The second generation of Amoraim (the sages of the Gemara) in Bavel. He passes on the teachings of Rav and Shmuel, the two sages of the first generation whom the Gemara calls "our Rabbis in Bavel"
רַב יְהוּדָה
Rav Yehuda
Rav Yehuda was a sage of the Gemara in Bavel (Babylonia), and his city was Pumbedita. A student meets his name all the time in the words "Rav Yehuda said that Rav said" and "Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said", because he passes on the teachings of both of those sages. Shmuel called him Shinena. Later sages remembered that when he took off one shoe, rain came. The Gemara records his view that whoever goes up from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael transgresses a positive command. Rabbi Zeira, who learned from him, wanted to go up and kept away from him, and the Gemara gives Rabbi Zeira an answer to each of Rav Yehuda's proofs and does not rule there.
EraAmora
LandBavel
PlacePumbedita
Who he was
Who was Rav Yehuda?
One of the elders of Pumbedita
Pumbedita was a Jewish city in Bavel (Babylonia). The Gemara in Sanhedrin, a tractate of the Gemara, has a list that explains its own code names. It says that when the Gemara speaks of "the elders of Pumbedita", it means Rav Yehuda and Rav Eina. The same list says that "the Amoraim of Pumbedita" are Rabbah and Rav Yosef. (Amoraim are the sages of the Gemara.) The same list says that "our Rabbis in Bavel" are Rav and Shmuel.
The Gemara in Chullin says that in the city of Sura people did not eat the udder of an animal, and in Pumbedita they did. A man from Pumbedita named Rami bar Tamrei came to Sura and ate udders that the people there had thrown out. He was brought before Rav Chisda, who asked him why he did that. He answered: I am from the place of Rav Yehuda, who eats it. Rav Chisda then asked him about the rule that a traveler keeps the stricter customs of both places, and he answered that he ate them outside the town limit.
The Gemara in Kiddushin tells what Rabbi said as he was dying. "Rabbi" is how the Gemara refers to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the editor of the Mishnah. One of the things he said was: today Rav Yehuda was born in Bavel. The Gemara then brings a teaching: when Rabbi Akiva died, Rabbi was born. When Rabbi died, Rav Yehuda was born. When Rav Yehuda died, Rava was born. When Rava died, Rav Ashi was born. It says this teaches that a righteous person does not leave the world until another righteous person like him has been created.
Rashi, the main commentary on the Gemara, explains a line in the court story told below, where Rav Huna tells Rav Yehuda that he does not really have to go to Rav Nachman's court. Rashi says: because you are greater than he is, and you are the head in Pumbedita, and Rav Nachman is the head in Nehardea. These are Rashi's words. The Gemara in that line says only "you are a great man". In the same comment Rashi adds that Rav Nachman was a judge for the Exilarch, the head of the Jews of Bavel, and a son-in-law of the house of the Nasi.
שאתה גדול ממנו ואתה ראש בפומבדיתא ורב נחמן ראש בנהרדעא
"For you are greater than he is, and you are the head in Pumbedita, and Rav Nachman is the head in Nehardea."
Rabbah and Rav Yosef pass on teachings in his name
Rabbah and Rav Yosef both pass on teachings with the words "Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said". In this passage in Shabbat, about what counts as twilight, each of them reports in a different way the same teaching of Shmuel that Rav Yehuda passed on. The passage shows them as two sages who received teachings from him. It does not use the word "student".
Rav Yehuda said: someone who wants to be a chasid, a person of special piety, should keep the matters of Nezikin, the laws about not causing damage to other people. The Gemara records two other answers next to his. Rava said: the matters of Avot, the tractate of the Mishnah about character. And some say: the matters of Berakhot, the laws of blessings.
Rav Yehuda said: someone who goes out in the days of Nisan, the spring month, and sees trees that are blossoming, says: "Blessed is He who left nothing lacking in His world, and created in it good creatures and good trees for people to enjoy." The passage gives the blessing in this short form.
