The fifth generation of Amoraim (the sages of the Gemara) in Bavel, the generation after Abaye and Rava
רַב פָּפָּא
Rav Papa
Rav Papa was a sage of the Gemara in Bavel (Babylonia). He came before Rava together with Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua, who is named beside him in several passages, and after Rava died some of Rava's students came before him. A line in the Gemara, said in his name or by another version in the name of Rav Chisda, says: had I not brewed beer I would not have become rich. Rashi, the main commentary on the Gemara, says he made date beer. In two places where the Gemara has two versions of a blessing, Rav Papa says "therefore let us say both". In the two places in this record where the Gemara gives a ruling on a view of his, the ruling is against him.
EraAmora
LandBavel
Who he was
Who was Rav Papa?
Two questions from Rava
Rav Papa and Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua came before Rava, one of the leading sages of the Gemara in Bavel (Babylonia). Rava asked them two things. Have you mastered this tractate and that tractate? They said yes. Have you become a little rich? They said yes, we bought a small piece of land. Rava then said about them a line of his that the Gemara in Horayot, a tractate of the Gemara, has just quoted: happy are the righteous, who in this world get the kind of good that comes to the wicked in this world.
"Rav Papa and Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua came before Rava. He said to them: have you mastered this tractate and that tractate? They said to him: yes. Have you become a little rich?"
Speaking: The Gemara, telling the story; Rava asks the questions
The Gemara in Pesachim brings a saying that someone who has dates should run to the brewer. Then it says: Rav Papa said, had I not brewed beer I would not have become rich. The same line adds that some say it was Rav Chisda, an earlier sage of Bavel, who said this about himself. So the Gemara itself records a doubt about who said it.
In Bava Metzia, in the chapter about the ban on interest, Rav Nachman says that tarsha is permitted. Rashi, the main commentary on the Gemara, explains the word: selling goods and waiting for the payment, at more than their price. Rashi adds a condition: the seller may not spell out that the price would be lower if the buyer paid now. He just sells at such a price, to be paid on such a day.
למכור סחורה בהמתנה ביותר מדמיה
"To sell goods with waiting, for more than their price."
Rav Papa said: my tarsha is permitted. He gave three reasons. My beer does not spoil. I do not need the money. So I am the one doing a favor for the buyer. Rav Sheshet son of Rav Idi objected to him: why do you look at your side? Look at their side. If the buyers had money, they would buy at today's price. Now that they have no money, they pay the higher price of later on.
"Rav Papa said: my tarsha is permitted. What is the reason? My beer does not spoil, I do not need the money, and it is I who am doing a favor for the buyer."
Date beer, sold in Tishrei at the Nisan price (Rashi)
Rashi fills in the details of Rav Papa's sale. He was a maker of date beer. He would sell it in the cheap season, in the month of Tishrei, at the price of the month of Nisan, and wait for the payment until Nisan.
עושה שכר תמרים היה ומוכר לו בזמן הזול בתשרי כשער של ניסן וממתין לו עד ניסן
"He was a maker of date beer, and he would sell to him in the cheap season, in Tishrei, at the price of Nisan, and wait for him until Nisan."
Speaking: Rashi
Rashi on Bava Metzia 65aOpen the sourceTeachers and students
Rav Papa came before him, asked how he had taught certain laws, and was told what to do with his written rulings
Sparring partner
Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua
named next to him before Rava and beside Abaye; they shared bread and disputed about half damages
Student
Rav Shimi bar Ashi
was regularly before Rav Papa and asked him many hard questions
Asking how Rava taught
On the day that story is about, Rav Papa and Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua held back a sage named Rav Ada bar Abba, because the two of them had not been at the siyuma, a word that means "the finish". The passage does not say the finish of what. They asked him: tell us how Rava said those teachings about the tithe of animals (the law of giving one of every ten newborn animals). He told them: this is what Rava said, and this is what Rava said. The Gemara in Bava Batra brings this inside a longer story about Rav Ada bar Abba, which is not told here.
Rava said to Rav Papa and Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua: when a written ruling of mine comes before you and you see a difficulty in it, do not tear it up until you come to me. If I have a reason, I will tell you. If not, I will take it back. After my death, do not tear it up, and do not learn from it either. Do not tear it up, since if I were there I might have given you a reason. Do not learn from it, since a judge has only what his own eyes see.
