The fourth generation of Amoraim (the sages of the Gemara) in Bavel. He sat before Rabbah, Rav Chisda and Rav Nachman, and the Gemara records his disputes with Abaye
רָבָא
Rava
Rava was a sage of the Gemara in Bavel (Babylonia). His city was Mechoza, where he was a judge. He and Abaye sat before the same teacher, and the Gemara records disputes between them. The Gemara rules like Abaye in the cases marked by a six-letter memory word, Ya'al Kegam. Rashi lists the six cases and writes that everywhere else the law follows Rava.
EraAmora
LandBavel
PlaceMechoza
Who he was
Who was Rava?
His name, and the cup he mixed for Rav Yosef
The Gemara in Eruvin, a tractate of the Gemara, gives his full name: Rava the son of Rav Yosef bar Chama. It tells this story. A sage called Rav Yosef, who is not Rava's father, had something against him. When the eve of Yom Kippur came, Rava said: I will go and make peace with him. He went and found Rav Yosef's attendant mixing him a cup. Rava said: give it to me and I will mix it. When Rav Yosef tasted it he said: this mixing is like the mixing of Rava the son of Rav Yosef bar Chama. Rava said: it is me. Rav Yosef then told him not to sit down until he had explained some verses to him.
The Gemara in Kiddushin quotes a teaching that links sages in a chain. When Rabbi Akiva died, Rabbi (Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the editor of the Mishnah) was born. When Rabbi died, Rav Yehuda was born. When Rav Yehuda died, Rava was born. When Rava died, Rav Ashi was born. The teaching says this shows that a righteous person does not leave the world until another righteous person like him has been created. It gives no years.
Mechoza was a city in Bavel (Babylonia), and Rava was a judge there. In Ketubot he says: at first I used to say that all the people of Mechoza love me. Once I became a judge I said: some of them hate me and some of them love me. When I saw that the person who loses his case today wins tomorrow, I said: if they love, they all love me, and if they hate, they all hate me.
Rava (רבא) and Rabbah (רבה) are two different sages. In Hebrew the names differ by one letter, so they are easy to mix up. In this passage in Bava Metzia the two of them disagree with each other. The case is a lost object with a siman, a mark by which the owner can identify it, where the mark is likely to get trampled. Rabbah says such a mark does not count as a mark. Rava says it does.
"They accepted it again in the days of Achashverosh"
The Torah says that Israel stood "at the bottom of the mountain" at Sinai. In the Gemara in Shabbat, Rav Avdimi bar Chama bar Chasa says this teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, held the mountain over them like a tub and said: if you accept the Torah, good, and if not, there will be your burial. Rav Acha bar Yaakov said: from here there is a great moda'a about the Torah. (A moda'a is a statement that a person agreed to something only because he was forced. That note is ours.) Rava said: even so, they accepted it again in the days of Achashverosh, the king in the book of Esther. His proof is the verse "the Jews upheld and accepted": they upheld what they had already accepted.
"Rava said: even so, they accepted it again in the days of Achashverosh, as it is written, "the Jews upheld and accepted": they upheld what they had already accepted."
Rava said: length of life, children and livelihood do not depend on merit. They depend on mazal (a person's fortune). His proof is two sages, Rabbah and Rav Chisda. Both were righteous rabbis, and when either of them prayed, rain came. Yet Rav Chisda lived ninety-two years and Rabbah lived forty. Rav Chisda's house had sixty weddings and Rabbah's house had sixty deaths. In Rav Chisda's house there was fine flour even for the dogs and no one asked for it, and in Rabbah's house there was barley bread for people and it could not be found.
"The Holy One, blessed be He, wants the heart" (as told in Sanhedrin)
The Gemara in Sanhedrin brings a saying that Doeg and Achitofel, two men from the time of King David, asked four hundred questions about "a tower flying in the air". Rava said: is it a great thing to ask questions? In the years of Rav Yehuda all their learning was in Nezikin, the part of the Mishnah about damages, and we learn a great deal in Uktzin, a tractate at the end of the Mishnah. When Rav Yehuda reached the teaching "a woman who pickles vegetables in a pot", and some say it was "olives pickled with their leaves are pure", he said: I see the debates of Rav and Shmuel here. And we learn Uktzin in thirteen sittings. Yet Rav Yehuda would take off his shoes and rain came, and we cry out and no one pays attention to us. Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, wants the heart, as it is written, "and Hashem sees into the heart". The Gemara in Taanit tells almost the same speech in the name of Rabbah, not Rava (see the claim "The same speech in Taanit is Rabbah's").