The Gemara in Shabbat lists sages who each name one mitzvah they were careful with and say "may it come to me", meaning: may I be rewarded for it. Rav Nachman names eating three meals on Shabbat. Rav Yehuda names iyun tefillah. The passage does not define the term. (Rashi's explanation of the term, from another page, is in the next item.)
The term iyun tefillah appears again on a later page of tractate Shabbat, in a list of six things a person is rewarded for in this world and the next (a teaching of Rabbi Yochanan, passed on there by a different sage, Rav Yehuda bar Sheila). Rashi explains it there: to direct his mind in his prayer. Rashi says this about that later page, not about Rav Yehuda's words.
ועיון תפלה - לכוין בתפלתו
""And iyun tefillah": to direct his mind in his prayer."
he passes on Shmuel's teachings and Shmuel calls him Shinena; the word "teacher" is Rashi's
Student
Rabbi Zeira
learned in Rav Yehuda's house, and later kept away from him in order to go up to Eretz Yisrael
"Rav Yehuda said that Rav said"
Rav and Shmuel are the two sages the Gemara calls "our Rabbis in Bavel" (in the same list in Sanhedrin quoted above). Again and again the Gemara brings a teaching with the words "Rav Yehuda said that Rav said". The formula shows that the teaching is Rav's and that Rav Yehuda is the one passing it on. One example, from the Gemara in Shabbat: Rav Yehuda said that Rav said that whoever makes Shabbat a delight is given the wishes of his heart, as the verse says, "Delight in Hashem and He will give you the wishes of your heart."
The Gemara uses the same formula for Shmuel. One example, from the Gemara in Ketubot: Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said that just as it is forbidden to leave Eretz Yisrael for Bavel, so it is forbidden to leave Bavel for other lands. Rabbah and Rav Yosef both add: even to go from Pumbedita to a place called Bei Kubei.
In the story of the shoe and the rain (told below), Rav Yehuda reaches a hard Mishnah passage in Uktzin (the Gemara gives two versions of which passage it was) and says: I see here the debates of Rav and Shmuel. Rashi explains what he meant, putting the words in Rav Yehuda's mouth: these are as hard for me as all the hard questions that my two teachers struggled with. So in Rashi's reading, Rav Yehuda calls Rav and Shmuel his two teachers.
כלומר טעם המשניות הללו קשה עלי ככל הקושיות שהיו שני רבותי מתקשין בהן בכל הגמ'
"That is to say: the reasoning of these Mishnah passages is as hard for me as all the difficulties that my two teachers struggled with in all of the Gemara."
Shmuel has a nickname for Rav Yehuda: Shinena. This passage in Eruvin does not explain the name. Here Shmuel tells him: Shinena, open your mouth and read the verses, open your mouth and learn, so that your learning stays with you and you live long.
Rav Yehuda also disagrees with Shmuel. The Gemara in Berakhot asks which blessing to say on kora, the soft top of a palm tree, which people ate. Rav Yehuda said "borei pri ha'adamah", the blessing on food that grows from the ground, because it is a fruit. Shmuel said "shehakol", the general blessing, because in the end it turns hard. Then Shmuel said to him: Shinena, your view makes sense, because a radish also turns hard in the end and we say "borei pri ha'adamah" on it.
Rabbi Zeira tells about his own years of learning: when we were in the house of Rav Huna he told us one ruling about the blessing on cut-up turnips, and when we came to the house of Rav Yehuda he told us a different one. So Rabbi Zeira learned in Rav Yehuda's house.
וְכִי אֲתָאן לְבֵי רַב יְהוּדָה אֲמַר לַן
"And when we came to the house of Rav Yehuda, he said to us."
Each story is told from one book, named under the quote.
One shoe, and the rain came
Rav Papa asked Abaye: why did miracles happen for the earlier generations and not for us? It cannot be because of learning. In the years of Rav Yehuda all their learning was in Nezikin, the part of the Mishnah about damages and money, and we learn all six parts of the Mishnah. When Rav Yehuda reached one hard passage in Uktzin, a tractate of the Mishnah about ritual purity (the Gemara gives two versions of which passage it was), he said: I see here the debates of Rav and Shmuel. And we teach Uktzin in thirteen yeshivot. (That is how Rashi explains the word in the telling in Taanit. Here Rashi explains it as thirteen versions.) 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 themselves up for the holiness of Hashem's name, and we do not. He brings a story about a different sage, Rav Ada bar Ahava, as his example.
