Rav Shmuel bar Yitzchak

First generation of Amoraim. His father, Rabbi Yitzchak, was a great pietist, who, due to doubt, fasted the fast of Yom Kippur for two days, the ninth and tenth, risking his life. [ירושלמי ר"ה פ"א, ה"ד] He merited to receive Torah directly from Rav, as he said: I heard the explanation of the matter from Rav. [נדה סד:] After Rav's passing, he sat with all of Rav's students to learn before Rav Huna, who was the head of the yeshiva. [עירובין לו.] Rav Shmuel bar Yehuda said about him and about Rabbi Zeira: The two greatest of the generation explained the matter, and these are they: Rabbi Zeira and Rabbi Shmuel bar Yitzchak. [גיטין כג:] When he was already among the greatest of the generation, his heart yearned to ascend to the Land of Israel to attain perfection in the service of the Creator. And even though Rabbi Yochanan and Resh Lakish were there, he did not always sit in their company to conceal his greatness in Torah. He was a holy man, as we find: His maidservant said when she washed his clothes that she never saw anything unseemly in his tallit in which he slept, as we find in the story of Elisha and the Shunammite. [ירושלמי יבמות פ"ב, ה"ד]

Unique in His Generation

When Rav Shmuel bar Yitzchak passed away, the date palms in the Land of Israel were uprooted. They said about him: that he would take myrtles and dance before the bride, and the Sages would criticize him for disgracing himself! Rabbi Zeira said to them: Leave him alone, does this elder not know what he is doing! Surely his intention is only for the joy of a mitzvah! And when he passed away, a pillar of fire from heaven separated his bed from the entire world, and that pillar of fire was in the likeness of a myrtle partition, and there were three hundred thunderclaps and lightning flashes in the world, and we have a tradition that a pillar of fire does not separate except for one or two in a generation. Come and see the custom of that elder and what merit his actions earned for him with the myrtles, that he would dance before the bride with three myrtle branches and would throw them into the air one after another and catch them again. Ketubot 17:] - A heavenly voice came forth and said: Woe to you, Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak, doer of kindness. [ירושלמי, ע"ז פ"ב, ה"א]

His Sayings

Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak said regarding head tefillin: There is a place on the head that is suitable for placing two tefillin. If so, concerning hand tefillin too we say: There is a place on the arm that is suitable for placing two tefillin. [ערובין צה:] It is written in the verse: “But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret because of pride.” [Jeremiah 13:17] Rav Shmuel bar Iniya interpreted in the name of Rav: Why does the verse say “in secret places” and not “in secret”! Because the Holy One, Blessed Be He, has a place, and its name is "secret places." What is the meaning of the verse, “because of pride”? Rav Shmuel bar Yitzchak said: because of their pride, meaning: the greatness of Israel that was taken from them and given to idol worshippers. Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said: because of the pride of the heavenly kingdom that was taken and given to idols. Is there weeping before the Holy One, Blessed Be He, that the verse says: “my soul shall weep”?! Rav Papa said: There is no sadness before the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as it is said: “Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and joy are in His place” [Psalms 96:6], but in the inner chambers, meaning: “in secret places,” there is weeping. [חגיגה ה:] “Have You not hedged him and his house?” It is written: “Then Satan answered the Lord and said, 'Does Job fear God for naught? Have You not made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.'” [Job 1:9] What is written: “You have blessed the work of his hands”? Rabbi Shmuel bar Yitzchak said: Anyone who takes a single coin from Job becomes blessed! What is written: “and his possessions have increased in the land”? Rabbi Yossi bar Chanina said: Job’s possessions broke the boundary of the world, meaning: the custom of the world is that wolves kill goats, but in Job’s possessions, the goats killed the wolves. [ב"ב טו:]