Was Rav Pappa Obese? (article preview)

There’s a story about a prominent rosh yeshiva who, in his youth, attended summer camp. Once, a Chassidishe rebbe, who was somewhat overweight, came to visit the boys. The rebbe sat down on a wicker chair but, alas, it couldn’t hold him, and it collapsed. All the boys laughed except our hero. The rebbe was impressed with the boy’s character, and asked why he hadn’t laughed. The boy explained that when he saw this happen, he thought that the rebbe was just like Yaakov Avinu. Prompted to elaborate, the boy explained that in Vayeitzei, Yaakov put several stones around his head but each stone said עָלַי יָנִיחַ צַדִּיק אֶת רֹאשׁוֹ, “upon me the tzaddik should rest his head!” So they all miraculously joined together to form one big stone. Just so, when the rebbe sat on the wicker chair, each hole proclaimed עָלַי יָנִיחַ צַדִּיק! So they formed one big hole.

In Bava Kamma 10b, Rav Pappa brings up a case discussed in a brayta in which five people sat on a bench without breaking it, but then a sixth man joined them in sitting on it, and it broke. The last man is liable for all of the damage. Rav Pappa adds that this man was as heavy as Pappa bar Abba (who could have broken the bench with his weight by himself).

This sugya is often taken as evidence that Rav Pappa was obese, and that he was referring to himself. Indeed, English Wikipedia, which is often of low quality when it comes to discussing Talmudic Sages, points to our sugya and states: “He was obese, and once noted that he could break a bench simply by sitting on it.” The claim doesn’t appear on Hebrew Wikipedia. Now, this statement may be correct, but it’s the opinion of one Wikipedia editor in a June 2019 edit, rather than representing a scholarly consensus.

If Rav Pappa meant himself, he would have said כגון אנא. A survey of Pappa bar Abba sugyot suggests