The Gemara in Taanit tells the same thing about Rav Yehuda's shoe, there in the words of Rabbah. Rashi on that passage explains in two words why he took it off: as an affliction. Rashi says no more than that.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin has the same comparison in the mouth of Rava, and it ends differently. Rava says: in the years of Rav Yehuda all their learning was in Nezikin, and we learn a great deal even in Uktzin. Rav Yehuda took off his shoes and rain came, and we cry out and no one pays attention. Rava's conclusion is: the Holy One, blessed be He, wants the heart, as the verse says, "Hashem sees into the heart."
A man from Nehardea came into a butcher shop in Pumbedita and asked for meat. They told him: wait until the attendant of Rav Yehuda bar Yechezkel has taken his, and then we will give you. The man said: who is this Yehuda bar Sheviskel who comes before me? (Rashi's explanation of that name is in the next item.) They went and told Rav Yehuda, and he put the man under a ban, which means the community had to keep away from him. They also told him that this man often called other people slaves. So Rav Yehuda announced that the man himself was a slave. The story first gives his full name, Rav Yehuda bar Yechezkel, and after that calls the same man Rav Yehuda.
Rashi explains the name the man used, "bar Sheviskel". He says it is an insult: a glutton who eats shevisk, which is roasted meat. That it was an insult is Rashi's explanation. The Gemara itself gives only the man's words.
בר שויסקל - לשון גנאי גרגרן אוכל שויסק צלי
""Bar Sheviskel": a term of insult, a glutton who eats shevisk, roast."
The man summoned Rav Yehuda to judgment before Rav Nachman, and a written summons was brought. Rav Yehuda went to Rav Huna and asked: should I go or not? Rav Huna told him: you do not really have to go, because you are a great man. But out of honor for the house of the Nasi, get up and go. (Nasi is a title of leadership. The Gemara here does not explain how Rav Nachman was tied to that house. Rashi does, in the item on Rashi above: he was a son-in-law of that house.)
When Rav Yehuda arrived he found Rav Nachman building a railing, and he asked him: does the master not hold what Rav Huna bar Idi said in the name of Shmuel, that once a person is appointed a leader of the community he may not do work in front of three people? Rav Nachman answered that he was only making a little "gundrita". Rav Yehuda said: what is wrong with "maakeh" (railing), the word written in the Torah, or "mechitzah", the word the Sages use? Rav Nachman said: sit on the karpita. Rav Yehuda answered: what is wrong with "safsal" (bench), the word the Sages use, or the word ordinary people use? Rav Nachman offered him an "etronga". Rav Yehuda answered: so said Shmuel, whoever says "etronga" has a third in pride. Say "etrog" as the Sages call it, or "etroga" as ordinary people say. The same thing happens with the word Rav Nachman uses when he offers him a drink.
Rav Nachman said that he had not sent the summons, and Rav Yehuda took it out and showed it to him. Rav Nachman said: since you have come, let the case be stated, so that people will not say the rabbis favor one another. He asked: why did you put that man under a ban? Rav Yehuda answered: he caused pain to a messenger of the rabbis. Rav Nachman asked: why did you announce that he is a slave? Rav Yehuda answered: he often calls other people slaves, and it is taught that whoever calls others unfit is unfit himself, and Shmuel said that such a person accuses others of his own flaw. Rav Nachman pushed back: Shmuel said that to make us suspect such a person. Did he say to announce it in public?
Then the man himself came in and said to Rav Yehuda: you call me a slave, when I come from the royal house of the Chashmonaim (the Hasmonean kings)? Rav Yehuda answered: so said Shmuel, whoever says "I come from the house of the Chashmonaim" is a slave. He was then challenged with a rule of Rav (the Gemara says only "he said to him"; it appears to be Rav Nachman speaking): when a sage comes and reports a ruling, we listen to him if he said it before the case came up, and if not, we do not listen to him. Rav Yehuda said: Rav Matna holds as I do. Rav Matna had not seen Nehardea for thirteen years, and that same day he came. He was asked whether he remembered what Shmuel had said, and he repeated the same teaching in Shmuel's name. Then the man was announced to be a slave.
