Rabbi Oshaya Rabbah רבי אושעיא רבה
"father of the Mishnah", arbiter of the baraitot
Rabbi Oshaya Rabbah is the "father of the Mishnah", as the Yerushalmi calls him: after the Mishnah was sealed there remained a sea of oral teachings, and his school sifted them. The Talmud's rule: "any baraita not taught in the house of Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Oshaya is corrupt" (Chullin 141a–b)—without his seal a baraita carries no weight in dispute.
He studied under Bar Kappara and Rabbi Chiya, taught in Caesarea, and Rabbi Yochanan attended his study house. His name also opens the midrash Bereshit Rabbah—its first exposition is given in the name of Rabbi Oshaya.
The sources give no years of life; the window of activity is set by generation, following Aharon Hyman's Toldot Tannaim ve-Amoraim.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Chullin 141a–b — «a baraita not from the house of Chiya and Oshaya is corrupt»
- Bereshit Rabbah 1:1 — the midrash's opening exposition
Basis: Talmud and midrash.