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Bar Kappara () was a Judaism scholar of the late second and early third century CE (i.e., during the period between the tannaim and amoraim). He was active in Caesarea Maritima, the capital of the Roman province of Syria Palaestina, from around 180 to 220 CE. His name, meaning "Son of Qappara", was taken from his father, Eleazar ha-Kappar. He was one of the students of Judah ha-Nasi and a first-generation amora.
He was a talented poet and storyteller, and it is said that, at the wedding feast of Simeon ben Judah ha-Nasi, he kept the guests captivated with fables until their food got cold. His satire, however, lost him the chance to be semikhah as a rabbi.
In Ecclesiastes Rabbah, He is referred to as Abba bar Kappara.Chanoch Zundel ben Yosef. (1816-1832). "Kohelet Rabbah, section 1:3" in Etz Yosef on Midrash Rabbah. Białystok.
On another occasion, Bar Kappara belittled Judah via riddle in the presence of Judah's son Simon. Judah, upon hearing of this from his son, informed Bar Kappara of his firm resolve never to grant him ordination. The Jerusalem Talmud tells a slightly different version of this story.Yerushalmi Moed Kattan 3:1 81c
What Simeon's riddle signifies is unknown despite many attempts to explain it. The most probable view is Abraham Krochmal's, that Bar Kappara intended it as a criticism of Judah's unrelenting severity toward young and old. The verse is notable as an example of Hebrew poetry in Talmudic times; its few lines may be the sole testimony to the activity of the Jews of that time in secular poetry. Its language is classic but not slavishly so; forceful and pure, yet easy and flowing. Curiously, the one other preserved example of Bar Kappara's poetry is the eloquent words in which he proclaimed Judah ha-Nasi's death to the assembled people of Sepphoris: "Brethren of the house of Jedaiah an, listen to me! Mortals and angels have long been wrestling for the possession of the holy tablets of the Law; the angels have conquered. They have captured the tablets".Yerushalmi Kilaim 9 32b; Yerushalmi Ketuvot 12 35a; Bavli Ketuvot 104a; Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:11, 9:10, with many variants of the text, which is here given according to Ecclesiastes Rabbah l.c. Bar Kappara's presence in Sepphoris suggests that, despite Judah's attitude toward him, he appreciated his great obligations to his teacher; and that his grief for Judah's death was sincere.
It is related that once while walking on the mole of Caesarea and seeing a Roman who had escaped from a shipwreck in utter destitution, he took him to his house and provided him with clothing and all necessaries, including money. Later, this castaway became proconsul of Caesarea, and occasion soon offered itself to show his gratitude to his rescuer, when Jews involved in a political disturbance were arrested, and he released them on bar Kappara's intervention.Ecclesiastes Rabbah 11:1, on "Cast thy bread upon the waters"
In Avodah Zarah 31a.3, it is recounted that upon bar Kappara's death, Johanan bar Nappaha went to Parod to question people who may have remembered sayings that were passed down in the name of Bar Kappara. Nothing further is known of this place; Bacher suggests it may have been a suburb of Caesarea."Agada der Tannaiten," ii. 505
Bar Kappara ascribed great value to the study of astronomy: "He who can calculate the solstices and movements of the planets and fails to pay attention to these things, to him may be applied the verse (Isaiah 5:12) 'They regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands".Shabbat 75a This statement is particularly striking when compared to his opinion about the obligation to study Torah: that a Jew who reads just two portions from the Torah daily—one in the morning and one in the evening—fulfills the commandment to meditate in God's law by day and night.Psalms 1:2; Midrash Tehillim on 1:2 Bar Kappara appreciated not only natural science, but also the Greek love of the beautiful. He explained Genesis 9:27 as follows: "The words of the Torah should be recited in the speech of Japheth (i.e. Greek) in the tents of Shem (i.e. in the synagogues and schools)".Genesis Rabbah 36:8
Bar Kappara's respect for the exact sciences was equaled by his aversion for metaphysical speculation, which in his time flourished among Jews and Christians in the form of gnosis. Referring to Deuteronomy 4:32 ("Ask now of the past days, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth") Bar Kappara says, "Seek to know only of those days that followed Creation; but seek not to know what went before".Genesis Rabbah 1:10
The Jerusalem Talmud contains a prayer he wrote and included in the repetition of the 18th section of Thanksgiving in the Amidah.Yerushalmi Brachot 1:5
The sayings of Bar Kappara regarding the incense offering (qetoret) are recited thrice daily by Sephardic Jews (before and after Shacharit, and before Mincha); twice daily by Hasidism (before Shacharit, and before Mincha); and once daily by Ashkenazi Jews (before Shacharit). Online Siddur
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