13 Kislev · Yahrzeit
Yahrzeit/Hillula of Rava bar Rav Huna - Amora
Rava bar Rav Huna lived (290-320 CE) in Babylonia - an Amora of the second and third generations. His father was the great Amora of the first generation, Rav Huna. His son was Rava.
He is also known as Abba bar Huna and Bar bar Huna.
After his father, Rav Huna, passed away, Rav Chisda became head of the Yeshiva of Sura. When Rav Chisda passed away, he was chosen to head the Yeshiva.
He lived in a city that Wiesner identified with Tekrit. He was the foremost student of Rav, under whose guidance he acquired such vast knowledge that one of Rava's three wishes was to possess the wisdom of Rav Huna. He was also called "one of the Chasidim of Babylonia" because of his great piety. The esteem in which he was held was so great that, although he was not from a family of Kohanim, he would read the first portion of the Torah on Shabbat and holy days - the portion usually read by a Kohen. Rav Ami and Rav Assi, esteemed Israelite Kohanim, regarded Rav Huna as their teacher.
Rav Huna was so poor at the start of his career that, in order to buy wine for the sanctification of Shabbat, he once had to pawn his belt. But Rav blessed him with wealth, and Rav Huna made a lavish wedding for his son. He owned numerous flocks of sheep, which his wife Choba tended, and he himself traveled in a gilded litter.
Rav Huna was extremely generous. When the homes of the poor were destroyed by a storm, he rebuilt them; during meals, the doors of his house remained open, and his servants would call out: "Whoever is hungry, let him come and eat."
The academy of Sura, during his tenure, came to be called a metivta (Yeshiva), and Rav Huna was the first "Rosh Metivta" (Rosh Yeshiva). Under Huna, the importance of the academy grew significantly, and students flocked to it from all directions - 800 people, all of whom he himself supported.
When his students shook out their garments after a lesson, they raised such an enormous cloud of dust that whenever the sky over the Land of Israel became overcast, people in Israel would say: "Huna's students in Babylonia have just risen from their lesson."
During his lifetime, the Academy of Sura held sway in Babylonia. He led it for 40 years, then died suddenly at over eighty years of age. His remains were brought to the Land of Israel and buried next to Chiya the Great.
Rav Huna is buried in Eretz Yisrael, but died in Babylonia. He was brought to Eretz Yisrael on a camel, together with another deceased rabbi, Rav Amnuna. Upon their return to Eretz Yisrael, they came upon a bridge where they stopped an Arab traveler. He asked why the two camels had stopped. He was told that Rav Huna and Rav Amnuna were honoring one another, each arguing that the other should cross the bridge first. He then said that the camel carrying Rav Huna should go first, and the camel proceeded. The Arab was utterly astonished.
Teachings
A number of his halachic and aggadic teachings appear in the Talmud, including:
- One who is insolent should be regarded as a transgressor.
- When a person falls into a rage, he loses the reverence of Heaven.
- One who possesses knowledge [of Torah] but has no fear of G-d is like a steward who has been given the keys to the inner storerooms but not the outer keys; he cannot gain access to the storerooms.