Huna ben Joshua


Huna ben Joshua was a Babylonian rabbi, of the fifth generation of amoraim.

Biography

He was considered as one of the most prominent Amoraic sages of his generation.
He was a student of Rava, who seems to have been his principal teacher, and who sometimes praised him, but occasionally blamed him. He appears to have been the pupil of Abaye also.
He was a colleague and a scholarly opponent of Rav Papa, from whom he was inseparable, both in and out of school.
When Rav Papa became head of the yeshiva of Naresh, Huna was appointed president of the general assembly in the same school.
During his studies under Rava, he earned his livelihood from a small landed property, enabling him to make the time needed for his studies. Later on, he became a business partner of his colleague Rav Papa, and earned his living from selling sesame.
Huna was wealthy. He never walked more than four cubits bareheaded. He ate very slowly, so that Rav Papa consumed in the same time four times as much and Rabina eight times as much.
Huna lived to a great age, outliving Rava by 57 years. Once in the lifetime of Rav Papa, Huna fell desperately ill, but his life was spared because he was forbearing.