Week in Review

Posts for this week were:

1. Added a summary post for my Jewish Link article from last week, Ravavahu Stands Firm. We acknowledge the existence of this seventh-generation Babylonian Amora, and how many instances of R’ Abahu, including in the past few pages in Sanhedrin, are actually this Amora, rather than the early, third-generation Amora of the Land of Israel, Rabbi Abahu. Check out the summary post for slightly more details.
   

2. In Several Emendations for Sanhedrin 103, I went through just a few manuscript variants to last Sunday’s daf.
   
   (I give the daf on Sunday, so sometimes I pay lots of attention to it in preparing it. But there is only a small subset I would put into a typical post.)
   
   For instance, the gemara quoted a verse in Divrei Hayamim with a chet instead of an ayin, וַיֵּחָתֶר, interpreting it to mean that Hashem tunneled. But our text of Divrei Hayamim has the ayin! Also, in a Rav folk saying, it one reacts to the master / person and he doesn’t know, not that he doesn’t know. The vavs became daleds for a specific reason in printed texts. Finally, a batim mnemonic confuses Artscroll, because they don’t realize it should read kittim.
   

3. In another variant on the same daf, does a man potentially return home to his wife as a niddah, or as a safek niddah? There are variants both local to this sugya, which is primary, and a foreign sugya.
   

4. In Yeshu as a Student who Strayed, there is a brief reference on Sanhedrin 103, but much more on Sanhedrin 107, where the story is really fleshed out. Also, how Vilna was censored, and certain text in Munich and Florence in Berachot were scratched out.

   

   
   Also, Rabba bar bar Chana vs. Rabba bar Rav Huna, as taking a position that aligns with the Sages of Bavel or the Land of Israel.
   

5. In Rabbi Yochanan's Theme of Students, Colleagues, and Teachers, I connect his discussion of Achitophel’s trajectory as consonant with his general focus. I point out two other stories where he is occupied with relative status of colleague, student, teacher, and try to explain this based on his biography.