Rabbah bar bar Hana

Rabbah bar bar Hana(רבה בר בר חנה) was aJewishTalmudistwho lived inBabylonia, known as anAmoraof the second generation.
He was Hana's grandson and Hiyya's brother. He went to Israel and became a pupil ofJohanan bar Nappaha, whose sayings he transmitted.
He does not seem to have enjoyed high regard in Israel, for it was taken as a matter of course thatShimon ben Lakishshould not do him the honor of addressing him in public in the Babylonian Talmud,Yoma9b. After a somewhat prolonged sojourn in Palestine, he returned toMesopotamia, calledBabyloniain Jewish texts, residing both atPumbeditaand atSura. In Pumbedita, he at first refused to attend the lectures ofJudah bar Ezekiel,but he soon became his friend. He consulted him in difficult cases.
According to the Babylonian Talmud,Gittin16b–17a, Judah and his pupilRabbah bar Nahmanionce visited Rabbah, who was ill, and submitted ahalakhicquestion to him. While they were there, aZoroastrian priest(Jewish Babylonian Aramaic:חַבְרָא,romanized:ḥaḇrā) suddenly appeared and took the lamp because it was a festival, and Jews were forbidden to have a fire due to itssacredness.He exclaimed: "Merciful One! Let us live either in Your shadow or in the shadow of the descendants of Esau [the Romans]."
The persecutions of the Babylonian Jews by theSasanian Empirecaused Rabbah to resolve to return to Palestine according to the Babylonian Talmud,Pesahim51a. However, it is nowhere said that he carried out that intention. During his residence at theSura Academy, he wished to introduce the recitation of theTen Commandmentsinto the daily prayer but was dissuaded byRav Chisda.Later, he visitedMahozaand told of the wonderful feats he saw performed there by a juggler according toBava Batra73a, b.
Some aggadic sayings by Rabbah bar bar Hana have been preserved. CitingJeremiah 23:29, he compares theTorahto fire, in that as fire does not start of itself neither does the Law endure in solitary study according toTa'anit7a. His interpretations ofProverbs 9:3,14 andIsaiah 28:26 inSanhedrin38a, 105a also are noteworthy; he said, "The soul of one righteous person is equal in value to the entire world" in 103b.
Rabbah bar bar Hana's stories of his marvelous experiences during his voyages and his journeys through the desert have become famous. These accounts may be divided into two groups.
In the first group, he records his observations, generally beginning with the words "I have seen." Among these are his remarks regarding the identity of the most fertile part of Israel—"the land flowing with milk and honey" inKetubot111b–112a; the distance between Jericho and Jerusalem inYoma39b; the area of the district in theplains of Moabmentioned in theStations of the Exodusas the camp of the children of Israel inYoma75b; and thecastor oil plantcultivated in Israel, or the gourd of Jonah, inShabbat21a. Here also belong his accounts of his relations with the Arabs, one of whom once used a term that explained to him the word inPsalms 55:23.
The second group includes his fantastic adventures on the sea and in the desert. One of the most conspicuous figures in these stories is the Arab inBava Batra73b, who guided Rabbah and his companions on their journey through the desert. This Arab knew the route so well that he could tell from the odour of the sand when a spring was near. The travelers passed through the desert in which the children of Israel wandered for forty years. The Arab showed Mount Sinai to Rabbah, who heard the voice of God speaking from the mountain and regretting Israel's exile. The Arab likewise pointed out where Israelites had been swallowed by the earth, and from the smoking abyss, Rabbah heard the words, "Moses is truth, and his teachings are truth, but we are liars".
InBava Batra73a, he was shown the gigantic bodies of the Israelites who had died in the desert, lying face upward, and where heaven and earth almost touched, so that he could watch the rotation of thecelestial spheresaround the earth in twenty-four hours.
Some Rabbah's stories tell of the immense size of animals he saw. In Bava Batra 73b:5, he says, "Once we were traveling on a ship and we saw a certain fish upon which sand had settled, and grass grew on it. We assumed it was dry land and went up and baked and cooked on the back of the fish, but when its back grew hot it turned over. And were it not for the fact that the ship was close by, we would have drowned." A resemblance to the later voyage ofSinbad the Sailoris obvious.
Rabbah's stories have called forth an entire literature; in addition to the numerous commentaries on theaggadahicportions of the Talmud that dwell by preference on these accounts, more than twenty essays interpreting and annotating them have appeared in various periodicals.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Rabbah bar bar Ḥana".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.