Rabbi Ashi

Approximately 300 years after the destruction of the Second Temple, the sixth generation of Amoraim. Rabbi Ashi bar Shimi, a scion of a lineage of esteemed Torah scholars, had already gained renown in his youth. He was a man endowed with sixty spirits of wisdom [Sanhedrin 93b] more than all the Torah scholars of his generation and was appointed head of the Yeshiva at a very young age for approximately 60 years in Mata Mehasya in Babylonia [Shabbat 11a]. He received Torah from all the scholars of his generation.

Among the Greats

Rabbi Ashi was born before Rava passed away [Kiddushin 72b:] and had the merit of serving Rava in his later years. His permanent place of study was with his primary master, Rabbi Kahana (the Third), a student of Rabbah, and he received from him in his Yeshiva in a place called "Pum Nahara" in Babylonia, near Nehardea. As we find, Rabbi Ashi said: We saw Rabbi Kahana, when he recited HaMotzi, holding two loaves and breaking one of them. He would go to serve the great students of Abaye and Rava, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak in Pumbedita and Rabbi Pappa in Naresh, until he founded his own great Yeshiva [Berakhot 39a].

His Wife and Sons

His father-in-law, according to what is stated, was Rami bar Hama, as we find: Rabbi Ashi's wife sifted flour in an unusual manner on an overturned table on Yom Tov. Rabbi Ashi said: My wife, the daughter of Rami bar Hama, would not do anything improper, because her father Rami bar Hama was a man of action and meticulous in his conduct, and if she had not seen this in her father's house, she would not have done so [Beitzah 29a:]. In contrast, it is stated otherwise: Rabbi Ashi happened to visit his father-in-law's house. Rabbi Ashi saw the son of Rami bar Abba, his father-in-law, placing a skewer of liver on meat [Chullin 111b:]. His sons were: Rabbi Sama and Mar bar Rabbi Ashi. They would sit before their father and learn Torah from him. Mar bar Rabbi Ashi was privileged to be appointed after his father as head of the Yeshiva in Mata Mehasya [Eruvin 102b, Ketubot 69a].

Delicate and Refined

Rabbi Yehuda was standing in prayer and saliva came to his mouth. He said: It is possible to absorb it with one's cloak, meaning to wipe it with a cloak, and if the cloak is beautiful, one absorbs it with his outer garment, meaning: with the fringes of the scarf on his head that hangs over his shoulders. It is related: Ravina was standing behind Rabbi Ashi. Saliva came to Rabbi Ashi's mouth, and he spat it behind him. Ravina said to him: Do you not hold with Rabbi Yehuda who said: "one absorbs it with his outer garment"?! Rabbi Ashi said to him: I am delicate, meaning: I am fastidious and sensitive, and I cannot absorb saliva in my clothes [Berakhot 24b:]. It is further related: Ravina happened to visit Rabbi Ashi's house on Shabbat. He saw that a donkey had stepped on his foot and there was vinegar there to heal the wound. Ravina said to Rabbi Ashi: Does my master not hold with Rabbi Hillel, that it is forbidden to put vinegar on a wound on Shabbat for medicinal purposes?! Rabbi Ashi replied to him: The back of the hand or the back of the foot involves danger, and Shabbat may be desecrated in such a case. Some say the incident was as follows: Ravina saw Rabbi Ashi using wine. Ravina said to him, Does my master not hold with Rava, who said: The people of Mehoza, since they are delicate, even wine heals, and you, my master, are delicate, meaning: pampered and refined, and it is forbidden for you to apply wine to a wound?! Rabbi Ashi said to him: The back of the hand and the back of the foot are like an internal wound, meaning an internal injury, and there is danger to life in this, and Shabbat may be desecrated for it [Shabbat 109a].

Editor of the Babylonian Talmud

Approximately 100 years after Rabbi Yochanan edited the Jerusalem Talmud in the Land of Israel, Rabbi Ashi and Ravina, with the great scholars of the generation, undertook the editing of the Babylonian Talmud, meticulously examining every letter of the Talmud to clarify the laws according to the truth of the Torah. Rabbi Kahana the Kohen was his master, and Ravina was his close colleague. The last Rabbi Kahana, who was head of the Yeshiva in Pumbedita at the end of Rabbi Ashi's days, was Rabbi Ashi's colleague.

His Greatness

Rabbi Ashi was blessed with longevity and lived for nearly ninety years. Concerning him it was said: From the days of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi until Rabbi Ashi, there was no Torah and greatness, meaning wealth and Torah, in one place. Even Rav Huna bar Natan, who was the greatest of the generation, was subservient to Rabbi Ashi in Torah [Gittin 59a].

His Passing

When Rabbi Ashi's time came to depart from the world, the Angel of Death came after him to take him. Rabbi Ashi requested of him to grant him thirty days to review his studies, as our Sages said: "Fortunate is he who comes here with his studies in his hand" [Pesachim 50a]. Before the thirty days had passed, the Angel came and told Rabbi Ashi that he must take him. Rabbi Ashi asked him, Why do you not wait for the thirty days to pass? "The Angel said to him: The time has come for Huna bar Natan to be Nasi after you, and 'no kingdom intrudes upon another, even by a hair's breadth.' Rabbi Ashi passed away, and Huna bar Natan ascended to greatness" [Moed Katan 28a].

His Humility

In his studies, Rav Ashi reached the Mishnah on the topic of: "Three kings who have no share in the World to Come" [Sanhedrin 90a], namely: Jeroboam, Ahab, and Manasseh. Rabbi Ashi said, Tomorrow we will study about "our colleagues" who were Torah scholars like us. King Manasseh appeared to Rabbi Ashi in a dream and said to him, Do you think we are your colleagues and your father's colleagues? I will ask you a simple question and we shall see who is whose colleague! Do you know from which place on the bread one breaks after the blessing of HaMotzi? Rabbi Ashi answered him, I do not know. King Manasseh said to him, You do not know, and you call us your colleagues! Rabbi Ashi said to King Manasseh, Teach me this matter and tomorrow I will expound upon it in the study hall in your name! King Manasseh replied to him, From the place where the faces of the bread become crusty in the oven, from above, from below, and from the sides, where the bread is harder, but not from the middle of the bread where it is soft. Rabbi Ashi asked King Manasseh, Since you were great sages, why did you worship idols? King Manasseh replied to him, If you had been in my generation at that time, you would have raised the hem of your cloak to run faster to worship idols, because the evil inclination for idolatry was very strong in the world at that time, and only afterwards did the Sanhedrin come and weaken its power. The next day Rabbi Ashi said to the Sages in the study hall: We will begin "with our masters" (referring to the kings with respect), and we will expound upon their matters, and he stated the Halakha in the name of King Manasseh [Sanhedrin 102b:]