d; comp. Pesi?. R. 1:3; Tan., Waye?i, 6 [ed. Buber, p. 214], where "?a?rah" occurs in place of "Bar?irya"). The custom of sprinkling Palestinian earth on the dead is still common (see Burial).