Rav Kahana [the Second]

First Generation Amoraim. He was a preeminent student of Rav and also studied Torah from Shmuel. As we find: Rav Kahana was sitting before Rav and arranging and reciting the order of verses in Ecclesiastes. When he came to recite the words in the verse: “And the caper-berry fails” [קהלת יב,ה], Rav groaned and sighed! Rav Kahana said: From the fact that Rav sighed, it implies that his desire had ceased. Rav Kahana’s interpretation of the words: “And fails” (ותפר), meaning: from the root of failure and nullification. “The caper-berry” (האביונה), meaning: desire. Thus, Rav Kahana concluded that desire had ceased from his teacher. [שבת קנב.]

A Miraculous Event

There was a man who wanted to hand over his friend's straw to idol-worshipping oppressors. He came before Rav to ask if he was permitted to hand it over. Rav told him: Be careful not to hand over your friend's property, and warn him twice! The man said to Rav: I will hand it over, and how I will hand it over. Rav Kahana, who was present at that time before Rav, saw the reaction of that informant, stood up, broke his neck, and killed him! Rav said: Just as an ox caught in a net is shown no mercy and is taken for slaughter, so too is the money of an Israelite: once it falls into the hands of idol worshipers, no mercy is shown to it, and the end of an Israelite's property and money is destruction. Rav said to his student, Rav Kahana: Kahana, until now the Persians ruled, who did not care about bloodshed and there was no fear that the killer would be punished! But now the Greeks rule, and they supposedly care about bloodshed! If so, there is a very great concern that they might inform on you, and you will be punished with execution! Therefore, I advise you, go up to Eretz Yisrael and save yourself! But I ask of you, accept upon yourself not to raise difficulties for Rabbi Yochanan for seven years! Rav Kahana went, packed his belongings, and went up to Eretz Yisrael. Rav Kahana arrived in Eretz Yisrael and found Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, who was a great sage, in the study house. Therefore, due to his greatness, every day at the end of the lesson with their teacher Rabbi Yochanan, Resh Lakish would expound to the sages the teachings and halachot that Rabbi Yochanan had taught and sharpen them for the students. At the end of his words, Rav Kahana said to Resh Lakish: These are the difficulties I have to raise against the lesson, and these are also the answers I have to provide. Resh Lakish went to Rabbi Yochanan, his teacher, and said to him: A lion has come up from Babylonia, and his name is Rav Kahana, and he told him what had happened! Resh Lakish asked his teacher to prepare his lesson for tomorrow properly. In Rabbi Yochanan's study house, there were seven rows of learners, and the greater one was in Talmud, the more one sat in the front rows. They seated Rav Kahana in the first row, as befits a lion, and behold, Rabbi Yochanan stated the first halakha, and Rav Kahana remained silent and said nothing! Rabbi Yochanan stated a second halakha, and Rav Kahana remained silent and said nothing! This continued until the seventh halakha; Rabbi Yochanan spoke, and Rav Kahana remained silent! With each silence of Rav Kahana, they moved him back to the second bench, the third, until he eventually found himself sitting in the seventh, last row, as befits a student of a relatively low level. Rabbi Yochanan turned to Resh Lakish and said to him: The lion you spoke of has become a fox! Rav Kahana, who felt very, very embarrassed, as befits a high-level Torah scholar, for he had not answered questions because he had accepted upon himself not to speak for seven years before Rabbi Yochanan, decided and said: May it be His will that every row I moved back shall be a substitute for one year! So these seven rows are like the seven years that Rav decreed upon me not to speak, and that's it! The lion returned! Rav Kahana stood on his feet and turned to Rabbi Yochanan: Will my master please return to the beginning of his words! Rabbi Yochanan returned and stated the first halakha, and Rav Kahana raised a difficulty; Rabbi Yochanan stated the second halakha, and Rav Kahana raised a difficulty, until Rav Kahana found himself in the first row. Rabbi Yochanan continued his halachot, and Rav Kahana his difficulties, until they removed the seven cushions on which Rabbi Yochanan was sitting, and he found himself sitting on the ground! Rabbi Yochanan was an old man, and his eyebrows were large and covered his eyes. He asked his attendant: Lift my eyebrows so I can see Rav Kahana! His attendant lifted his eyebrows with silver tongs. On Rav Kahana's lips, there was a cut due to an injury. Rabbi Yochanan, looking at Rav Kahana, thought for a moment that Rav Kahana was laughing at him! Rabbi Yochanan's spirit weakened, and because Rabbi Yochanan was particular, Rav Kahana departed to his eternal home. The next day, Rabbi Yochanan said to his students: Did you see that Babylonian, referring to Rav Kahana, how he laughed at me! His students said to him: Our Master, God forbid that Rav Kahana laughed at you! Rather, his lips were cut due to an injury, and it looked like a smile on his lips! Rabbi Yochanan went to the cave where Rav Kahana was buried and saw a coiled snake, like a wheel, sitting at the entrance of the cave, blocking the entry and not allowing anyone to enter. Rabbi Yochanan said to the snake: Snake, snake, move aside and let the Master (Rabbi Yochanan) enter to the student (Rav Kahana)! The snake did not move. Rabbi Yochanan said: Let the student (Rabbi Yochanan) enter to the student (Rav Kahana)! The snake did not move. Rabbi Yochanan said: Let the student (Rabbi Yochanan) enter to the Master (Rav Kahana)! The snake moved and allowed Rabbi Yochanan to enter. Rabbi Yochanan entered the cave, prayed and sought mercy, and revived Rav Kahana and said to him: If I had known that your lip was cut and you were not laughing, I would not have been particular; now the Master will come back with me! Rav Kahana said to Rabbi Yochanan: If Your Honor can pray for me that I will not die again if I raise difficulties against you, I will go with you and stand before you in the study house! And if not, I will not go with you, lest you become angry with me again and I die once more, so it is better for me to go home alive. Rabbi Yochanan raised him and took him with him to the study house. Rabbi Yochanan raised all his difficulties, and Rav Kahana resolved all of them! This is what Rabbi Yochanan said: The Torah of Eretz Yisrael is that of Babylonia, for he heard it from Rav Kahana. (This is the version according to Rashi: Rav Kahana said: Since I have experienced the pain of death, I am not willing to experience it again and remained – in the cave, according to the Yerushalmi) [מפסחים מט.]

