רב יהודה בר שילא

Rav Yehuda bar Sheila was an amora whose teachings appear across several tractates of the Talmud. He is chiefly recorded as one who brings the teachings of earlier authorities, most often the rulings of Rabbi Yochanan as cited through Rav Asi, and on occasion through Rav Ashi in the name of Rabbi Elazar. He also brings teachings he reported from the Land of Israel (“in the West”), as in Yevamot, where he relates the principle that any forbidden relationship through a woman is itself an ervah, with corresponding decrees applied in cases of secondary forbidden relationships.

His citations span both halachic and aggadic matters. In Shabbat he brings Rabbi Yochanan’s rulings on which covers and vessels may be handled on Shabbat — turning on whether the object has a handle and the legal status of a vessel. In that same tractate he brings the well-known aggadic teaching listing six matters whose fruits a person enjoys in this world while the principal remains for the World to Come: hospitality to guests, visiting the sick, concentration in prayer, rising early to the study hall, raising one’s children to Torah study, and judging one’s fellow favorably. In Zevachim he brings Rabbi Yochanan’s measure regarding a mikveh in which one adds and removes water, and in Niddah he addresses the definition of “fasting spittle” and the span of three hours of speech.