Nahum the Mede
{{Eras of the Halakha}}
Nahum the Mede ({{langx|he|נחום המדי}}, transliteration: Nahum HaMadi) was a first-century tanna of the first generation who came to the Land of Israel from Media. He lived in Jerusalem and according to Nathan the Babylonian, he was one of the three most renowned criminal judges in the city.Ketubot 105a; Yer. Ketubot 13:1; Frankel, "Darke ha-Mishnah," p. 63 He was one of the seven great contemporaries of Johanan ben Zakai who had survived the destruction of Jerusalem by the RomansGrätz, "Gesch." iv. 20 and who probably became members of the Sanhedrin at Yavne.
Rulings
Only six of his laws have been preserved in the Babylonian Talmud, three of which were said not to have been recognized."nishtaḳa 'ha-dabor"; 'Abodah Zarah 7 Some, however, attribute to him four other and anonymous teachings.Weiss, "Dor," i. 182 The opposition to the decisions of Nahum, according to the view of a later amoraim, seems to have been due to the dislike of the scholars of the Land of Israel for those of other countries.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}
Nahum's teachings include:
- "Nahum the Mede says one may use melted tallow for the Sabbath lamp, and the sages prohibit it."Shabbat 2:1
- "If a man sold an ass, he has not sold its trappings, but Nahum the Mede says he has sold the trappings."Bava Batra 5:2
Jacob Neusner holds that there is no evidence that Nahum came from Parthia or was in fact a Medean, because the suffix "the Medean" may be indicative of the origins of his family before him.{{Cite book |author=Jacob Neusner |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofjewsinb0001neus/page/112/mode/2up?view=theater |title=A History of the Jews in Babylonia v. 1 |publisher=Brill Archive |year=1965 |page=113 |access-date=}}
15th-century scholar Abraham Zacuto in his Sefer Yuchasin (1498) speculates that mention of a certain "Nahum the Elder" in the Baraita refers to Nahum the Mede.{{cite book |title=Dominican studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8acWAAAAMAAJ |access-date=28 August 2011 |date=1 January 1948 |publisher=Blackfriars Publications |page=224}}
References
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Sources
{{JewishEncyclopedia|article=Nahum the Mede|author=A. S. Waldstein|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=42&letter=N#ixzz1WMDUVoQP}} Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography: Grätz, Gesch, iv. 22; Frankel, Darke ha-Mishna, p. 63, Leipsic. 1859.E. C.
{{Tannaim}}
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