Biography
Rabbi Ami (also spelled Ammi, רבי אמי / רבי אמֵי) is an amora cited throughout both the legal and aggadic literature. He is remembered for sharply formulated dicta on reward, punishment, and the human condition — most famously the teaching, cited in the name of the Sages from tractate Shabbat, that “there is no death without sin and no suffering without iniquity,” a statement later authorities (such as Akeidat Yitzchak) take up and debate at length.
His teachings range widely. In the practical-halachic sphere he is quoted on matters of daily conduct and on the laws and honor of Shabbat, including the dictum (cited in tractate Shabbat) that certain behaviors bring a person to poverty. In the aggadic sphere he appears as a darshan and as an inquirer who poses questions to colleagues: in Eikhah Rabbah he both offers his own interpretations and turns to Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani, noted as a master of aggadah, to explain difficult verses. He is also recorded interpreting Scripture favorably (לשבח), as in the midrash on those who “gazed after Moshe” in Ki Tisa, where his generous reading is set against a harsher one.
The breadth of works that cite him — the Talmud, the various Midrash Rabbah collections, and later codifiers and darshanim — reflects his standing as a frequently quoted authority in both halachah and aggadah.
רבי אמי בן נתן, המוכר כרבי אמי, היה אמורא ארץ ישראלי בדור השלישי לאמוראים. תלמידו של רבי יוחנן, חבר ובר פלוגתא של רבי אסי.
Rabbi Ammi, Aimi, Immi is the name of several Jewish Talmudists, known as amoraim, who lived in the Land of Israel and Babylonia. In the Babylonian Talmud the first form only is used; in the Jerusalem Talmud all three forms appear, Immi predominating, and sometimes R. Ammi is contracted into "Rabmi" or "Rabbammi".
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