Rava Hai vs Rav Achai

I recently encountered a fun manuscript variant on Makkot 16. The gemara in question:

אָמַר רַב אַחַאי: הַמְשַׁהֶה אֶת נְקָבָיו עוֹבֵר מִשּׁוּם ״לֹא תְשַׁקְּצוּ״. אָמַר רַב בִּיבִי בַּר אַבָּיֵי: הַאי מַאן דְּשָׁתֵי בְּקַרְנָא דְּאוּמָּנָא קָא עָבַר מִשּׁוּם ״לֹא תְשַׁקְּצוּ״.

Rav Aḥai says: One who delays relieving himself through his orifices when the need arises violates the prohibition of: “You shall not make your souls detestable” (Leviticus 20:25). Rav Beivai bar Abaye says: One who drinks from the horn of a bloodletter through which blood has passed violates the prohibition of: “You shall not make your souls detestable.”

Usually, Rav Achai is a very late Amora, perhaps even to be considered a Savora. Or, it is possible that he is really even later, namely Rav Achai Gaon. I wrote a Jewish Link article about it. The ordering might be strange, because he shouldn’t precede Rav Bibi bar Abaye, but maybe it is fine because there is a topic shift.

However, once we look at manuscripts, we find something great / entertaining. There is a variant name of Rava, and the first word of his statement is “Hai”. We see this in Munich 95 and in Graz, U: Fragm. 1703.191.

Here is an image from the fragment:

That is, just as Rav Beivai bar Abaye begins his statement הַאי מַאן, so does Rava, not Rav Acha, begin his statement הַאי מַאן. But, the letter chet looks similar to a heh, so אמר רבא האי, if the words are spaced close together, become אמר רב אחאי. Meanwhile, the initial heh mem of הַמְשַׁהֶה doesn’t do us any favors.

This revised version makes a lot more sense. For Rav Achai followed by a fifth-generation Amora, the son of Abaye, does not make sense. But fourth generation Rava, followed by fifth-generation son of Abaye, makes a lot more sense!