Rav Ashi (Bechoros 32)

Today we'll have a quick look at Rav Ashi, one of the most important figures in the Babylonian Talmud, who was in fact went- mentioned well over 1,000 times in the entire Bavli.

He died in the year 427, and he was extremely influential figure.

He had very close relations actually with the non-Jewish government of Yazdigird I, who was the Sasanian ruler at the end of the, um, the fourth century and the very beginning of the fifth century.

Uh, here's a map that shows you the extent of the Sasanian Empire around that time.

Uh, and you can see that at the far left, that's basically where the center of Talmudic activity was at the confluence of the, uh, Euphrates and the Tigris rivers flowing down into the Persian Gulf.

Uh, here's also an interesting piece that shows you, uh, some of the representations of Yazdigird I.

Uh, here he is killing a stag.

Um, at any rate, Yazdigird had very close relations with the Jews and in fact extended quite a bit of tolerance to them, which accounts for the flourishing, uh, of Jewish cultural activity during this time and of course the great amount of energy expended in Talmudic research.

Uh, Ashi, we know Rav Ashi was a very wealthy individual.

He apparently owned a forest, uh, he had servants and, uh, together with Amemar and Mar Zutra, he was regularly in communication with the Persian elite.

Now, the fascinating thing about Rav Ashi, besides of course the central message, which is his, his phenomenal teachings and its impact on the Bavli, is that for much of Jewish history, the last thousand years, Rav Ashi and Ravina are considered those who closed the Talmud, meaning they were the final editors of the document as we have it today.

This is the opinion of no less a scholar than Rashi and of course the great Maimonides, who both look to the statement of Shmuel when he makes a somewhat prophetic and slightly enigmatic statement that, um, Rav Ashi and Ravina would represent the end of Ora.

Ora, which is usually translated as instruction or teaching, is equated here with the, um, the conclusion of the Talmud and therefore Ravina and Rav Ashi have, uh, been for the last millennium really considered the, uh, the, the final compilers of the Talmud.

There are several problems, however, with this particular attribution and even Sherira Gaon of Pumbedisa, a 10th century scholar, questioned this particular approach.

He argued that i- if this were the case, why is it that Shmuel, w- who lived before Rav Ashi, would make this statement? All right, so you could say that Shmuel was making a prophetic statement.

He was a tremendous scholar after all, and all right, so he's predicting what would happen in the future.

But then you have the appearance of several Talmudic figures who lived after Rav Ashi, who are quoted in the Talmud and finally, there are even some historical references in the Talmud which clearly postdate Rav Ashi's age.

For example, Rav Ashi is understood as being the one who protected his hometown of Masi Mechasia, but at the same time, the Gemara says i- in Shabbat 11A that, uh, Masi Mechasia was in fact destroyed.

So this can only be referring to something that happened after Rav Ashi lived.

So there are other opinions that have especially been developed in the 20th century to say that Ravina and Rav Ashi, um, h- although they had a phenomenal impact on the Talmudic document as we have it today, uh, there was considerable additions that went on significantly after their education and Shmuel's treatment of the end of the Gemara should perhaps be understood in another way.

At any rate, back to our figure, Rav Ashi is clearly one of the most important figures of the Talmud, well-cited throughout, and in fact, he is credited with the honorific, the founder of the House of Rav Ashi, something which very few rabbis, uh, achieved in the Talmudic period.