Commentary for Berakhot 7:12
וא"ר יוחנן לא כלאב שמו אלא דניאל שמו ולמה נקרא שמו כלאב שהיה מכלים פני מפיבשת בהלכה
and R. Johanan said: His pame was not Chileab but Daniel. Why, then, was he called Chileab? Because he put Mephibosheth to shame on questions of Halakah; and concerning him Solomon said in his wisdom,
Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
See I Chron. iii. 1, as compared with II Sam. iii. 3. In a very interesting article in R. E. J. XXVIII. pp. 60 ff., Buchler suggests that under the guise of Biblical names (of. Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel) we have an echo of the quarrel between the Patriarch, Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel and R. Nathan and R. Meir. These two Rabbis (i.e. Mephibosheth) attempted to belittle the Halakic knowledge of Rabban Simeon (i.e. David) ; but his adversaries found more than their match in R. Judah his son (i.e. Chileab). On the quarrel, see Weiss, Dor (ed. 1904), II. p. 157.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
The name is explained as maklim "putting to shame" ab "a father," i.e. a teacher, Mephibosheth.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy