For the source text click/tap here: Chullin 87
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In our Daf a Sadducee challenged Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi’s belief in one God but could not answer Rabbi’s rebuttal and subsequently died. A member of his household brought Rabbi the news and was invited to dine with him. Offered either forty gold coins or the cup of blessing after the meal, he chose the blessing, whose value was affirmed by a heavenly voice. Rabbi Yitzḥak adds that his distinguished family still survived among Rome’s elite under the name “the family of Bar Luyyanus.”
Lieberman was fascinated by the appearance of Latin and Greek names in the Talmud. "בר לויאנוס" (Bar Luyyanus) is almost certainly a Latin name (from Lollianus, Luvianus, Lovianus, or another cognate), rather than a Hebrew or Aramaic one. He frequently analyzes exactly these kinds of names.
We explore the world of Rabbis in Rome.