רב גידל

Rav Giddel was an amora of the second generation, of both Bavel and Eretz Yisrael, and a talmid muvhak of Rav. Dozens of times in the Talmud he brings the teachings of Rav, many of which he heard through his rebbi Rav Chiya bar Yosef, and on occasion he brings the teachings of Ze’iri as well. After Rav’s petirah he went to learn under Rav Huna, and later he moved to Eretz Yisrael, to the beit midrash of Rabbi Yochanan in Teveria.

He would sit at the gates of the mikveh to teach women the halachot of tevilah, and when the chachamim asked whether he did not fear the yetzer, he answered that it held no sway over him.

The Gemara tells that Rav Giddel was once engaged in purchasing a field when Rabbi Abba came and bought it first. The matter came before Rabbi Yitzchak Nappacha, who asked Rabbi Abba: if a poor man is turning over a cake to take it, and another comes and seizes it from him — what is he called? Rabbi Abba answered: he is called a rasha. Rabbi Abba explained that he had not known Rav Giddel was already dealing to buy the field; now that he knew, he was ready to give it to him as a gift, but not to sell it, since it is a bad sign for a person to sell his first field. Rav Giddel refused to take it as a gift, citing the pasuk in Mishlei, "he who hates gifts shall live." Since neither would use it, the field remained ownerless, and it became known as the field of the rabbanan.