Nehemiah Of Beth-Horon:

By: Wilhelm Bacher , Jacob Zallel Lauterbach

Amora of the first generation; lived in the third century at Beth-horon, a small town northwest of Jerusalem. In the different sources he has various names, being called either "Neḥunya [his correct name; Suk. 44a] from the Valley of Beth-horon" ( i.e. , from lower Beth-horon, there being an upper town of this name), "Ḥunya of Horon" (Yer. Sheb. 38c), or "Ḥanina of Beth-horon" (Yer. 'Ab. Zarah 42c). He seems to have been highly respected, both as a scholar and as a pious man. His advice was frequently sought in the regulation of the calendar at Jerusalem; and it was said that whenever he went to the city for that purpose, the waters divided before him ( ib. ). Only a few of his halakic sentences have been preserved. R. Johanan transmits in his name some halakot said to be based on a very ancient tradition (Suk. 44a). Some haggadic sentences by him have also been preserved, e.g. , Gen. R. lxxiii. and Yer. Ma'as. Sh. 55d, although this latter interpretation is ascribed in the Babylonian Talmud (M. Ḳ. 5a) to R. Abbahu.

Nehemiah had a learned son named Uzziel, who is mentioned in Yer. Ma'as. Sh. ( l.c. ). It appears, from a comparison of this passage in Yerushalmi with that in the Babylonian Gemara (M. Ḳ. 5a), that this son was named after his grandfather, who was apparently a prominent man, being called "Uzziel Rabba" = "Uzziel the Great" (M. Ḳ. l.c. ).