רב חסדא

Rav Chisda was a Babylonian amora whose rulings are quoted throughout later halachic literature in a remarkable breadth of areas. He appears in matters of personal injury and compensation — as in the dispute recorded in Choshen Mishpat, where he holds that funds set aside for a minor should be invested in a Torah scroll, against the opinion of Rabba bar Rav Huna (a view the Rosh follows). He is likewise cited on the laws of fasts, where he teaches that a fast not accepted the prior day and not concluded until nightfall is not a valid fast.

He is especially remembered for traditions of piety and personal devotion. His statement that he washes his hands generously — “I wash with a full handful of water and am granted a full handful of goodness” — is invoked in discussions of the laws of hand-washing. He is also held up as a model of honoring Shabbat: though he had many servants, he himself would cut the vegetables in preparation for Shabbat, an example repeated in Mesillat Yesharim and codified works. In aggadic-ethical contexts he is associated with the teaching that the Mishnah’s reckoning concerning the rescue of property on Shabbat reflects “a measure of piety.”

His name recurs across the standard tractates and codes — in Orach Chaim, Choshen Mishpat, and the ethical and digest literature — marking him as a frequently cited authority on prayer, Shabbat, fasts, tahara, and civil law.