Eleazar Ben Ahwai (Ahbai)

Probably identical, according to Bacher ("Ag. Tan." ii. 553), with Eleazar b. Mahbai or Maḥbai, a tanna of the second century, contemporary of Judah b. Bathyra and Aḥa I. (Tosef., Yeb. xiv. 4). He is cited but twice under this name. His most important remark is with regard to the Pentateuchal expression  ("saying"; literally, "to say"), which frequently follows the statement, "God spake to Moses," and which he explains as implying that God spake to Moses not in Moses' interest, but in that of Israel: He spake to Moses to say to the people (Sifra, Wayiḳra, ii. 13; compare Yalḳ., Lev. 431, where the patronymic is "Dehabai").

S. S. S. M.