רבי אלעזר בן פדת

Rav Elazar ben Pedat (niftar c. 279) was an amora of the second and third generations and a kohen, born in Bavel and known in the Gemara simply as “Rabbi Elazar” when an amora is meant. In his native land he learned under Shmuel and above all under Rav, whose beit midrash he revered. His love for Eretz Yisrael drew him to settle there while some of Rebbi’s contemporaries were still alive, and he attended the lectures of Rabbi Chiyya and of Hoshaiah Rabbah before attaching himself to the academy of Rabbi Yochanan at Teveria.

There he was chaver and talmid to Rabbi Yochanan at once, and Rabbi Yochanan acknowledged that Elazar had enlightened him, saying that the son of Pedat sits and expounds the law as Moshe did. So bound was his Torah to his rebbe that even the rulings he gave on his own were taken to be Rabbi Yochanan’s — and when he cited teachings without naming their source, Reish Lakish rebuked him, until Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi made peace between them. After the passing of Reish Lakish he was chosen to sit beside Rabbi Yochanan, and when Rabbi Yochanan was broken by grief the amora presided over the yeshiva, succeeding him as its head. So great was his standing that Bavel called him mara d’ara d’Yisrael, the master of the Land of Israel, and rulings that reached the Babylonian schools with the words “they sent word from there” were taken to be his.

He was a kohen of bitter poverty, who once fainted from hunger, yet would not accept gifts or a seat at the Nasi’s table, citing the verse “he that hates gifts shall live.” What little he earned he shared with other needy chachamim; once he let a coin fall on purpose so that the poor Shimon bar Abba, walking behind him, might find it. He prized tzedakah above offerings, and taught that acts of loving-kindness stand higher still. He had a son, Rabbi Pedat, called after his own father.