Abdima (Dimi) Bar Hamar (Sometimes With The Addition B. Ḥasa):

By: S. Mendelsohn

A Palestinian who immigrated into Babylonia; senior contemporary of Raba and Joseph, of the fourth century. His name is connected with but a small number of Halakot, and only few of his Haggadot are preserved. Commenting on the words of Moses (Deut. xxx. 11-13), "This commandment is not in the heaven. . . Neither is it beyond the sea," he observes: "And were it even so: were the Law in heaven, it would be man's duty to ascend to obtain it; were it beyond the seas, he would be obliged to cross them in quest of it" ('Er. 55 a ). In using Biblical texts for homiletic purposes he follows the usual method of straining the text, or playing upon similarities of expression or even of sound; for example, the Biblical statement (Ex. xix. 17), "They stood at the base ( betaḥtit ) of the mount," he construes as implying that "the Holy One—blessed be He!—had bent the mountain over the Israelites, saying to them, 'If you accept the Law it will be well; otherwise here will be your grave'" (Shab. 88 a ; 'Ab. Zarah, 2 b ). Elsewhere he is reported as interpreting the term "Taanath" in the passage (Josh. xvi. 6), "And the border went about eastward unto Taanath-shiloh," as if it were related to taaniyah (sorrow) or to anaḥ (to sigh); and, therefore, he understands by Taanath-shiloh the spot at the sight of which man is reminded of the sacrificial rites once practised in Shiloh, and sighs at their discontinuance (Zeb. 118 a et seq. ; compare "Diḳduḳe Soferim," l.c. , and Yalḳ., Deut. § 881). In Yer. Meg. i. 72 d a different interpretation of the same text, but also taking Taanath in the sense of sorrow, is reported in the name of R. Abdima of Sepphoris.