Rabbi Chanina and Bameh Madlikin

Someone shared a dvar Torah they’d recently heard from a rabbi that considered Tannaitic or Amoraic biography. I approve of the general approach, of trying to draw a general picture of the Sage, though I think I disagree with the particulars in this case.

The dvar Torah follows. On Erev Shabbat, in between Mincha and Maariv, some (Ashkenazim) have custom of reciting Bameh Madlikin, the second chapter of Mishnayot Shabbat, about what materials can be used for lighting the Shabbat lamp. After reciting those Mishnayot, they say two additional sayings. First, by Rabbi Chananya, followed by a statement by the Amora Rav Yosef, also found in slightly modified form in our printed Shabbat 12a:

תַּנְיָא, חֲנַנְיָא אוֹמֵר: חַיָּיב אָדָם לְמַשְׁמֵשׁ בְּבִגְדוֹ עֶרֶב שַׁבָּת עִם חֲשֵׁכָה. אָמַר רַב יוֹסֵף: הִלְכְתָא רַבָּתִי לְשַׁבָּת.

it was taught in a baraita that Ḥananya says: A person is required to feel his clothing on Shabbat eve at nightfall to ascertain whether he forgot an object in his pockets that he might come to carry on Shabbat. And Rav Yosef commented and said: That is a significant halakha for Shabbat, and it is fitting to do so in order to refrain from violating a prohibition.

Then, the famous saying about Torah scholars bringing peace to the world, found among other places at the end of Berachot, in Berachot 64a:

אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר אָמַר רַבִּי חֲנִינָא: תַּלְמִידֵי חֲכָמִים מַרְבִּים שָׁלוֹם בָּעוֹלָם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וְכׇל בָּנַיִךְ לִמּוּדֵי ה׳ וְרַב שְׁלוֹם בָּנָיִךְ״.

Rabbi Elazar said that Rabbi Ḥanina said: Torah scholars increase peace in the world, as it is said: “And all your children [banayikh] shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13). If all the children of Israel are taught of the Lord, there will be peace for all.

אַל תִּקְרֵי ״בָּנָיִךְ״ אֶלָּא ״בּוֹנָיִךְ״. ״שָׁלוֹם רָב לְאֹהֲבֵי תוֹרָתֶךָ וְאֵין לָמוֹ מִכְשׁוֹל״. ״יְהִי שָׁלוֹם בְּחֵילֵךְ שַׁלְוָה בְּאַרְמְנוֹתָיִךְ״. ״לְמַעַן אַחַי וְרֵעָי אֲדַבְּרָה נָּא שָׁלוֹם בָּךְ. לְמַעַן בֵּית ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ אֲבַקְשָׁה טוֹב לָךְ״. ״ה׳ עֹז לְעַמּוֹ יִתֵּן ה׳ יְבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמּוֹ בַשָּׁלוֹם״.

The Sages interpreted this verse homiletically: Do not read your children [banayikh], but your builders [bonayikh]. Torah scholars are those who build peace for their generation. As it is stated: “Those who love Your Torah have great peace; there is no stumbling block for them” (Psalms 119:165); and “May there be peace within your walls, prosperity within your palaces” (Psalms 122:7), because: “For the sake of my brothers and friends, I shall say: Peace be within you. For the sake of the House of the Lord, our God, I will seek your good” (Psalms 122:8–9), and “May the Lord give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace” (Psalms 29:11).

The rabbi noted that Chanania and Chanina switch off in spelling, so this is the same Rabbi Chanina. And, why say these two statements by him as we transition into Shabbat? Because the same Rabbi Chanina would famously greet the Shabbat.

As we see in Shabbat 119a:

רַבִּי חֲנִינָא מִיעֲטֵף וְקָאֵי אַפַּנְיָא דְמַעֲלֵי שַׁבְּתָא, אָמַר: ״בּוֹאוּ וְנֵצֵא לִקְרַאת שַׁבָּת הַמַּלְכָּה״. רַבִּי יַנַּאי לָבֵישׁ מָאנֵי מְעַלּוּ (שַׁבָּת) [וּמִיכַּסֵּי], וְאָמַר: ״בּוֹאִי כַלָּה, בּוֹאִי כַלָּה״. רַבָּה בַּר רַב הוּנָא אִיקְּלַע לְבֵי רַבָּה בַּר רַב נַחְמָן. קָרִיבוּ לֵיהּ תְּלָת סָאוֵי טַחְיֵי. אֲמַר לְהוּ: מִי הֲוָה יָדְעִיתוּן דְּאָתֵינָא? אֲמַרוּ לֵיהּ: מִי עֲדִיפַתְּ לַן מִינַּהּ?

The Gemara now returns to the issue of delight in and deference to Shabbat. Rabbi Ḥanina would wrap himself in his garment and stand at nightfall on Shabbat eve, and say: Come and we will go out to greet Shabbat the queen. Rabbi Yannai put on his garment on Shabbat eve and said: Enter, O bride. Enter, O bride. The Gemara relates: Rabba bar Rav Huna happened to come to the house of Rabba bar Rav Naḥman. They brought before him three se’a of oiled biscuits. He said to them: Did you know I was coming and prepared all of this in my honor? They said to him: Are you more important to us than Shabbat? The biscuits were prepared in deference to Shabbat.

So ends the dvar Torah.

Personally, I don’t think that that is why we say these two sayings. Rather, the first one by Chanania is because we are about to transition into Shabbat, and this is precisely the right time to carry out the searching through one’s garments, which Rav Yosef endorsed as an extremely important halacha. And, the second, Rabbi Eleazar citing Rabbi Chanina, is an extremely common aggadic teaching, appearing not only at the end of Berachot but other tractates as well, and to be said immediately before and thus triggering a kaddish derabanan, which we have.

But the person who related this to me wanted to know what I thought about the biographical identification.

Yes, we often see in manuscripts and elsewhere a fluidity between Chanina and Chanania, so that should not stand in the way of equating the two. This is just transposition of the nun and the yud, and the root is the same.

However, I would disagree with at least some of the identifications. As Rav Aharon Hyman writes in Toledot Tannaim vaAmoraim, the plain Chanania (often without Rabbi) of Shabbat 12a about checking your garment on Erev Shabbat is Chanina the son of the brother of Rabbi Yehoshua (whom we see discussing other halachot of Shabbat on Eruvin 43a, where חֲנַנְיָא בֶּן אֲחִי רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ is placed in parentheses). He is a fourth-generation Tanna. After the fourth-generation, there is a fifth and sixth generation, then a transitional generation, then the first generation of Amoraim.

Meanwhile, the Rabbi Chanina of the second source, at the end of Berachot about Torah scholars bringing peace, is a transitional Tanna / Amora. As Rav Hyman writes in Toledot Tannaim vaAmoraim in the entry of Rabbi Chanina bar Chama, this is the Rabbi Chanina in the famous statement at the end of Berachot and elsewhere. If so, the Rabbi Eleazar quoting him is third-generation Amora Rabbi Eleazar ben Pedat. This also makes sense because the formula “amar X amar Y” is an Amora citing another Amora.

In terms of the third source at the end of Shabbat, about greeting the Shabbat queen, I would guess it is the same transitional Amora, Rabbi Chanina bar Chama, as Rav Hyman writes in his entry. This makes sense since Rabbi Yannai is also from that generation, and his practice is mentioned immediately thereafter. So yes, that identification with the one Rabbi Eleazar cited about Torah scholars bringing peace could be used to explain why we are citing him here. But I think it is more the role of a nice aggadah at the end of something, prior to kaddish deRabbanan. And again, Chanania has nothing to do with it.