Rabbi Abba

Second Generation of Amoraim

Rabbi Abba, who is mentioned in the Talmud without his father's name, was a student of Rav Huna and Rabbi Judah bar Ezekiel. Rabbi Abba was greater than Rabbi Yosef, as we learned: Rabbi Yosef sat in the study hall behind Rabbi Abba, and Rabbi Abba sat before Rav Huna. [ע"ז ו:]

His Ascent to the Land of Israel

Rabbi Abba used to evade Rabbi Judah, his teacher, because he wished to ascend to the Land of Israel. Therefore, he avoided entering the study hall, so as not to encounter Rabbi Judah, who forbade ascending to the Land of Israel.

Thus said Rabbi Judah: Whoever ascends from Babylonia to the Land of Israel transgresses a positive commandment, as it is stated: “They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I remember them, says the Lord, and then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.” [ירמיהו כז, כב] Rabbi Abba said to himself, I will go and stand outside the study hall, I will hear a halakha from Rabbi Judah, and then I will set out on my journey and ascend to the Land of Israel.

Rabbi Abba went and found the Mishnah reciter before Rabbi Judah saying: If one was standing in prayer and broke wind, he should wait until the smell passes and continue his prayer.

And some say: If one was standing in prayer and wished to break wind, what should he do? He should move away four cubits and break wind, and wait until the smell dissipates, and say: Master of the Universe, You have created us with many orifices, hollow within; it is revealed and known before You our shame and our disgrace in our lives, and in our end, maggots and worms. And he begins to pray from where he left off.

Rabbi Abba said: If I had come only to hear this matter, it would have been enough. [ברכות כד:]

His Humility

Rav Giddal was pursuing and striving to acquire a certain plot of land. Rabbi Abba went and bought that very land for himself. Rav Giddal had no way to protest against Rabbi Abba himself, so Rav Giddal went and complained about Rabbi Abba to Rabbi Zeira, so that he might help him obtain the land.

Rabbi Zeira himself also could not protest against Rabbi Abba. Therefore, Rabbi Zeira went to complain to Rav Yitzchak Nappacha. Rav Yitzchak Nappacha said to Rabbi Zeira: Wait until Rabbi Abba comes up to us for the festival. Since during the festival the Rabbi would expound on the laws of the festival, and his students would come before him, Rabbi Abba too would come with them, and then I will rebuke him concerning his purchase of the land that Rav Giddal had already planned to buy.

When Rav Yitzchak Nappacha met Rabbi Abba, he asked him: A poor man who turns over a cake being baked on coals—meaning he was pursuing it to acquire it from ownerless property, or from the owner to give it to him—and another came and acquired it, what is his ruling? He is like one who took it from the poor man.

Rabbi Abba said to Rav Yitzchak, he is called a wicked person, for he intrudes upon his fellow's livelihood and diminishes his sustenance.

Rav Yitzchak said to Rabbi Abba, why did my master do such a thing! His intention was to say to him, if you know this halakha, why did you buy the field that Rav Giddal wanted to buy? Rabbi Abba said to him, I did not know at all that Rav Giddal wanted to buy it! Rav Yitzchak said to him, now at least you must give him the land.

Rabbi Abba said, I agree to return the land to him, but I am not willing to sell it to him, because it is the first land I bought, and it is not a good sign for a person to sell his first acquisition, because whoever sells his first possessions will never see a sign of blessing.

Therefore, if Rav Giddal is willing to accept the land as a gift, he may take it, but I am not willing to sell it. Rav Giddal did not go down to that field, because he was not willing to accept it as a gift, as it is written: “but he who hates gifts will live.” [משלי טו כז], and Rabbi Abba also did not go down to that field, because Rav Giddal had already begun to deal with its acquisition, and Rabbi Abba did not wish to benefit from a forbidden act.

Neither Rav Giddal nor Rabbi Abba benefited from the field; the land became ownerless for the students, and it was called, “the land of the sages.”

His Sayings

Rabbi Ilai said in the name of Rabbi Elazar bar Rabbi Shimon: Just as it is a mitzvah for a person to say something that will be heard to one whom he is rebuking, and who will accept the rebuke, so too it is a “mitzvah” for a person not to say something that will not be heard to one whom he is rebuking.

Rabbi Abba says: It is an obligation for a person not to say something that will not be heard, as it is stated: “Do not rebuke a scoffer, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.” Meaning, it is dangerous for the rebuker to be hated. [יבמות סה:]

Rabbi Abba said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: Two Torah scholars who listen to one another in halakha, the Holy One, Blessed be He, hears their voice. As it is stated: “O you who dwell in the gardens, companions listen for your voice; let me hear it.” – These are the study halls, when companions listen to one another in the study hall – and they expound as follows: the gardens, the Lord hears their voice. And if they do not listen to one another in halakha, they cause through their wicked deeds the Divine Presence to depart from Israel, as it is stated immediately thereafter: “Flee, my beloved, and be like a gazelle.” [שבת סג.]