רב ששת

Rav Sheshet was a Babylonian amora whose rulings appear throughout the Talmud, most densely in tractate Niddah, where he is one of the most frequently cited voices.

The sources show him in active debate with his contemporaries, bringing teachings in the name of Rav Yirmeya bar Abba and citing the traditions of Rav and Shmuel, sometimes critically (“when Rav was drowsy he said this teaching”). His sharp analytic style is evident in his readiness to reframe a Mishnah or recast a dispute as resting on a tannaitic controversy (“this is a matter of tannaim”). He is remembered in the aggadic tradition as well — cited in the name of Berakhot for the practice that, when bowing in prayer, he would bow swiftly as a reed bends, a gesture later invoked to illustrate humility before God. Rav Sheshet was blind, and many of his halachic rulings touch on the differences of observance with men who have no disabilities, and with those who do. Being blind only further proves his genius photographic memory, as evidenced by the sheer volume of his works.