רבה תוספאה

Rabbah Tosfa’ah was an amora whose teachings appear in the Talmud Bavli, often in close discussion with Ravina. The passages preserve him as a sharp questioner of practical halachah. In Bava Kamma he challenges Ravina, who had accepted bracelets and ornaments from the women of Mechoza for charity, citing a teaching that gabbai tzedakah may take only a small amount from a person and not a large one — to which Ravina replies that for the wealthy people of Mechoza such items count as a small amount.

In Moed Katan the two are walking on the road during the festival when they see a man drawing water with a bucket onto sand. Rabbah Tosfa’ah suggests to Ravina that the man be placed under a ban for laboring on Chol HaMoed, and the discussion turns on the meaning of the term used in a related teaching about drawing water for vegetables. In Berachot he states a ruling on zimun: when three eat bread together and one of them recites the blessing on his own initiative ahead of the others, they are included in his zimun, but he is not included in theirs, since there is no zimun after the fact. The cited material shows him engaged in the give-and-take of applied law alongside Ravina.