ALEXA (or LEXA):
By: S. Mendelsohn
1. A foreign jurist of the third century, who discussed with the Palestinian amora R. Mana II. the question of collecting disputed debts in the absence of the debtor, as practised under the rabbinic law in Palestine and under the law of his own country. The conversation is preserved in two somewhat mutilated versions (Yer. Ket. ix. 33b, Yer. Shebu. vii. 38a), and it reads as follows:
"Alexa: We do better than you. We enter judgment; and if the debtor comes and disproves the claim, well and good—we annul the judgment; but if he does not come, we confirm the judgment on his property. Mana: We do likewise. We give notice through the public crier for thirty days [every Monday and Thursday of each week, see B. ḳ. p. 113a]; if he appears before the court, good; otherwise we confirm the judgment on his property. A.: But suppose he is far away, and fails to hear of the notice in time to allow of his appearing within the thirty days? M.: We send after him three notices at intervals of thirty days, one in thirty days [after giving judgment], another thirty days thereafter, and a third thirty days later. If he comes, well; if he does not come, we declare the judgment on his property final"
Margoliot ("Pene Mosheh" on Yer. Shebu. l.c.) maintains that this Alexa was a Babylonian amora; Frankel ("Mebo," p. 64a, on the authority of Rapoport in "'Erek Millin") considers him a Gentile judge. 2. An amora of the third generation (third and fourth centuries), mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud (Yer. Ket. v. 29c). R. Jacob b. Aḥa reports a Halakah in Alexa's name, transmitted by Hizkiah (b. Ḥiyya Roba). He is probably identical with R. Alexandri II.