The Fire of Torah

When Rav Kahana ascended to Eretz Yisrael, he was very sharp and wise, meaning: he was a brilliant young man but was prone to anger, as the Sages said: “האי צורבא מרבנן דרתח, אורייתא קא מרתחא ליה!” meaning: a young Torah scholar who becomes angry, it is because the Torah he studies stirs up zeal for God in him! After the incident Rav Kahana had with Rabbi Yochanan, this is what happened: Rav Kahana saw a scoundrel who was mocking him and asked Rav Kahana mockingly: When you were in heaven, what voice did you hear! Rav Kahana replied to him: I heard that your death sentence was sealed, and so it was. Another one came and mocked Rav Kahana like the previous one, and the result was like what happened to the first. Rav Kahana said to himself: I came to Eretz Yisrael to delve into Torah and benefit the public, and not, God forbid, the opposite. And he resolved to return to Babylonia! Rav Kahana did not want Rabbi Yochanan to know that he intended to return to Babylonia because he might prevent him. What did he do! He came before Rabbi Yochanan and asked him metaphorically: A person whose mother disgraces him but whose stepmother honors him, where should he prefer to go? Rabbi Yochanan, not sensing the deeper meaning, replied to him: He should go where he is honored. The parable's meaning is: his mother, Rav Kahana's reference to Eretz Yisrael, where he experiences pain and shame; his stepmother, his reference to Babylonia, where he is honored. And with Rabbi Yochanan's answer, Rav Kahana received Rabbi Yochanan's approval to return to Babylonia. Rav Kahana prepared himself and set out on the journey back to Babylonia. The Sages told Rabbi Yochanan that Rav Kahana had left. Rabbi Yochanan understood that, with great wisdom, Rav Kahana had acted to receive permission from him to return to Babylonia. [ירושלמי ברכות פ"ב ה"ח]

Studied Torah from Rabbi Yochanan

Of course, all of Rav Kahana's actions in Eretz Yisrael were over several years, and he also received Torah from Rabbi Yochanan, as we find: Rabbi Yochanan said: One who wishes to warm a patient with jaundice and heal him, should wrap him in a warm sheet or in the sheet of another jaundice patient. Rav Acha bar Yosef fell ill with jaundice. Rav Kahana performed this sheet remedy for him, and he recovered. [שבת קי:] When Rav Kahana returned to Babylonia, it seems that Rav and Shmuel were no longer alive, and Rav Huna was appointed head of the Yeshiva and continued Rav's path. Rav Kahana, like all students of Rav and Shmuel, studied Torah before Rav Huna.

His Sayings

Rav Kahana taught before Rav Yehuda bar Yechezkel: A straw house used for storing grain and not intended for human dwelling, and similarly a cattle shed, a wood shed, and storage houses for wine and oil, are exempt from a mezuzah, and the reason for the exemption! Because women are particular there. Rav Kahana explains: “Particular” (נאותות), meaning they bathe there, and it is not an honor for Heaven to have a mezuzah there. Rabbi Yehuda said to him: Let's be precise according to your reasoning, if so, storage houses where bathing does not occur would be obligated in a mezuzah! But we learned in another Baraita: A cattle shed is exempt from a mezuzah? And it is not stated that it is exempt because bathing occurs there? Therefore, another reason must be given! Why is a straw house exempt from a mezuzah even if bathing does not occur there! The reason is: because they are not intended for human dwelling.