רב מר בר רב הונא

Rav Mar bar Rav Huna (niftar 4374/614 or 4380/620) was among the leaders of the third generation of the Savoraim in the seventh century and rosh yeshiva of Sura in Bavel in the closing years of Sasanian rule. Under him the yeshiva of Sura was reopened after more than fifty years in which it had stood idle, in the wake of the persecutions and decrees that struck the Jews of Bavel in the days of the Savoraim. By another view, resting on the Iggeret of Rav Sherira Gaon, he is counted as the first of the Geonim of Sura.

Sura, founded by Rav at the dawn of the amoraic period, had been the foremost yeshiva of Bavel in the days of Rav Ashi, Mar bar Rav Ashi, and Ravina, when the Talmud Bavli was arranged there. In the time of the Savoraim it was shut by prolonged persecution — from the Zoroastrian zealots, from the followers of Mazdak, and from the Sasanian crown under their influence — and an attempt to revive it under Rav Eina did not last. Pumbedita fared better but also closed for a time after the passing of Rav Simona in 4300/540, moving to Firuz-Shapur near Nehardea. When conditions improved, Pumbedita reopened in its own city in 4349/589 under Rav Chanan of Ishkiya, and some two years later Sura reopened under Rav Mar bar Rav Huna. By the view that dates the Geonim from Rav Chanan, Rav Mar was thus the first gaon of Sura, alongside Rav Mari bar Rav Dimi, the second gaon of Pumbedita, and Rav Chaninai of Bei Gihara, head of the yeshiva at Firuz-Shapur.

Rav Sherira Gaon, in his Iggeret to the chachamim of Kairouan, writes that in the days of Rav Mari, Rav Mar bar Rav Huna took the seat of Sura in the year 902 of the Seleucid count, that is 4351/591; some manuscripts read 920, which would set the reopening of Sura at 4369/609. The Iggeret does not give the year of his passing. Whether he belongs to the Savoraim or to the Geonim turns on how one reads the sources: the Raavad’s Sefer HaKabbala counts five generations of Savoraim and closes the period in 4449/689 with the passing of Rav Sheshna of Sura, while others begin the Geonim with Rav Chanan of Ishkiya; in Rav Sherira’s usage, gaon simply means a rosh yeshiva. Some identify his father with the Rav Huna whom the Machzor Vitry names as the end of the Savoraim. After Rav Mar bar Rav Huna’s passing, Rav Chanina was appointed rosh yeshiva in Sura.