רב אויא

Rav Avya was an amora of the fourth generation who began in Eretz Yisrael, where he learned under its chachamim, Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Yochanan, and apparently moved afterward to Bavel. There he learned under Rav Huna and was counted among his great talmidim. The Gemara tells that when Rav Avya Sava once put a halachic question to Rav Huna, Rav Huna answered only “urva parach” — a raven is flying. Rashi explains that Rav Huna deliberately changed the subject, pointing to a raven overhead; Rabbeinu Chananel explains it as a dismissal of the question as child’s play. When Rav Huna’s son Rabbah asked his father what this meant, since he was known to honor Rav Avya Sava especially for his greatness in Torah, Rav Huna explained that the fault lay not in the question but in its timing: it was a very deep question, put to him at a moment when he was tired and weak and could not answer it properly. A similar story appears in Chullin.

He attended regularly the shiur Rav Yosef gave on Shabbat before Musaf, and when he once failed to come, Rav Yosef was pained and Abaye labored to appease him. The Gemara records halachot he received from Rav Yosef about treating a sick person on Shabbat, when his hand became twisted in the middle of Rav Yosef’s shiur. Once he came to Rava’s house with his feet muddy and rested them on a bed there; Rava, annoyed, meant to embarrass him with a question about muktzeh machmat mi’us, but Rav Avya answered it, and Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak gave thanks that Rava had not managed to shame him. When he came of age he married the sister of Rami bar Papa; among his chaverim were Rabbah bar Rav Chanan and Rav Achadvoi bar Ami.

His teaching on Chanukah is well known: on the question of where Hashem commanded us to light, since we say “asher kideshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu,” Rav Avya answers — from “lo tasur.” Several of his sons were talmidei chachamim: Rav Chiya, the rebbi of Rav Ameimar bar Mar Yanuka; Rav Adda, Rava, Rav Chilkiya and Rav Huna; and Rav Acha berei d’Rav Avya, who appears dozens of times in the Gemara, usually debating halachah with his rebbi Rav Ashi. Rav Ashi himself, on hearing Rav Mordechai repeat a kushya of Rav Avya, remarked that he now understood why he had seen Rav Huna bar Avya in a dream — a sign, the Meiri explains, that the father’s Torah would come before him that day.