The fourth generation of Amoraim (the sages of the Gemara) in Bavel. He sat before Rabbah, and the Gemara pairs his name with Rava's
אַבָּיֵי
Abaye
Abaye was an Amora (a sage of the Gemara) in Bavel (Babylonia). He was an orphan from birth. Rashi, the main commentary on the Gemara, writes that it seems to him that Rabbah bar Nachmani raised him and taught him Torah. The Gemara shows him sitting before Rabbah, and standing up in honor of Rav Yosef. His name is tied to the name of Rava: the Gemara in Sukkah, explaining a baraita (a teaching from the time of the Mishnah), speaks of "the discussions of Abaye and Rava". The Gemara rules that the law follows Abaye in the cases known by the memory word Ya'al Kegam, which Rashi lists as six.
EraAmora
LandBavel
Who he was
Who was Abaye?
The note that fell in Pumbedita
The Gemara in Bava Metzia tells of the death of Rabbah bar Nachmani. A note fell from the sky in Pumbedita, a city in Bavel (Babylonia), saying that Rabbah bar Nachmani had been called to the yeshiva above. Abaye, Rava and all the rabbis went out to take care of him. The story does not say in so many words where Abaye lived. It has the note fall in Pumbedita and Abaye go out with the rabbis.
"A note fell from the sky in Pumbedita: Rabbah bar Nachmani has been called to the yeshiva above. Abaye and Rava and all the rabbis went out to take care of him."
Rabbi Yochanan said that the hearts of the early sages were like the doorway of the Ulam (the entrance hall of the Temple), the hearts of the later ones like the doorway of the Heikhal (the main hall of the Temple, whose doorway was narrower), and ours are like the eye of a fine needle. (The notes on the two halls, and on the words gemara and sevara below, are ours.) The Gemara in Eruvin then brings three later sages who speak about their own generation. Abaye said: and we are like a peg in a wall, for gemara (learning what was handed down). Rava said: and we are like a finger in wax, for sevara (working things out by reasoning). Rav Ashi said: we are like a finger in a pit, for forgetting.
Rashi explains Abaye's picture. A peg is pushed into a narrow hole in a wall and goes in only with great effort. In the same way, Abaye is saying, we can understand what we hear only a little and with difficulty.
כיתד שנועצין אותו בכותל בנקב צר ונכנס בדוחק כך אין יכולין אנו להבין מה שאנו שומעין כי אם מעט ובקושי
"Like a peg that is pushed into a wall, into a narrow hole, and goes in with effort. So we are able to understand what we hear only a little and with difficulty."
The Mishnah in Berakhot brings two opinions about which blessing to say on water. Rava bar Rav Chanan asked Abaye what the law is. The Gemara notes that some say he asked Rav Yosef. The answer was: go out and see what the people do.
A baraita in Berakhot brings a dispute between two Tannaim (sages of the time of the Mishnah). Rabbi Yishmael says a person should learn Torah and also work his field in the normal way. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai asks: if a person plows, plants and harvests each in its season, what will become of Torah? His answer is that when Israel does the will of Hashem, their work is done by others. Abaye said: many did like Rabbi Yishmael and it worked for them. Many did like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and it did not work for them.
The Gemara in Shabbat lists sages who each name a good practice they hope to be rewarded for. Abaye said: may I be rewarded, because when I see a young Torah scholar who has finished his tractate, I make a festive day for the rabbis.
The Gemara in Berakhot gives a saying that was always on Abaye's lips. A person should always be clever in his fear of Heaven. Abaye quotes the verse "a soft answer turns away anger". And a person should increase peace with his brothers, with his relatives and with every person, even with a non-Jew in the marketplace, so that he will be loved above, liked below, and accepted by people.
