רב עמרם חסידא

Rav Amram Chasida was an amora, whose very title — Chasida, “the pious” — reflects the reputation that runs through the passages in which he appears.

In Kiddushin 81a he is remembered for an episode in which captive women were brought up to his house, and he removed the ladder to guard against temptation; when a spark of light passed by, he single-handedly raised a ladder that ten men together could not lift. In Gittin 67b he is described enduring affliction at the hands of the household of the Exilarch, who tormented him by laying him on snow; knowing they would do the opposite of whatever he requested, he asked for what he did not want so that they would bring him what he did. In Shabbat 139a he is brought administering lashes against one who would plant hops in a vineyard, upholding the prohibition of kilayim.