Hama bar Bisa
Hama bar Bisa was an amora of the third century, who formed the middle link of a scholarly trio, and who exceeded his predecessor, as his successor in turn exceeded him, in the acquisition of knowledge.
Life
Like many other students, he left home and family, being gone twelve years. When he returned, fearing to startle his family, he went first to the local beth midrash, whence he sent word to them of his arrival. While there, his young son Oshaiah soon engaged him in a discussion, neither knowing the other. Hama, admiring the logical bent of the young man's mind, sorrowfully reflected on his long absence from home, where he himself might have raised such a son. He at last went to his house, and there, he saw his late interlocutor at the beth midrash enter. Surmising that he had come to continue the discussion, Hama rose to receive him, whereupon his wife surprised him by exclaiming, "Does a father ever rise before a son?". On another occasion father and son were discussing a point of civil law. They disagreed and submitted their views to Bisa, the father of Ḥama, who sided with Oshaiah. On this occasion Rami bar Hama expressed the hope that in the learned trio would be fulfilled the Scriptural saying, "A threefold cord is not quickly broken".According to the tosafists, the Oshaiah here cited is identical with Hoshaiah Rabbah. Wilhelm Bacher adopts this view, but Zecharias Frankel questions its tenability. There is no doubt that Hoshaiah Rabbah's father's name was "Hama," but it is cited with the addition of "father of Rabbi Hoshaiah". Only once does the name "Hama bar Bisa" appear so as to leave no doubt of his being a contemporary of Judah ha-Nasi, and, therefore, the father of Hoshaiah Rabbah. But the patronymic is an error, and the parallel passage reads correctly: "Hama, the father of Hoshaiah". It is probable that Hama was the father of the younger Hoshaiah, and flourished contemporaneously with Rami bar Hama, the son-in-law of Rav Chisda.