"And Rav Yehuda would take off his shoes and rain came, and we cry out and no one pays attention to us. Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, wants the heart."
The speech that the Gemara in Sanhedrin gives to Rava, ending "the Holy One, blessed be He, wants the heart", is told in the Gemara in Taanit too. There the speaker is Rabbah, spelled with a heh, and not Rava. Rabbah decreed a fast and prayed, and no rain came. People said to him: but when Rav Yehuda decreed a fast, rain came. He answered with almost the same speech: in Rav Yehuda's years all the learning was in Nezikin and we learn all six orders of the Mishnah, we learn Uktzin in thirteen sittings, Rav Yehuda took off one shoe and rain came, and we cry out all day and no one pays attention to us. In Taanit the speech does not end with "wants the heart". It ends: what can the great ones of the generation do, when their generation is not worthy? So the words "the Holy One, blessed be He, wants the heart" are said by Rava only in Sanhedrin.
The Gemara in Berakhot lists sayings that different sages were in the habit of saying. Rava's was this: the goal of wisdom is repentance and good deeds. A person should not read Scripture and learn Mishnah and then kick at his father, his mother, his teacher, or someone greater than him in wisdom and in number. He brings the verse "the beginning of wisdom is the fear of Hashem, good understanding to all who do them" (Tehillim) and learns from its wording that it speaks of those who act for its own sake and not of those who act not for its own sake. And whoever acts not for its own sake, it would have been better for him not to have been created.
they sat together before Rabbah and the Gemara records their disputes; it rules like Abaye in the Ya'al Kegam cases, which Rashi lists, and Rashi says the law follows Rava in the rest
sat before Rava; Rava also told him and Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua what to do with his written rulings
Abaye and Rava before Rabbah
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 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."
Rava ruled about chametz (leavened food) that got mixed into other food. During Pesach it is forbidden in any amount, like the view of Rav. After Pesach it is permitted, like the view of Rabbi Shimon. The Gemara in Pesachim asks: did Rava not say that Rabbi Shimon fines a person who kept chametz over Pesach? It answers that the fine is for chametz as it is, and not for a mixture. Then it says that Rava "follows his own reasoning", and quotes him: when we were at Rav Nachman's, once the seven days of Pesach were over he would say to us, go out and buy the chametz of the soldiers. The Gemara does not spell out how the two fit together.
"And Rava follows his own reasoning, for Rava said: when we were at Rav Nachman's, when the seven days of Pesach went out he would say to us: go out and buy the chametz of the soldiers."
Rashi, the main commentary on the Gemara, explains the link. The soldiers were not Jews. Rava, who rules like Rabbi Shimon, also holds that chametz that belonged to a non-Jew over Pesach is permitted afterwards, even to eat, because in that case there is nothing to fine.
חמץ של נכרי שעבר עליו הפסח מותר אף באכילה הואיל וליכא למיקנס ביה מידי
"Chametz of a non-Jew that was kept over Pesach is permitted even to eat, since there is nothing to fine in it."
Rabbi Yochanan said that from the day the Temple was destroyed, prophecy was taken from the prophets and given to fools and to children. For "children" the Gemara in Bava Batra gives this example. The daughter of Rav Chisda was sitting on her father's lap, and Rava and Rami bar Chama were sitting before him. Her father asked her: which of them do you want? She said: both of them. Rava said: and I am the last. The Gemara does not say here what happened afterwards.
"Rava and Rami bar Chama were sitting before him. He said to her: which of them do you want? She said to him: both of them. Rava said: and I am the last."
A woman had to take an oath in Rava's court. The daughter of Rav Chisda said to him: I know that she is suspected of swearing falsely. Rava moved the oath to the other side in the case. Another time Rav Papa told Rava that a certain document had already been paid, and Rava answered that one witness counts for nothing. Rav Ada bar Matna asked: is Rav Papa not as good as the daughter of Rav Chisda? Rava answered: about the daughter of Rav Chisda I am certain. About you, sir, I am not certain.
