רב יוסף בר חמא

Rav Yosef bar Chama was an amora whose teachings appear across the Talmud, often bringing the rulings of earlier sages. He cites Rav Sheshet on a range of matters — explaining the law of one trapped in a pit on Avodah Zarah 26b, expounding the verse in Mishlei about the right hand of the Torah holding length of days (Shabbat 63a), and interpreting the description of one who guides others by his ways (Sotah 21b). He also brings teachings of Rabbi Oshaya, as on Bava Kamma 112b, where Rabbi Abahu invokes his ruling that a minor who seizes a field through his slaves is removed from it at once.

He is found in active give-and-take with the sages of his day. He questions Rav Sheshet on whether one may borrow produce against the market rate (Bava Metzia 72b), poses a contradiction to Rabbah on the liability of a paid guardian (Bava Metzia 58a), and disputes Rabbi Zeira over the betrothal status of a half-maidservant who was freed (Gittin 43b, both citing Rav Nachman). His household appears as well: when he pressed into service the slaves of debtors, his son Rava challenged the practice, and Rav Yosef defended it by Rav Nachman’s view that a slave is not worth even the bread he eats (Bava Metzia 64b, Bava Kamma 97a).