Daniel Ḥayyata

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DANIEL ḤAYYATA

DANIEL ḤAYYATA ("the tailor"), Palestinian amora. He is quoted only a few times in midrashic literature. Thus he interprets Genesis 26:14 as teaching that a man who buys slaves should work together with them to spur them on to greater efficiency (Gen. R. 64:7). He is best known for a striking Midrash in which he interprets Ecclesiastes 4:1, "But I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun," as referring to mamzerim ("children of forbidden unions") who are oppressed "by the Great Sanhedrin" – though in accordance with the laws of the Torah – for the sins of their parents and who will be recompensed in the world to come (Lev. R. 32:8; Eccl. R. 4:1, 1). No biographical details are known of him, but, like the other rabbis mentioned in these midrashim, he was probably of the third or fourth century c.e.

bibliography:

Bacher, Pal Amor, 3 (1899), 761; Hyman, Toledot, 334.

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Daniel Ḥayyata

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