"It was a regular saying in the mouth of Abaye: a person should always be clever in fear of Heaven. "A soft answer turns away anger." And he should increase peace with his brothers, with his relatives and with every person, even with a non-Jew in the marketplace, so that he will be loved above and liked below, and accepted by people."
the Gemara pairs their names and records their disputes; it speaks of "the discussions of Abaye and Rava"
Teacher
Rabbah (Rabbah bar Nachmani)
Abaye sat before him (Berakhot); Rashi writes that it seems to him that Rabbah raised him and taught him Torah
Teacher
Rav Yosef
Abaye stood up when he saw Rav Yosef's donkey coming, and reminded Rav Yosef of teachings Rav Yosef had told him
Student
Rav Mesharshiya
Abaye calls himself the main teacher of Rav Mesharshiya and the rabbis with him
An orphan from birth
The Gemara in Kiddushin says about Rabbi Yochanan that his father died when his mother became pregnant with him, and his mother died when she gave birth to him. It adds: and so too Abaye. The Gemara then asks: is that so? Abaye himself says "Mother told me"! It answers: that was the woman who raised him.
Abaye passes on practical advice with the words "Mother told me". According to the Gemara in Kiddushin (see the claim before this one), he means the woman who raised him. One page in Shabbat has several of these in a row, all about caring for a newborn baby. One example: if a baby is red because his blood has not yet been absorbed into his body, wait until it is absorbed and only then circumcise him.
"And Abaye said: Mother told me: a baby who is red, because his blood has not yet been absorbed in him, they should wait for him until his blood is absorbed in him, and then circumcise him."
Eli was the kohen gadol (high priest) in the book of Shmuel. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah quotes the verse where Hashem swears that the sin of the house of Eli will not be atoned for by a sacrifice or an offering. Rava said: not by a sacrifice or an offering, but it can be atoned for by Torah. Abaye said: by Torah and by acts of kindness. (The first opinion is Rava's. The next line is about Rabbah, the sage Abaye sat before. They are two different people.) The Gemara then says that Rabbah and Abaye came from the house of Eli. Rabbah, who was busy with Torah, lived forty years. Abaye, who was busy with Torah and with acts of kindness, lived sixty years.
"Rabbah and Abaye came from the house of Eli. Rabbah, who was busy with Torah, lived forty years. Abaye, who was busy with Torah and with acts of kindness, lived sixty years."
In Zevachim, Abaye repeats a teaching before Rav Yosef. Rav Yosef, a sage Abaye learned from, answers with the words "Kaylil had one son, and he is not set right", and then raises an objection to the teaching from two verses. The Gemara does not say who Kaylil is. Rashi writes that it seems to him that Kaylil was the name of Abaye's father.
נראה בעיני כי אביו של אביי כייליל שמו
"It seems to me that the name of Abaye's father was Kaylil."
The Gemara in Gittin ends a discussion with the words "the law follows Nachmani". Rashi, the main commentary on the Gemara, explains that Nachmani is Abaye. Rashi then gives his own explanation of the name, and he introduces it with the words "it seems to me": Rabbah bar Nachmani raised Abaye in his house and taught him Torah, because Abaye was an orphan, and so he gave him the name of his own father, Nachmani. Rashi adds that a plain "Rabbah" in the Gemara is Rabbah bar Nachmani.
ונראה בעיני דעל שם שרבה בר נחמני גידל אביי בביתו ולמדו תורה שהיה יתום השיאו את שם אביו נחמני
"And it seems to me that because Rabbah bar Nachmani raised Abaye in his house and taught him Torah, since he was an orphan, he gave him the name of his father, Nachmani."
The Gemara in Berakhot has just ruled that a child who knows to Whom we say a blessing can be counted for the invitation to Birkat HaMazon (the blessing after a meal). It then tells this story. Abaye and Rava were sitting before Rabbah. Rabbah asked them: to Whom do we say a blessing? They said: to the Merciful One. And where does the Merciful One live? Rava pointed to the ceiling. Abaye went outside and pointed to the sky. Rabbah said to them: both of you will be rabbis. The Gemara ends with a saying people use: a squash is known from its stalk. The story itself does not say how old they were.
"Abaye and Rava were sitting before Rabbah. Rabbah said to them: to Whom do we say a blessing? They said to him: to the Merciful One. And where does the Merciful One live? Rava pointed to the ceiling. Abaye went outside and pointed to the sky. Rabbah said to them: both of you will be rabbis."
