Ḥoma
ḤOMA
ḤOMA (d. c. 330 c.e.), wife of *Abbaye. Ḥoma was the daughter of Issi b. Isaac b. Judah and before her marriage to Abbaye had been married twice, to Reḥava of Pumbedita, and after his death to Isaac, the son of Rabbah b. Ḥana. Abbaye married her despite the fact that two husbands had predeceased her by relying on the statement of Isaac in the name of Johanan that a precedent can only be established after an incident has occurred three times (Yev. 64b). After the death of Abbaye himself, Ḥoma came to ask Rava for an allowance of food and wine. He acceded to her request for an allowance for food but had reservations about the wine since he knew that Abbaye did not drink it. Ḥoma thereupon replied that she had been given wine to drink by Abbaye from a horn resembling her arm, and uncovered her arm to demonstrate what she meant. At this, states the Talmud, "a light shone upon the court," in reference to her beauty (Ket. 65a). When Rava returned home and related the event to his wife, the daughter of R. Ḥisda, she promptly went after Ḥoma and beat her until she had chased her out of Maḥoza, fearing that Homa's revealing her beauty would entice another man to marry her, who might share the fate of her three previous husbands.
bibliography:
Hyman, Toledot, 411f.
[Anthony Lincoln Lavine]