Luliani ben Tabrin

Who is Luliani ben Tabrin?

Luliani ben Tabrin was a Palestinian scholar of the beginning of the fourth century.

Luliani is particularly known as the transmitter of haggadot of his teacher, Isaac Nappaha. He is frequently mentioned in pre-Talmudic literature and in the Midrash. There is, however, one haggadah ascribed to Luliani himself: "When the lesser people listen to the great and yet the latter do not alleviate the burden of the former, they shall account for it to God"; but a similar sentence is ascribed to R. Isaac in Deut. R. i. 8.

The statement of Midrash Tehillim that Luliani transmitted a haggadah of R. Ishmael is apparently a mistake due to the abbreviation. Luliani is mentioned also as having asked his teacher Isaac a halakic question.

Luliani was the father of the Hiyya ben Luliani who is frequently mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud and who is stated to have caused rain to fall in time of drought.