רב חייא בר אבין

Rav Chiya bar Avin was an amora whose teachings are scattered widely through the Talmud, chiefly in matters of korbanos, ritual purity, marriage and monetary law. He often brings the words of earlier masters — Rav, Shmuel, Rabbi Yochanan, and Rav Huna — and is recorded posing questions to leading sages of his generation, including Rabbi Yochanan, Rav Yosef, Rav Chisda, and Rava. In Sanhedrin (8b) Rava praises his sharp clarification, calling him “the lion of the group” who explained a difficult ruling about an accused wife.

His questions probe practical halachah closely. In Temurah he challenges Rabbi Yochanan about the sanctity that attaches to a substituted animal; in Zevachim he raises an objection regarding one who slaughters a bird inside and offers it outside; in Sanhedrin he asks Rav Yosef for the scriptural source that a tamei kohen who serves is liable to death, citing Vayikra. In Chullin he appears in a vivid case where a piece of meat of his was lost and he came before Rav Huna to recover it by visual recognition.

He is also a frequent voice in the laws of women and marriage. In Kesubos he discusses the widow’s garments, burial of a wife at her husband’s expense, the rights of a betrothed wife, and a case of a woman married as a virgin and found otherwise. He brings teachings in Kiddushin on inheritance, in Gittin on bills of divorce and freedom, and in Bava Metzia and Bava Basra on monetary and aggadic matters, including the explanation of why the generation of the flood was punished. His name appears as well in Eruvin, on eruvei techumin and tending to one who was let blood, and in Moed Katan and Megillah.