"Rava said to Rav Papa and to Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua: when a ruling of mine comes before you and you see a difficulty in it, do not tear it up until you come before me."
Speaking: Rava, speaking to Rav Papa and Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua
Rav Papa asked Abaye, the other leading sage of that time in Bavel: why were miracles done for the earlier generations and not for us? It cannot be the learning, he said. In the years of Rav Yehuda, an earlier sage of Bavel, all their learning was in Nezikin, one of the six orders (sections) of the Mishnah, and we learn all six. Yet when Rav Yehuda took off one shoe, rain came, and we afflict ourselves and cry out and no one pays attention to us. Abaye answered: the earlier ones gave their lives for the sanctity of Hashem's Name, and we do not. The Gemara in Berakhot then gives an example, which is not told here.
Abaye was walking along with Rav Papa on his right and Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua on his left. Abaye saw something harmful, which this page of Pesachim calls ketev meriri, coming toward his left side. He moved Rav Papa to his left and Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua to his right. Rav Papa asked: why am I different, that you were not worried for me? Abaye answered: for you, the hour stands. The Gemara does not explain that phrase here.
Rav Papa and Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua put their bread together to eat as partners. In the time that Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua ate one, Rav Papa ate four. Rav Huna said: divide it with me. Rav Papa answered: you accepted. The Gemara in Pesachim says Rav Huna then raised proofs against him from the laws being discussed there, and Rav Papa answered them, until the last proof. Then he divided it with him.
Rav Shimi bar Ashi used to learn before Rav Papa and would ask him many hard questions. One day he saw Rav Papa fall on his face, and heard him say: may the Merciful One save me from the shame of Shimi. Rav Shimi took silence upon himself and did not challenge him again.
"Rav Shimi bar Ashi was regularly before Rav Papa and would challenge him a great deal. One day he saw him fall on his face and heard him say: may the Merciful One save me from the shame of Shimi."
Speaking: The Gemara, telling the story; the prayer is Rav Papa's
Each story is told from one book, named under the quote.
He quotes Ravin's message to Rava
The Gemara in Bava Batra is discussing a son about whom there is a doubt whether he is the firstborn. Rava had taught in public about two boys born to two women in a hiding place: each writes the other a power of attorney, a document that lets one person claim on behalf of another. Rav Papa said to Rava: but Ravin sent a message that it was taught differently in the name of Rabbi Yannai. If the two were known apart at first and only later mixed up, they write it. If they were never known apart, they do not. Rava then set up a speaker to announce: the things I told you were my mistake. And he taught the law the way Ravin's message had it.
"Rav Papa said to Rava: but Ravin sent this message: I asked all my teachers about this and they told me nothing, but this is what they said in the name of Rabbi Yannai."
Rav Huna bar Manoach, Rav Shmuel bar Idi and Rav Chiya of Vastanya used to learn before Rava. When Rava died, they came before Rav Papa. Whenever he told them a teaching and it did not seem right to them, they would signal to each other. He was hurt. In a dream, a verse was read to him: "And I cut off the three shepherds". The next day, when they were taking leave of him, he said to them: go in peace, Rabbis. The Gemara in Taanit does not explain the dream or his words.
"When Rava died, they came before Rav Papa. Whenever he would tell them a teaching and it did not seem right to them, they would signal to one another. He was hurt."
Rashi explains the dream. This verse was read to Rav Papa in his dream to show that in Heaven they wanted to punish the three students, since they were putting him to shame.
שרוצין לעונשן בשמים משום דמכספי ליה
"That in Heaven they want to punish them, since they shame him."
Rav Papa came to a place called Tavakh. He said: if there is a young Torah scholar here, I will go and greet him. An old woman told him: there is one here, his name is Rav Shmuel, and he teaches the teachings of the Mishnah period. May you be like him! Rav Papa said: since people bless me by him, he must be a man who fears Heaven. He went to him, and the Gemara in Niddah goes on to a difficulty raised from two teachings that seem to disagree.
The Gemara in Shabbat tells what different sages did on the eve of Shabbat. It lists them one after another, each with his own job: Rava salted a fish, Rav Huna lit lamps, Rav Papa twisted wicks, Rav Chisda cut up beets.
Every item says who is making the claim: the Gemara itself, a classical commentator, or a modern writer.
