Rava (amora)
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Abba ben Joseph bar Ḥama (c. 280 – 352 CE), who is exclusively referred to in the Talmud by the name Rava (רבא), was a Babylonian rabbi who belonged to the fourth generation of amoraim. He is known for his debates with Abaye, and is one of the most often cited rabbis in the Talmud.
Biography
He was born about 280 CE in
Rava studied at the
Rava enjoyed the special protection of the mother of
When, after the death of Rav Yosef, Abaye was chosen head of the Academy of Pumbedita (Horayot 14a), Rava founded a school of his own in Mahoza. Many pupils, preferring Rava's lectures to Abaye's lectures, followed Rava to Mahoza.[4] After Abaye's death Rava was elected head of the school, and the academy was transferred from Pumbedita to Mahoza, which, during the lifetime of Rava, was the only seat of Jewish learning in Babylonia.
According to
Teachings
Halacha
The debates between Rava and
Rava occupied a prominent position among the transmitters of halakhah, and established many new decisions and rulings, especially in ceremonial law.[11] He strove to spread the knowledge of halakhah by discoursing upon it in lectures, to which the public were admitted, and many of his halakhic decisions expressly state that they were taken from such discourses.[12] He was a master of halakhic exegesis, not infrequently resorting to it to demonstrate the Biblical authority underlying legal regulations. He adopted certain hermeneutic principles which were partly modifications of older rules and partly his own.[13]
Rava apparently had to reply to a deep-seated skepticism toward rabbinic authority and to defend the authenticity of the rabbinic oral tradition. The skepticism of Mahozan Jewry was fueled in part by the acceptance of the
Aggadah
Rava was as preeminent in aggadah as in halakhah. In addition to the lectures to his pupils, he used to hold public discourses, most of them aggadic in character, and many of his aggadic interpretations are expressly said to have been delivered in public.[15] Even more numerous are the interpretations which, although not expressly stated to have been delivered in public, seem to have been presented before a general audience, since they do not differ from the others in form. The majority of these expositions, which frequently contain popular maxims and proverbs,[16] refer to the first books of the Ketuvim — Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes.
Bacher justly infers from this that the aggadic lectures of Rava were delivered in connection with the Sabbath afternoon service - at which, according to a custom observed in Nehardea, and later probably in Mahoza also, parashiyyot were read from the Ketuvim.[17] Rava therefore appended his aggadic discourse to the Biblical section which had been read.
Torah study is a frequent topic of Rava's aggadah. In the judgment after death, each man will be obliged to state whether he devoted certain times to study, and whether he diligently pursued the knowledge of the Law, striving to deduce the meaning of one passage from another.[18] The Torah, in his view, is a medicine, life-giving to those who devote themselves to it with right intent, but a deadly poison for those who do not properly avail themselves of it.[19] "A true disciple of wisdom must be upright; and his interior must harmonize with his exterior".[19] Rava frequently emphasizes the respect due to teachers of the Law,[20] the proper methods of study,[21] and the rules applicable to the instruction of the young.[22] In addition, Rava's aggadah frequently discusses the characters of Biblical history.[23]
Mysticism
Rava was secretly initiated, probably by his teacher Rav Yosef, into aggadic esoterism;
Quotes
- The reward for [learning] tradition is its logic [not the practical conclusions].[28]
- Either companionship or death. (popular saying)[29]
- When as yet I had not been made, I was not worthy. But now that I have been made, it is as though I had not been made. Dust am I during my lifetime, how more than in my death![30]
- A candle for one is a candle for a hundred.[31]
See also
References
- ^ Yevamos 34b
- ^ Bava Basra 12b
- ^ Sukkah 28a
- ^ Bava Batra 22a
- OCLC 923562173.
- ^ Avodah Zarah 19b; Rosh Hashana 18a (according to the wording preserved by Rashi)
- ^ Rashi (on Rosh Hashana 18a) and Tosafot (on Yevamot 105a) write that Rava was not a kohen, and thus not descended from Eli. Other arguments suggest that Rava was not a kohen. When he said that he would marry the daughter of Rami bar Hama after Rami did (Bava Batra 12b), he presumably did not mean to curse Rami to die, in which case he had in mind to marry her as a divorcee, which would be forbidden to a kohen. In addition, he instructed his sons not to marry converts (Brachot 8b), an instruction which would be superfluous for a kohen, as all kohanim are forbidden to marry converts. In addition, he once visited Rav Huna's deathbed (Moed Kattan 28a), which a kohen would not do to avoid being under one roof with a corpse.
- ^ "An Intro to the Stam(maim)". Drew Kaplan's Blog. Blogspot. 6 May 2008. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
- ^ Kiddushin 52a
- ^ Michael Avi Yonah, Atlas Karta leTekufat Bayit Sheni, haMishna, vehaTalmud, p.100
- ^ e.g., Hullin 42b, 43b, 46b, 47a,b; Pesachim 30a
- ^ Eruvin 104a; Shabbat 143a; Pesachim 42a; Bava Batra 127a
- ^ Compare Bacher, "Ag. Bab. Amor." pp. 131-132
- ^ Yaakov Elman, "The Babylonian Talmud in Its Historical Context," in Printing the Talmud: From Bomberg To Schottenstein, ed. Sharon Liberman Mintz & Gabriel M. Goldstein (New York City: Yeshiva University Museum, 2006), 26-27.
- ^ e.g., Sanhedrin 107a, 108b, 109a; Hagigah 3a, 15b; Eruvin 21b; et al.
- ^ compare Bacher, l.c. pp. 124 et seq.
- ^ Shabbat 116b; Rapoport, "Erekh Millin," pp. 170 et seq.
- ^ Shabbat 31a
- ^ a b Yoma 72b
- ^ e.g., Sanhedrin 99b; Shabbat 23b
- ^ Avodah Zarah 19a
- ^ Bava Batra 21a
- ^ Sanhedrin 108b; Bava Batra 123a; Sotah 34b; etc.
- ^ Bacher, l.c. p. 130
- ^ See especially Sanhedrin 65b
- ^ Sanhedrin 65b
- ^ Pesachim 50a
- ^ Berakhot 6b
- ^ Ta'anit 23a
- ^ Berakhot 17a
- ^ Shabbat 122a
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "RABA (B. JOSEPH B. ḤAMA)". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
External links
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- OU page on Rava
- Shamma Friedman, "Ketiv shemot Rabbah ve-Rava ba-Talmud ha-Bavli," Sinai 110 (1992): 140–164.