רבי אבא בר אבינא

Rabbi Abba bar Avina was an amora whose teachings are preserved in the Midrash. He is recorded chiefly in connection with the aggadic interpretation of Torah passages, drawing lessons from the way one section of the Torah is placed beside another.

In Vayikra Rabbah he asks why the passage of Miriam’s death is set next to the passage of the ashes of the red heifer (parah adumah), and answers that just as the ashes of the heifer bring atonement, so too the death of the righteous brings atonement. This teaching, which links the loss of the tzaddikim to a form of communal atonement, is among the better-known statements brought in his name.