But elsewhere
Rava: the law is not like Rav Papa's tarsha
Later in the same chapter Rava says that the law does not follow three practices: the tarsha of the Papunai, the documents of the people of Mechoza, and the leases of the people of Naresh. The Gemara explains the first one in a few words: it means the tarsha of Rav Papa. So the Gemara records a ruling against the credit sale that Rav Papa permitted for himself.
Rashi says the tarsha of Rav Papa in Rava's ruling is the one from the earlier page, where Rav Papa said "my beer does not spoil". Rashi adds that the law is not like him, and points to the objection raised there: why do you look at your side? Look at their side.
לית הלכתא כוותיה כדאמרן מאי חזית דאזלת בתר דידך זיל בתר דידהו
"The law is not like him, as we said: what do you see that you go by your side? Go by their side."
These are general rules. The Gemara itself lists exceptions.
The Gemara says
Half damages: payment or fine?
When an ox that has not been warned gores, its owner pays half the damage. (That background is ours.) The Gemara in Bava Kamma records a dispute about what this half payment is. Rav Papa says it is real payment for the damage. Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua says it is a fine. The Gemara gives each reason. Rav Papa holds that ordinary oxen are not assumed to be safe, so by right the owner should pay everything, and the Torah went easy on him since his ox had not yet been warned. Rav Huna holds that ordinary oxen are assumed to be safe, so by right he should pay nothing, and the Torah fined him so that he would guard his ox.
The Gemara rules: the law is that half damages are a fine. That is the view of Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua, against Rav Papa. The Gemara had just raised a difficulty against that view from the wording of a Mishnah, and had called the view refuted. So it asks: refuted, and yet it is the law? It answers yes. The difficulty came only from the way that Mishnah is worded, and the Gemara gives a different reason why the Mishnah is worded that way.
The Gemara in Berakhot asks what blessing a person says on seeing a rainbow. One answer is "Blessed... who remembers the covenant". A baraita (a teaching from the time of the Mishnah that is not in the Mishnah) gives different words in the name of Rabbi Yishmael son of Rabbi Yochanan ben Beroka: "who is faithful to His covenant and keeps His word". Rav Papa says: therefore let us say both, and he joins the two into one blessing.
Tractate Megillah deals with reading the Megillah, the scroll of Esther, on Purim. The Gemara there asks what blessing is said afterward. It gives a blessing that ends "who exacts payment for Israel from all their enemies". Rava says the ending is "the God who saves". Rav Papa says: therefore let us say both, and the ending he gives has both phrases.
The Mishnah in tractate Shabbat lists things that must be far enough along before dark, when Shabbat begins. One of them is a fire: it must take hold of most of the wood. For a single piece of wood, the Gemara has two versions of what Rav said "most" means: most of its thickness, or most of the way around it. Rav Papa says: therefore we need most of its thickness and we need most of the way around it. The Gemara then says the two versions match a dispute between earlier sages.
Rav Pappi. a different sage. The names differ by one letter in Hebrew (פפא and פפי)
Rabbi Chanina bar Pappa. a different sage. Pappa is his father's name, and he has the title Rabbi, not Rav
Rav Papa bar Shmuel. a different sage, named with his father's name
Rafram bar Papa. a sage named with the father's name Papa. No passage was opened that says whether that Papa is this Rav Papa
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.
They show him asking Abaye a question and walking at his side, but none of them calls Abaye his teacher in so many words. So Abaye is not listed as a teacher here.
They do not say where he lived. The research notes connect him with a town called Naresh and take this from the letter of Rav Sherira Gaon, which was not opened, so no place is listed on this page. The one passage quoted here that names Naresh (in Bava Metzia) speaks of the people of Naresh and does not link him to it.
The names of ten sons of Rav Papa are said at a siyum (the celebration on finishing a tractate). No source for this was opened, so this page says nothing about his sons.
The Gemara does not explain Abaye's words "for you, the hour stands", or what Rav Papa meant by "go in peace" to the three students.
The Gemara itself records a doubt about the beer saying: it may be Rav Chisda's and not Rav Papa's.
No source opened states that joining two versions is a rule of his. The record gives the rainbow blessing, the Megillah blessing and the wood as three separate rulings.
Which generation of Amoraim he belongs to by number. The sources opened for this page do not count generations; the number comes from later reference lists.
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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