Hoshaiah

Not to be confused with Hoshaiah Rabbah.

Grave near Peki'in

Hoshaiah or Oshaya (Also spelled: Oshaia;Hebrew: אושעיא, הושעיה; died ca. 350 CE) was a Palestinian amora of the 3rd and 4th amoraic generations. It is supposed that his colleague Hanina was his brother (Sanh. 14a; see Edels, Ḥiddushe Agadot, ad loc.). They were lineal descendants from Eli the priest, which circumstance they assigned as reason for Johanan's failure to ordain them. For a living they plied the shoemaker's trade.

Hoshaiah and Ḥanina are mentioned in connection with a certain bath-house, the ownership of which was contested by two persons, one of whom turned over the property as "heḳdesh" (for sacred use), causing Hoshaiah, Ḥanina, and other rabbis to leave it (B. M. 6b). On the day Hoshaiah died, it is claimed, the largest date-palm in Tiberias was uprooted and fell (Yer. Ab. Zarah iii. 42c).

A different Hoshaiah or Heshaiah is also mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah 42:1

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

• Yuḥasin. ed. Filipowski, p. 118, London, 1857;
• Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, ii.36, Warsaw, 1878;
• Frankel, Mebo, p. 75, Breslau, 1870;
• Jolles, Bet Wa'ad, p. 20a, Cracow, 1884;
• Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. iii.565.

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.