A few lines before it tells about Rav Yehuda and Rabbi Zeira, the Gemara in Ketubot brings a baraita, a teaching from the time of the Mishnah. It says: a person should always live in Eretz Yisrael, even in a city where most of the people are not Jews, and should not live outside the Land, even in a city where most of the people are Jews. This teaching does not mention Rav Yehuda. It is given here because his statement in the next item comes a few lines after it in the Gemara.
A few lines after that teaching, the Gemara in Ketubot says that Rabbi Zeira was keeping away from Rav Yehuda, because he wanted to go up to Eretz Yisrael. For Rav Yehuda said: whoever goes up from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael transgresses a positive command (a command to do something, as opposed to a command not to do something), as the verse in the prophet Yirmiyahu says, "They will be brought to Bavel, and there they will stay until the day I remember them, says Hashem." The Gemara gives Rabbi Zeira's answer: that verse is about the vessels of the Temple. For Rav Yehuda it brings a second verse, "I have made you swear, daughters of Jerusalem". Rabbi Zeira answers that this means the Jewish people should not go up "as a wall". The exchange goes on for two more steps, and each time the Gemara gives Rabbi Zeira an answer. The Gemara does not say here whose view is the law.
The Gemara in Shabbat tells it this way. Rabbi Zeira was keeping away from Rav Yehuda because he wanted to go up to Eretz Yisrael. He said: I will go and hear one thing from him, and then I will come back and go up. He found Rav Yehuda in the bathhouse, telling his attendant: bring me natron (a mineral used for washing), bring me a comb, open your mouths and let the heat out, and drink from the water of the bathhouse. Rabbi Zeira said: if I had come only to hear this, it would have been enough. The Gemara then explains what can be learned from each instruction. For example, from the first two it learns that everyday matters may be said in the holy tongue.
These are general rules. The Gemara itself lists exceptions.
The Gemara says
Praised, but here the law is not like him
The Gemara does not accept the proof from the radish. It says: people plant a radish for the sake of the radish, but people do not plant a palm tree for the sake of the kora. After one more question and answer, the passage ends: even though Shmuel praised Rav Yehuda, the law follows Shmuel. This is a ruling about this one case.
The Gemara in Bava Kamma records a dispute. Rav Yehuda said that a person may not take the law into his own hands. Rav Nachman said that he may. The Gemara explains where they disagree. If waiting would cause a loss, everyone agrees that a person may act for himself. They disagree when there is no loss. Rav Yehuda's reason is: since there is no loss, let him go before a judge. Rav Nachman's reason is: since he is acting within the law, he does not have to go to the trouble. The Gemara goes on to test both views with several earlier teachings. This passage does not say whose view is the law.
Rabbi Yehuda (bar Ilai). a Tanna, a sage of the Mishnah, generations earlier. His title is Rabbi. The sage of this record has the title Rav
Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. the editor of the Mishnah, whom the Gemara calls "Rabbi". The Gemara in Kiddushin says Rav Yehuda was born when he died
Rav Yehuda son of Rav Shmuel bar Shilat. another Rav Yehuda, named here with his father. He appears in the same lines in Shabbat as the teaching about delighting in Shabbat, also quoting Rav
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 only tie his birth to the death of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi and his death to the birth of Rava.
They do not explain the nickname Shinena. It is often translated "sharp one", but no passage or Rashi opened for this page says so.
They do not say with which of his two teachers he learned first, or for how long.
They name his father only through his own name, bar Yechezkel (son of Yechezkel), and tell nothing more about his family.
The Gemara does not say why he took off a shoe. Rashi says it was as an affliction. Neither says more.
The passages opened give no general rule for when the law follows Rav Yehuda.
The passages opened for this page do not call Rabbah or Rav Yosef his students. They show the two of them passing on teachings they received from him.
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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