Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Rava (amora)
Summary
Abba ben Joseph bar Ḥama (280 – 352 CE), who is exclusively referred to in the Talmud by the name Rava (), 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.
He was born about 280 CE in Mahoza (a suburb of Ctesiphon, the capital of Persia), where his father was a wealthy and distinguished scholar. In his youth Rava went to Sura, where he attended the lectures of Rav Chisda and associated with Rami bar Hama. About ten years after Rami's death Rava married his widow, the daughter of Rav Chisda. It is said that earlier Rav Chisda's daughter sat in her father's classroom, while his students, Rava and Rami bar Hama, stand before them. When Rav Chisda asked her which of the two she wants to marry, she replied "both of them," and Rava added, "I'll be the last one" (commentators let us know that she indeed married Rami first and Rava second). They had five sons, the eldest of whom, Yoseph, died during his parents' lifetime.
Rava studied at the Talmudic Academy of Pumbedita, site of modern-day Falluja, Iraq. Rava's teachers were Rav Yosef, Rabbah, and, chiefly, Rav Nachman (who lived in Mahoza). His chief study-companion was Abaye, who was about the same age, and both of them developed the dialectic method which Rav Judah and their teacher Rabbah had established in their discussions of tradition; their debates became known as the "Havayot de-Abaye ve-Rava".
Rava enjoyed the special protection of the mother of Shapur II, the reigning King of Persia. For this reason, and in consideration of large sums which he secretly contributed to the court, he succeeded in making less severe Shapur's oppressions of the Jews in Babylonia.
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.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.