Ravana Nechemia the Exilarch
Someone interesting came up in yesterday’s Daf Yomi, Bava Metzia 91b: Nechemiah the Exilarch.
אָמַר רַב אָשֵׁי: הָא מִילְּתָא בְּעוֹ מִינַּאי דְּבֵי רַב נְחֶמְיָה רֵישׁ גָּלוּתָא: מַהוּ לְהַכְנִיס מִין וּמִינוֹ וְשֶׁאֵינוֹ מִינוֹ לַדִּיר? כֵּיוָן דְּאִיכָּא מִינֵיהּ – בָּתַר מִינֵיהּ גְּרִיר. אוֹ דִלְמָא אֲפִילּוּ הָכִי לָא? וּפְשַׁטִי לְהוּ לְאִיסּוּרָא דְּלָא כְּהִלְכְתָא, מִשּׁוּם פְּרִיצוּתָא דְּעַבְדֵי.
Rav Ashi said: This matter was asked of me by the members of the house of Rav Neḥemya, the Exilarch: What is the halakha with regard to bringing into the same pen an animal of one species with two other animals, one of its own species and the other of a species different from it? Is the halakha that since there is another animal of its own species, it will be drawn after its species, and therefore there is no concern whatsoever with regard to diverse kinds, or perhaps one should not act even in this manner, in case it leads to crossbreeding? And I resolved it for them by saying that there is a prohibition, but this was not in accordance with the halakha. The reason for my decision was due to the immorality of the slaves. I reasoned that if they are permitted to engage in this practice, they will intentionally crossbreed and claim that it occurred without their intervention.
We often hear reference to the Reish Geluta, the Exilarch, and it is often different people depending on the scholastic generation involved. But hearing a specific name is rare.
The person giving the Daf yesterday pointed to the Masoret Hashas quoting Rashal that it should be Ravana:
He took it as that “Ravana” in its entirety replacing “Rav Nechemiah” or “Rav Nechemia Reish Geluta” in its entirety. Because we have certainly heard of the relatively rare Amora, Ravana. That’s an understandable read, given how Masoret Hashas prints it. However, if we look at Rashal (Rav Shlomo Luria, Chochmat Shlomo) directly, it is less ambiguous:
גמ' דבי רבנא נחמיה כו' כצ"ל:
So, he is just changing the title. I don’t think he is stripping out Reish Geluta either.
Looking at the manuscripts, we see the following variations.
(1) The printings and the Cremona manuscript have “Rav” as a title:
(2) Yes, there is one manuscript like the maggid shiur, that eliminates Nechemia and puts in Ravana in its entirety, though as the Reish Geluta. That would be Hamburg 165:
However, several other manuscripts have Ravana as title as preserve Nechemia and Reish Geluta. Thus, Florence 8-9:
and Munich 95, Escorial, Vatical 115a, and Vatican 117:
Who was he? In Seder HaDorot, I see these entries, especially the top entry and bottom two entries.
This entry in HaMichlol puts him in the third generation of Amoraim. A teacher of Abaye and Rava, based on Shabbat 20b:
רָבִין וְאַבָּיֵי הֲווֹ יָתְבִי קַמֵּיהּ דְּרַבָּנָא נְחֶמְיָה אֲחוּהּ דְּרֵישׁ גָּלוּתָא. חַזְיֵיהּ דַּהֲוָה לְבִישׁ מְטַכְסָא. אֲמַר לֵיהּ רָבִין לְאַבָּיֵי: הַיְינוּ כָּלָךְ דִּתְנַן. אֲמַר לֵיהּ: אֲנַן ״שִׁירָא פְּרַנְדָּא״ קָרֵינַן לֵיהּ.
The Gemara relates that Ravin and Abaye were sitting before Rabbana Neḥemya, brother of the Exilarch. Ravin saw that Rabbana Neḥemya was wearing metaksa, a type of silk. Ravin said to Abaye: This is the kalakh that we learned in our mishna. Abaye said to him: We call it shira peranda.
but notes that Dikdukei Soferim has him not as a brother (of Mar Ukva), but an Exilarch himself.
Indeed, printing there in Shabbat have him as brother:
but all the manuscripts on Hachi Garsinan omit the word brother, so that he is an Exilarch himself:
Note that in our sugya, sixth-generation Rav Ashi is speaking of him. Isn’t Ravana Nechamiah the Exilarch much earlier? Yet, Jewish Encyclopedia claims he is the same:
The "exilarch Nehemiah" is also mentioned in the Talmud (B. M. 91b); he is identical with "Rabbanu Nehemiah," and he and his brother "Rabbanu 'Uḳban" (Mar 'Uḳban II.) are several times mentioned in the Talmud as sons of Rab's daughter (hence Huna II. was Rab's son-in-law) and members of the house of the exilarchs (Ḥul. 92a; B. B. 51b).
But, Rav Ashi speaks with members of the household of Ravana Nechemiah, so maybe that persisted. Or maybe we should restore the “brother”, even if it doesn’t appear here. (That sounds suspect, but I’m grasping at straws.) Alternatively, just as by the Nasi’s family, names such as Shimon and Gamliel recur, so too within the Exilarch’s family and the Exilarch himself, names such as Ukva, Huna, and Zutra recur. This could be a Nechemiah II the Exilarch, who we haven’t heard of elsewhere.
I’d have expected Huna III bar Natan the Exilarch who overlapped with Rav Ashi. Apparently, he is also called Huna bar Nechemiah on occasion. See also Huna Mar bar Nechemiah that Rav Ashi interacted with.