The Torah commands a person to stand up before a Torah scholar. A teaching in Kiddushin sets the distance at four cubits (a cubit is about the length of a forearm; that note is ours). Abaye said this distance is only for a teacher who is not his main teacher. For his main teacher, he stands as soon as he can see him. The Gemara then tells what Abaye himself did: when he saw the ear of Rav Yosef's donkey coming, he would stand up.
The Gemara in Nedarim tells that Rav Yosef became ill and his learning was uprooted from him. Abaye brought it back before him. The Gemara says this is why we say everywhere that Rav Yosef said "I never heard this teaching", and Abaye answers him: you yourself told it to us, and you told it to us from this baraita (a teaching from the time of the Mishnah).
Abaye was riding a donkey along the bank of the Sagya river. Rav Mesharshiya and other rabbis were sitting on the other bank, and they did not stand up for him. Abaye said to them: am I not your main teacher? They answered: we did not notice.
"Rav Mesharshiya and the rabbis were sitting on the other side, and they did not stand up for him. He said to them: am I not a main teacher? They said to him: we did not notice."
A baraita (a teaching from the time of the Mishnah) in Sukkah lists everything that Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai learned. He lived long before Abaye and Rava. The list ends with "a great matter and a small matter". The great matter is "the work of the chariot" (the vision of the Divine chariot in the book of Yechezkel; that note is ours). The small matter is "the discussions of Abaye and Rava". The Gemara here does not explain how a teaching about so early a sage can mention them.
Rashi explains the phrase. These are all the questions that Abaye and Rava were in doubt about. He (Rashi means Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, the subject of the baraita) put his mind to all of them and gave a reason for each, and in the days of the Amoraim (the sages of the Gemara) they were forgotten.
כל איבעי' להו לאביי ורבא הוה מספקא להו ובכולן נתן את לבו ונתן בהן טעם ובימי אמוראים נשתכחו
"All the questions that Abaye and Rava were in doubt about. He put his mind to all of them and gave a reason for them, and in the days of the Amoraim they were forgotten."
Each story is told from one book, named under the quote.
How he became the head
The Gemara in Horayot first tells that Rabbah was head for twenty-two years and that Rav Yosef was head after him. Then it tells that Abaye, Rava, Rabbi Zeira and Rabbah bar Matana were sitting together and needed a head. They said: whoever says something that cannot be refuted will be the head. The words of all of them were refuted, and Abaye's were not. Then one of the sages saw that Abaye had lifted his head and said to him: Nachmani, begin and speak. The text the site quotes names that sage as Rabbah (רבה). But Rabbah is not in the list of those sitting there, and Rava (רבא) is, and the lines just before this story say that Rabbah's years as head were followed by Rav Yosef's. So the name in this line is doubtful. The passage does not say which yeshiva they needed a head for.
"They said: whoever says something and it is not refuted, let him be the head. The words of all of them were refuted. Abaye's were not refuted. Rabbah (so the text reads) saw that Abaye had lifted his head, and said to him: Nachmani, begin and speak."
The Gemara in Taanit tells that a greeting came from the yeshiva of Heaven to Abba the bloodletter every day, to Abaye every Friday, and to Rava every Yom Kippur eve. Abaye was upset because of Abba the bloodletter. He was told (the Gemara does not say by whom): you are not able to do what he does. The Gemara then lists Abba's deeds. He treated men and women separately. He had a hidden place where people put his fee, so that someone who had no money was not embarrassed. He took no fee from a young Torah scholar and after the treatment gave him coins and told him to go and regain his strength. One day Abaye sent a pair of rabbis to test him. He gave them food and drink and spread mats for them to sleep on. In the morning they rolled up the mats, took them to the market, and he found them there. They asked him what the mats were worth, and then told him: they are yours, we took them from you. They asked: what did you suspect us of? He said: I thought the rabbis needed money to free captives and were ashamed to tell me. They told him to take the mats back. He said: from that moment I put them out of my mind and gave them to charity.
