Rav Adda bar Abba's Death
Recently, we encountered the tale of Rav Adda bar Ahava’s premature death, where various Pumbeditan Amoraim felt guilty, because of an interaction for which Rav Adda may have been punished. The gemara concludes by reasonably blaming the last one to take responsibility. Thus, on Bava Batra 22a:
אֲמַרוּ לֵיהּ רַבָּנַן לְרַב נַחְמָן בַּר יִצְחָק: קוּם, דִּנְגַהּ לַן, לְמָה יָתֵיב מָר? אֲמַר לְהוּ: יָתֵיבְנָא וְקָא מְנַטְּרָא לְעַרְסֵיהּ דְּרַב אַדָּא בַּר אַבָּא. אַדְּהָכִי נְפַק קָלָא דְּנָח נַפְשֵׁיהּ דְּרַב אַדָּא בַּר אַבָּא. וּמִסְתַּבְּרָא, דְּרַב נַחְמָן בַּר יִצְחָק עַנְשֵׁיהּ.
The Sages said to Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak: Arise and teach us, as it is late for us. Why does the Master sit and wait? Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said to them: I am sitting and waiting for the bier of Rav Adda bar Abba, who has presumably died. Meanwhile, a rumor emerged that Rav Adda bar Abba had indeed died. The Gemara comments: And so too, it is reasonable to conclude that Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak punished him, i.e., he died as a result of Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak’s statement, as the unfortunate event occurred just as he announced that Rav Adda bar Abba’s bier was on its way.
There’s a variant incorporated in the gemara itself, that is, an ikka de’amrei, which was filtered out because the Vilna Shas didn’t include it. This version is found in Florence 8-9, Escorial, and in the margins of Paris 1337 in a different hand.
To explain what I mean by “in a different hand”, here it is:
Escorial is also a big mess, incorporating both but in above the line and marginal emendations:
Let’s see the text, from Florence:
תו רבנן אמרו ליה קום נגה ליה אמאי יתיב מר יתיבנא וקא נטרנא ערסא דרב אדא בר אהבה אדהכי נפק קלא דנח נפשיה דרב אדא בר אהבה איכ' דאמ' דרב נחמ' בר יצחק אשכחיה לרב אדא בר אהבה אמ' ל' ליתי מר לפירקה אמ' ל' השתא אתינא נגה ליה ולא אתא אדהכי פתח רב נחמ' בר יצחק ולא איסתייעא ליה מילתא אמ' יהא רעוא דלישכיב רב אדא בר אהבה ומסתבר' דרב נחמ' ענשיה
The first variant is before the ikka de’amrei, and the second following it.
In the second version, it was not just that he was waiting for him and didn’t start. Instead, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak waited for some time, then gave up and began the lecture. But, without Rav Adda bar Ahava’s assistance, he flubbed it. Upset, he said explicitly, “let it be the Will that Rav Adda bar Ahava should die.”
That sounds a whole lot worse.
It also potentially sheds light in their dynamic in Mechoza academy, how they worked together.
Another important point about Rav Adda bar Abba (not Ahava) here is a short Tosafot noting an apparent contradiction regarding his scholastic generation. Thus, they write:
אמר ליה רבא לרב אדא בר אבא. כן גריס רבינו חננאל ולא גרסי' בר אהבה דאותו היה בימי רבי כדאמרינן בקדושין (דף עב: ושם) היום ישב רב אדא בר אהבה בחיקו של אברהם אבינו:
That is, Rabbeinu Chananel makes him Rav Adda bar Abba, rather than bar Ahava. Because Rav Adda bar Ahava we find in Kiddushin 72b, where Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi prophesied on his deathbed:
כִּי הֲוָה נִיחָא נַפְשֵׁיהּ דְּרַבִּי אֲמַר:…
אַקְרָא דְאַגְמָא אִיכָּא בְּבָבֶל – אַדָּא בַּר אַהֲבָה יֵשׁ בָּהּ,
הַיּוֹם יוֹשֵׁב בְּחֵיקוֹ שֶׁל אַבְרָהָם.
There is a place called Akra DeAgma in Babylonia. There is a man named Adda bar Ahava there.
Today he is sitting in the lap of Abraham our forefather, since he has just been circumcised.
Thus, he would be a much earlier generation, like first or second, while Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak was fifth-generation.
The Tosafot includes vesham, which tells us that the Tosafot there in Kiddushin contains extra information. That Tosafot reads:
היום יושב בחיקו של אברהם אבינו - פירש בקונטרס יש אומרים מת וא"כ אין זה רב אדא בר אהבה שבגמרא ונראה לומר יושב בחיקו של אברהם שנכנס לברית מילה וזה רב אדא בר אהבה שהאריך ימים הרבה משמת רבי עד דורות אחרונים בימי רב נחמן בר יצחק כדאמרי' בב"ב (דף כב:) אך ר"י פי' דשני רב אדא בר אהבה הוו:
Thus, Rashi interprets “sitting in Abraham’s lap” as dying, in which case he cannot be the same as our Adda bar Ahava. Tosafot suggest instead that he was circumfixed, in which case he is a long-lived Amora, based on his existing until Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak’s days. Meanwhile, Ri explains that there were actually two Amoraim named Rav Ada bar Ahava.
Indeed, even if circumcised then, so that his life starts in first-generation Amoraic times, that is exceptionally long-lived. If Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi died in 217 CE, and fifth-generation Rav Pappa was born around 300 CE, he is 83 at that point. He interacted with grown fifth-generation Amoraim, so say he died at age 100. Is it really so surprising that he died at that point, so that various Amoraim felt guilty for his death? Also, would he be so kafuf to his teacher Rava, when he outranks him so much, generation-wise?
Rav Hyman writes that there were two Amoraim named Rav Ada bar Ahava. IIRC,m the earlier one is bar Ahava, or in Yerushalmi, Achava. The latter is bar Abba, but scribal errors often turn it into the similar sounding bar Ahava.
Also, in terms of longevity, I wrote a column for the Link about Longevity or Multiple Personality. While Rav Ada bar Ahava is listed as one such Amora, it is as a variant. It might be Rabbi Zeira instead. And both seem to have other Amoraim by the same name. And, the scribes might be motivated by seeing this idea in Tosafot (if the scribes are late), or by the same concerns that motivated Tosafot.
Here’s that column, where he is mentioned in passing.