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 inner hall), and ours are like the eye of a fine needle. 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. (The short explanations of gemara and sevara, and of the two halls, are ours. Rashi's explanation of the three pictures is in the claim "'Like a finger in wax': Rashi's explanation".)
Rashi explains the three pictures. A peg is forced into a narrow hole in a wall and goes in with difficulty; so we can understand only a little of what we hear, and with difficulty. The wax is hard wax, which a finger cannot go into; it only sticks a little. A finger goes easily into the mouth of a pit; so we are quick to forget. So each of the three sages is describing a weakness of his own generation. (That last sentence is ours.)
בשעוה קשה שאין האצבע יכול ליכנס בתוכה אלא מדבק מעט
"Hard wax, which a finger cannot go into; it only sticks a little."
The Gemara in Berakhot brings a dispute. Rabbi Yishmael says a person should combine Torah with working for a living. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai asks what will become of Torah if a person plows, plants and harvests each in its season. Abaye said: many did like Rabbi Yishmael and it worked for them, and many did like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and it did not work for them. Then the Gemara tells what Rava said to the rabbis who came before him: I ask of you, do not appear before me in the days of Nisan and the days of Tishrei, so that you will not be troubled about your food the whole year.
"Rava said to the rabbis: I ask of you, in the days of Nisan and the days of Tishrei do not appear before me, so that you will not be troubled about your food the whole year."
Each story is told from one book, named under the quote.
Ravina's question, and Rava changes his ruling
The Gemara in Eruvin is discussing the Shabbat limit, how far a thing may be taken on Shabbat. Rams came to a place called Mavrakhta, and Rava allowed the people of Mechoza to buy them. Ravina said to Rava: what is your reason? Is it what Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel, that the belongings of a non-Jew have no Shabbat limit of their own? But when Shmuel and Rabbi Yochanan disagree, the law follows Rabbi Yochanan, and Rabbi Yochanan is quoted as saying that they do have one. Rava went back and said: let them be sold to the people of Mavrakhta, because for them all of Mavrakhta is like four cubits. (The first sentence is our summary of the topic.)
The Gemara in Taanit tells stories of sages who prayed for rain. Rava came to a place called Hagronya. He decreed a fast, and no rain came. He told them: all of you, stay in your fast overnight. The next day he said: if anyone saw a dream, let him tell it. Rabbi Elazar of Hagronya said: in my dream they read this to me, "good greetings to the good master from the good Lord, who from His goodness does good to His people". Rava said: learn from this that it is a time of favour. They prayed, and rain came. (The first sentence is our summary of the page.)
Right after Rava's saying about life, children and livelihood, the Gemara in Moed Katan brings another saying of his. I asked Heaven for three things. Two were given to me and one was not. The wisdom of Rav Huna and the wealth of Rav Chisda were given to me. The humility of Rabbah bar Rav Huna was not given to me.
Every item says who is making the claim: the Gemara itself, a classical commentator, or a modern writer.
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. Abaye and Rava disagree about an object with no identifying mark, when the owner does not yet know that he lost it. Abaye said this is not giving up hope, because he does not know that it fell from him. Rava said it is giving up hope, and the Gemara in Bava Metzia gives his reason: when he finds out that it fell, he will give up hope, because he will say, I have no mark on it. So we treat him as having given up hope from now. The Gemara ends by rejecting Rava's view (see "The law follows Abaye in Ya'al Kegam", under "Whose view is the law"). (The first sentence is our background.)
"Rava said: it is giving up hope, for when he knows that it fell from him he gives up hope. He says: I have no mark on it. It is from now that he gives up hope."
Speaking: The Gemara, giving Rava's view and his reason
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. Each time a law seems to go against one of them, it answers that the case is different, because a verse teaches it specially. The claim "Where the two rules actually differ" tells how that discussion ends.
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. 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."
On Shabbat, things that have no use may not be moved. The Gemara in Shabbat asks about a small piece of broken pottery. Rav Nachman said in the name of Shmuel that it may be moved in a courtyard but not in a karmelit (an open area that is not a full public domain). Rav Nachman himself said: even in a karmelit, but not in the public domain. Rava said: even in the public domain. The Gemara says Rava "follows his own reasoning" and tells a story. Rava was walking in a street of Mechoza and his shoe got dirty with mud. His attendant took a piece of pottery and wiped it off. The rabbis cried out at him. Rava said: is it not enough that they have not learned, that they also teach? If this were in a courtyard, would it not be fit for covering a vessel? Here too, it is fit for me. (The first sentence and the note on karmelit are ours.)