The Gemara in Sukkah tells that Abaye heard a man say to a woman: let us get up early and go on the road together. Abaye said: I will go and keep them from sin. He followed them for three parasangs (a long walk) through the marshland. When they parted from each other, he heard them say: our road is long, and the company is pleasant. Abaye said: if it had been "the one who hates me" (a way of speaking about himself), he could not have held himself back. He went and leaned on the bolt of the door, and he was distressed. An old man came and taught him: whoever is greater than his fellow, his urge to sin is greater too.
Every item says who is making the claim: the Gemara itself, a classical commentator, or a modern writer.
The Gemara says
If the Torah said "do not do it" and he did it
The Gemara in Temurah records a general rule from each of them. Abaye said: whenever the Torah says "do not do" something and a person does it anyway, the act takes effect. His proof: if it had no effect, why would he get lashes for it? Rava said: the act has no effect at all, and he gets lashes because he went against the word of the Torah. After this the Gemara tests both rules against many laws, over three pages. Each time a law seems to go against one of them, it answers that the case is different, because a verse teaches it specially. So neither rule is refuted. The claim "Where the two rules actually differ" tells how that discussion ends.
"Abaye said: anything that the Merciful One said not to do, if he did it, it takes effect. For if you would think it does not take effect, why does he get lashes?"
At the end of that discussion Rav Acha son of Rava asks Rav Ashi: now that we have given all these answers, in what case do Abaye and Rava disagree? The Gemara first suggests interest that was fixed in advance, and rejects that. It ends by saying that they disagree about shinui koneh, which means "a change acquires". The Gemara here gives only those two words. It does not say which of them holds what, and it gives no ruling. So in the laws the Gemara tested, the result comes from a verse about that law, and shinui koneh is the only disagreement it names. Rashi's explanation is in the claim "Rashi: who holds that a change acquires".
Rashi explains the two words shinui koneh, "a change acquires", at the end of the discussion in Temurah of the two general rules of Abaye and Rava. Abaye holds that a change a person made against the word of Hashem takes hold, except where a verse says otherwise. Rava holds that it does not take hold, except where a verse says that it does. Rashi writes that no difference between them has been explained to us except how each of them answers the objections. Then he gives a case: a person who robbed wood and made it into vessels, or wool and made it into clothes. For Abaye he has made it his own and pays back only wood or wool. For Rava he has not made it his own, and he gives back the vessels or the clothes.
גוזל עצים ועשאן כלים צמר ועשאן בגדים דלאביי קנה ואינו משלם אלא עצים וצמר ולרבא לא קנה ומשלם הבגדים והכלים
"One who robs wood and makes it into vessels, or wool and makes it into clothes: for Abaye he has acquired it and pays only wood or wool, and for Rava he has not acquired it and pays the clothes or the vessels."
These are general rules. The Gemara itself lists exceptions.
The Gemara says
A lost object the owner does not yet know he lost
A person who finds a lost object may keep it once the owner has given up hope of getting it back. The Gemara in Bava Metzia brings a dispute about a case where the owner does not yet know that he lost it, but he would give up hope if he knew. Abaye said: that does not count as giving up hope. Rava said: it does count. The Gemara says right away that with an object that has an identifying mark everyone agrees it does not count as giving up hope. (The explanation of the case is ours. The line quoted gives only the name of the case and the two views.)
The Gemara brings a proof against Rava from a teaching about a lost object that a river washed away, and says: "a refutation of Rava, a refutation". Then it rules: the law follows Abaye in Ya'al Kegam. Ya'al Kegam is a memory word. The Gemara gives only the word and does not list the cases. Rashi explains it in the next item. The same line appears again in Kiddushin and in Sanhedrin (the Sanhedrin passage is told below).
Rashi says the letters are signs for six laws and lists them, with the tractate for each. They are: giving up hope without knowing (this case); a false witness is disqualified from the earlier time (Sanhedrin); a side post that was standing there on its own (Eruvin); a betrothal that cannot lead to married life (Kiddushin); showing what one wants in a bill of divorce (Gittin); and a person who eats non-kosher meat out of spite, who is disqualified as a witness (Sanhedrin).
