Halafta

File:Tomb of Abba Helpetha.png

{{Eras of the Halakha}}

Helpetha I ({{Langx|jpa|חֶלְפְּתָא|lit=willow|translit='Helpetha|label=Aramaic}}),{{efn|{{Cite web |title=Dávid Kaufmann and his collection |url=http://kaufmann.mtak.hu/en/ms50/ms50-078r.htm |access-date=2024-08-01 |website=kaufmann.mtak.hu}}[https://talmud.nli.org.il/898937.jpg Oktzin 3:13 in Parma B]{{Cite web |title=Dávid Kaufmann and his collection |url=http://kaufmann.mtak.hu/en/ms50-large/ms50-170v-large.htm |access-date=2024-08-01 |website=kaufmann.mtak.hu}}{{Cite book |last=בר-אשר |first=משה |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oSwrAQAAIAAJ |title=מחקרים בלשון חכמים |date=2009 |publisher=מוסד ביאליק |isbn=978-965-342-991-8 |pages=148 |language=he}} Also חַלְפְּתָא 'Halpetha,{{Cite web |title=Dávid Kaufmann and his collection |url=http://kaufmann.mtak.hu/en/ms50-large/ms50-286r-large.htm |access-date=2024-08-01 |website=kaufmann.mtak.hu}}{{Cite book |last=Ya'akov |first=Doron |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JQiVAQAACAAJ |title=מסורת העברית שבפי יהודי דרום תימן: מערכת ההגה ולשון המשנה |date=2015 |publisher=המרכז לחקר מסורות קהילות ישראל |pages=160 |language=he}} חֳלְפְּתָה 'Holpetha,[https://talmud.nli.org.il/892816.jpg Taanit 2:5 in Parma A]{{Cite book |last=ריז׳יק |first=מיכאל |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VngqAQAAIAAJ |title=מסורות לשון חכמים באיטליה: על פי מחזורים מימי הביניים |date=2008 |publisher=מוסד ביאליק |isbn=978-965-342-982-6 |pages=338 |language=he}} or ז/חלפותא.{{Cite web |title=ספרי דברים {{!}} מפעל המילון ההיסטורי |url=https://maagarim.hebrew-academy.org.il/Pages/PMain.aspx?mishibbur=21002 |access-date=2024-08-01 |website=maagarim.hebrew-academy.org.il}}Leiden Codex, passim; once (Bikkurim 3:11) erroneously written חלופתא. In the Vienna Tosefta, חילפתא Hilpetha.}} commonly mispronounced Halafta, was a rabbi who lived in Sepphoris in the Galilee during the late 1st and early 2nd centuries CE (second generation of tannaim). He was the father of Jose ben Helpetha and Shimon ben Helpetha, also serving as their teacher. He is cited without patronymic or cognomen in the Mishnah, but as Abba Helpetha in the Talmuds.{{Cite web |title=Seder HaDorot, Tanaim and Amoraim 1323:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Seder_HaDorot,_Tanaim_and_Amoraim.1323.1 |access-date=2024-08-01 |website=www.sefaria.org}}

In Derekh Eretz Rabbah a certain Abba Helpetha cites his father Abba Hagra,{{Efn|MS גרא, חיגרא, אגרא, גמדה. Vilna (mis?)prints חגרת.}} and the same Helpetha ben Hagra cites Johanan ben Nuri in t. Bava Kamma 9:31 and b. Shabbat 105b. According to Paul Romanoff, Helpetha I and Helpetha ben Hagra are the same person,{{Cite book |last=רומנוב |first=פינחס |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MVmIDAEACAAJ |title=תולדות משפחה של תנאים בארץ ישראל |date=1936 |publisher=המאסף חורב |pages=127 |language=he}}{{Cite journal |last=Romanoff |first=Paul |date=1935 |title=Onomasticon of Palestine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3622261 |journal=Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research |volume=7 |pages=147–227 |doi=10.2307/3622261 |jstor=3622261 |issn=0065-6798|url-access=subscription }} but most other scholars disagree. Helpetha I is certainly not to be confused with any of the scholars named "Helpetha of Kiruya",{{Efn|1=In the Vienna Tosefta, Makhshirin 3:2: חילפתא בן קוינה. In the editio princeps (misprinted?): חילפתא בן קוינח. In Samson of Sens (6:2): חלפתא בן קוניא. In Menahem Meiri's introduction to Avot, editio princeps: חלפתא בן קבינה, MS קרינא. Can perhaps be identified with the אבא חליפא/חלפיי/חילפי/חילפיי/חילפא/חלקיה who was מן קוריא/קירויא/קרויא/קורייה or בן קרויא/קרויה, mentioned in y. Maaser Sheni 4:1, b. Bava Batra 123a, t. Maaser Sheni 4:2, Bereishit Rabbah passim, etc. See [https://books.google.com/books?id=4qlWAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA183 Ratner, Ahavat Zion Virushalayim vol. XII p. 183], but the citations appear to vary widely in date.}}{{Cite web |title=Introductions to Tanaitic Literature, Introduction to Halakhic Midrashim, Halakhic Midrash 71 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Introductions_to_Tanaitic_Literature,_Introduction_to_Halakhic_Midrashim,_Halakhic_Midrash.71?vhe=Jerusalem,_1957&lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.sefaria.org}} or with "Helpetha ben Shaul" and "Helpetha of Huna", later scholars. In the printed m. Avot, "Helpetha ben Dosa of Kfar Hananiah", but according to Moses da Rieti, "Helpetha ben Dosa" was from Tamarta, and Helpetha of Kfar Hananiah is Helpetha I.{{Cite book |last1=Rieti) |first1=Moses ben Isaac (of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RAY-AAAAYAAJ |title=מקדש מעט: ... [שיר דידקתי כתבנית השיר של דנטי] |last2=Rieti |first2=Moses ben Isaac da |date=1851 |publisher=דפוס אלמנת י"פ זולינגער |pages=77v, 81r |language=he}}

His descent is traced back to Jonadab the Rechabite.Yerushalmi Ta'anit 4 68a; Genesis Rabbah 118:4 He was a senior contemporary of Gamaliel II and Johanan ben NuriTosefta Shabbat 13(14):2; Tosefta Ma'aser Sheni 1:13 and conducted a rabbinic school at Sepphoris. Here he introduced some ritual reforms.Ta'anit 2:5; Rosh Hashana 27a

Tradition relates that, together with Hananiah ben Teradion and Eleazar ben Mattai, he saw the monuments which Joshua had placed in the Jordan River.Sotah 34a

Helpetha seems to have attained an advanced age. He communicated to Gamaliel II an order given by his grandfather Gamaliel I, and which he had himself heard in the last years of Judea's independence;Shabbat 115a he subsequently participated in the Akavia controversy,see "R. E. J." 41 41 and later he is met with in the company of Eleazar ben Azariah, Ḥoẓpit the Interpreter, Yeshebab, and Johanan ben Nuri, when they were old.Tosefta Kelim, Bava Batra 2:2 But few halakhot are preserved in his name, and most of these were transmitted by his more famous son, Jose.Kilaim 26:6; Tosefta Ma'aser Sheni 1:13; Tosefta Bava Batra 2:10; Tosefta Ohalot 5:8; Bekhorot 26a

One of Jose's sons was named Helpetha after his grandfather, but he died young.