"And Rava follows his own reasoning. For Rava was walking in the ritka of Mechoza and his shoe got dirty with mud. His attendant came, took a piece of pottery and wiped it."
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 before 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, because if I had been there I might have told you a reason. Do not learn from it, because a judge has only what his own eyes see.
These are general rules. The Gemara itself lists exceptions.
The Gemara says
The law follows Abaye in Ya'al Kegam
Abaye and Rava disagree about a lost object whose owner does not yet know that he lost it. After a long discussion of that dispute, the Gemara brings a proof against Rava and says: "a refutation of Rava, a refutation". Then it rules: the law follows Abaye in Ya'al Kegam. The Gemara gives only that word. It does not say here which cases it stands for, and it does not say what the law is in their other disputes. (Ya'al Kegam is a memory word made of six Hebrew letters. That note is ours; Rashi's list is in the claim "Rashi: everywhere else the law follows Rava".)
The same line appears in Kiddushin. Rashi explains there that the letters are signs for laws that Abaye and Rava disagreed about, and that in every place the law follows Rava except for these. He then lists the six cases. So the general rule, that the law follows Rava against Abaye, is stated by Rashi, and so is the list of the six cases. The Gemara's own words give only the six-letter memory word.
סימני הלכות הן שנחלקו בהם אביי ורבא ובכל מקום הלכה כרבא חוץ מאלו
"They are signs of laws that Abaye and Rava disagreed about, and in every place the law follows Rava except for these."
Speaking: Rashi
Rashi on Kiddushin 52aOpen the sourceSame name, different person
Do not confuse him with
Rabbah (רבה). a different sage. Abaye and Rava sat before a sage named Rabbah, and in Bava Metzia Rabbah and Rava disagree with each other. In Hebrew the two names differ only in the last letter: Rava ends with an alef (רבא) and Rabbah with a heh (רבה). Check the spelling every time. The clearest case in this record of the two names changing places: the speech that Sanhedrin gives to Rava is given to Rabbah in Taanit
Rav Yosef. the sage Rava went to make peace with in Eruvin is called plain Rav Yosef. Rava's father is Rav Yosef bar Chama. The story itself shows they are two people, because Rav Yosef speaks of "Rava the son of Rav Yosef bar Chama"
Rava bar Ada, and other sages called Rava with a father's name. different people. Rava bar Ada appears on the same page of Taanit as the rain story
Rav Acha son of Rava. a later sage who speaks with Rav Ashi right after the Ya'al Kegam line in Bava Metzia. The passage does not say which Rava was his father
Rabbah bar Rav Huna. the sage whose humility Rava says he asked for and was not given. His name is Rabbah, with a heh
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. Kiddushin says only that he was born when Rav Yehuda died and that Rav Ashi was born when he died.
They do not say how old Abaye and Rava were when they sat before Rabbah.
They do not give the name of Rav Chisda's daughter.
The Gemara's own words do not state the general rule that the law follows Rava against Abaye. It gives only a six-letter memory word for the exceptions. The list of cases and the general rule are both in Rashi.
The story of the muddy shoe does not say on which Shabbat or where in Mechoza it happened, beyond the word ritka. Rashi says ritka is the name of a public domain.
It is the accepted convention that plain "Rava" in the Gemara is this Rava, the son of Rav Yosef bar Chama. No passage opened for this page states that as a rule.
No passage opened for this page calls Abaye and Rava partners in learning. They show the two sitting before Rabbah, disagreeing, and named side by side.
The Gemara in Temurah does not say which of Abaye and Rava holds that a change acquires. Rashi there says it is Abaye.
The story of the rams in Eruvin does not say who brought them or on what day.
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.
The Opportunity Year · Tel Aviv, Israel
Learn like this for a year
Torah Tech is a yeshiva and tech program in Tel Aviv. Mornings in the beit midrash,
afternoons interning at Israeli startups, and a year that changes what a young man
thinks he is capable of.