BAR QAPPARA. – Palestinian rabbi (beginning of the 3rd century A.D.), one of the oldest disciples of R. Jehudhah han-Nâsi, whom he assisted in the compilation of the Mišnah. He belonged to the 5th generation of the Tannaïtes.
He also composed his own Mišnah, of which considerable traces remain. He exercised great influence, and many of his aphorisms are remembered. He was also a poet, with a tendency toward satire. He was head of the academy of Caesarea, and it seems that R. Jehôšua' ben Lèwî was his disciple.
BIBL.: H.-L. Strack, Einleitung in Talmud und Midraï, Munich 1921, p. 134. Alfredo Ravenna