Biography
Abba Umnah was an amora whose name appears in the Gemara not for a legal teaching but as a model of righteousness. In Tractate Taanit (21b) it is related that a greeting of peace would come to him from the heavenly academy every single day, while to Abaye such a greeting came only on the eve of each Shabbat, and to Rava only on the eve of Yom Kippur.
The passage records that Abaye felt distress that Abba Umnah was so distinguished above him, and he was told that he could not match Abba Umnah’s deeds. The Gemara thus holds him up as an example whose conduct surpassed that of the great sages of his generation.
אַבָּא אֻמָּנָא היה מקיז דם לצורכי ריפוי, שחי בבבל בדור השלישי לאמוראים, ועל אף שהיה איש מקצוע ולא נמנה עם תלמידי החכמים היושבים בישיבה, נודע בצדקותו ובחסידותו.
Abba the Surgeon is a figure mentioned in the Talmud as an example of genuine Jewish piety and benevolence Although dependent upon his earnings, he was so unselfish and considerate that, in order to avoid embarrassing the poor among his patients, he would never accept pay directly from any one, but instead attached to a certain part of his house a box into which each patient might place what he pleased.
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