סימני הלכות הן יאוש שלא מדעת דהכא עד זומם למפרע הוא נפסל בסנהדרין (דף כז.) לחי העומד מאיליו בעירובין (דף טו.) קדושין שלא נמסרו לביאה בקדושין (דף נא.) גלוי דעתא בגיטא בגיטין (דף לד.) מומר אוכל נבילות להכעיס פסול לענין עדות בסנהדרין (דף כז.)
"They are signs of laws: giving up hope without knowing, which is here; a false witness is disqualified from the earlier time, in Sanhedrin; a side post standing on its own, in Eruvin; a betrothal that cannot lead to married life, in Kiddushin; showing what one wants in a bill of divorce, in Gittin; one who eats non-kosher meat out of spite is disqualified for testimony, in Sanhedrin."
One of the cases on Rashi's list: the false witness
An ed zomem is a witness who was proven false because other witnesses said he was somewhere else at the time. From when can his testimony no longer be accepted? Abaye said: from the earlier time, when he gave the false testimony. His reason is that from that moment he is a wicked person, and the Torah says not to make a wicked person a witness. Rava said: only from now on, when he is proven false, because the law of the ed zomem is a novelty of the Torah and applies only from the moment it comes into force. The Gemara adds a second version, in which Rava agrees with Abaye in principle and said "from now on" only to protect buyers from a loss. It reports, in the name of Rabbi Yirmeya of Difti, that Rav Papi decided a case like Rava and that Mar bar Rav Ashi said the law follows Abaye. It ends: the law follows Abaye in Ya'al Kegam.
Rabbi Zeira went up from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael and there ate meat from a slaughter that Rav and Shmuel disqualify. People said to him: are you not from the place of Rav and Shmuel? The Gemara in Chullin asks: a person who moves is supposed to keep the stricter rules of the place he left and of the place he came to. Abaye answered that this rule applies from one place in Bavel to another, within Eretz Yisrael, or from Eretz Yisrael to Bavel. But from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael, since we are subject to them, we do as they do. Another sage, Rav Ashi, gave a different answer: the rule applies only to someone who plans to return, and Rabbi Zeira did not plan to return.
Nachmani. not a different person. In Horayot Abaye is addressed as Nachmani, and Rashi says the "Nachmani" at the end of the discussion in Gittin is Abaye
Rabbah bar Nachmani. the sage Abaye sat before. Rashi writes that a plain "Rabbah" in the Gemara is Rabbah bar Nachmani, and that it seems to him the name Nachmani passed from Rabbah's father to Abaye
Rava. the sage the Gemara pairs with Abaye. Rava (רבא) is easy to mix up with Rabbah (רבה), the sage Abaye sat before. They are two different people
Honest limits
What the sources do not tell us
The passages opened for this page do not give the years of his birth or death. The Gemara says only that he lived sixty years.
The Gemara passages opened for this page do not say in so many words who his father and mother were, and they do not name the woman who raised him. The name Kaylil for his father is Rashi's explanation of one line, which Rashi introduces with the words "it seems to me".
The Gemara itself does not say that Rabbah raised him. That is Rashi's explanation, which Rashi introduces with the words "it seems to me".
The story of how he became the head does not say which yeshiva it was, and the name of the sage who tells him to begin and speak is doubtful in the text.
The Gemara says the law follows Abaye in Ya'al Kegam, but it gives only the memory word. It does not list the cases or say how many there are. The list of six given here is Rashi's.
The three passages that say "the law follows Abaye in Ya'al Kegam" do not state, in the passages opened, a general rule that in every other dispute the law follows Rava.
The passages opened do not say in so many words which city Abaye lived in.
The Gemara in Temurah does not say which of Abaye and Rava holds that a change acquires. Rashi there says it is Abaye.
Last checked 2026-10-12. Found a mistake? Tell us.
Every Hebrew and Aramaic quote on this page was checked by script against the passage it cites.
The texts come from Sefaria: the Talmud Bavli is
the William Davidson Edition (Koren Publishers, vowels by Dicta, CC BY-NC), and the Mishnah is the
Torat Emet edition. English translations and explanations are Torah Tech originals, and any
mistakes are ours.
This page is for learning. It is not a halachic ruling.
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