Aaron Hyman, Toldot Tannaim ve-Amoraim, Letter Alef

R' Abba (stam)

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1. Seven or three?

We find several sages by this name, in different periods. The learned rabbi who wrote Mishpaḥot Soferim counted seven sages called simply "R' Abba," from the end of the Tannaitic period to the days of Rav Ashi. In fact there were only three, and all of them were Amoraim.

2. The Tannaitic-era "R' Abba" is Rav

Take what we find in [the Mekhilta], Beshallaḥ, at the start of the section Va-yissa:

"אמר ר׳ (עקיבא הוא ט״ס) אבא: דבר זה שח לי רבינו הקדוש: אדם אחד היה בא״י, והיו קורין אותו מרוטה, וכו׳."

"R' (the name 'Akiva' here is a scribal error) Abba said: R' Yehuda HaNasi told me this: There was a man in Eretz Yisrael, and people called him Merutah, etc."

Mekhilta, Beshallaḥ (Va-yissa); also Exodus Rabbah 24:4

(The old Tanḥuma, Beshallaḥ 18, reads "R' Aḥa said." R. S. Buber's Tanḥuma reads "R' Ḥiyya the Great," but that is a scribal error, because R' Ḥiyya never went back down to Babylonia after he went up to Eretz Yisrael.)

The reading "Rav Abba" is clearly the correct one. This is "Rav," whose name was Abba. We can rely on the testimony of our master Hai Gaon (cited in the Arukh, s.v. Rav), who says that Rav is called "Rav Abba" in three places, all of them baraitot:

"רב אבא אומר: צריך שיאמר הודאה."

"Rav Abba says: one must say a thanksgiving."

Berakhot 49a

"רב אבא אומר: הטבילה, ואח״כ ילדה."

"Rav Abba says: the immersion came first, and afterward she gave birth."

Shabbat 135b (our printed text reads "R' Ḥama")

"א״ר אבא: שאלתי את סומכוס."

"R' Abba said: I asked Symmachus."

Ketubot 81a

So the R' Abba whom the Mekhilta mentions together with R' Yehuda HaNasi is also, without doubt, Rav.

3. Other Tannaitic-era readings

Yevamot 121b has a baraita:

"אמר ר׳ אבא: אעפ״כ, מת בנו בצמא."

"R' Abba said: even so, his son died of thirst."

Yevamot 121b

There the name must be corrected to "R' Aḥa," as the passage is cited in Bava Kamma 50a. [Yerushalmi] Shekalim 5:1 and Dikdukei Soferim also read "R' Aḥa."

Next, Tosefta Beitzah ch. 1 and Ḥullin 84b have:

"א״ר אבא: זה אחד מן הדברים שהיה ר׳ חייא אומר, 'אין לי תשובה,' והשיב ר׳ אלעזר הקפר ברבי תשובה."

"R' Abba said: this is one of the things about which R' Ḥiyya used to say, 'I have no answer,' and R' Elazar ha-Kappar Berabbi gave an answer."

Tosefta Beitzah ch. 1; Ḥullin 84b

Without doubt this R' Abba is also Rav. The saying is cited in Tosefta Ḥullin ch. 6, where the text is corrupt. It is also cited in Yerushalmi Beitzah 3:3, which reads "R' Avin said," and this must be corrected to "R' Abba said."

The old Midrash Tehillim, ch. 4, reads "R' Natan in the name of R' Abba," but R. S. Buber already emended it there (note 9) to "R' Natan in the name of R' Aḥa."

Song of Songs Rabbah ch. 4, on the verse "With me from Lebanon," reads "R' Yishmael son of R' Yose in the name of R' Abba." This is a scribal error and must read "in the name of his father," because the saying comes from Seder Olam Rabbah ch. 23, which is by R' Yose.

So we have been able to establish that R' Abba stam of the Tannaitic period is Rav, of whom the Talmud says: "Rav is a Tanna and may dispute [a Tanna]."

4. The "R' Abba" who led Babylonia: Shmuel's father

The same holds for the R' Abba mentioned in Seder Tannaim va-Amoraim and in Sefer ha-Keritut, which reads:

"כשבא רב לבבל בשנת תק״ל לשטרות, מצא את ר׳ אבא מנהיג שררה בבבל. וכל זמן שהיה ר׳ אבא קיים, לא הנהיג רב שררה, עד שנפטר ר׳ אבא."

"When Rav came to Babylonia in the year 530 of the Seleucid era, he found R' Abba exercising authority in Babylonia. As long as R' Abba lived, Rav did not exercise authority, until R' Abba died."

Sefer ha-Keritut, "Yemot Olam," Gate 2

Sefer ha-Yuḥasin rightly saw that this R' Abba is Abba bar Abba, the father of Shmuel. He really was the head and leader of Babylonia as a whole. In his lifetime his son Shmuel was already head of the academy in Nehardea, and Rav was in Sura. But the supreme authority was in the hands of Shmuel's father, as I explain in his entry. This is what our master, the author of the Keritut, meant.

5. No "R' Abba" in Eretz Yisrael who learned from R' Yehuda HaNasi

The author of Mishpaḥot Soferim also lists an "R' Abba" who was an Amora in Eretz Yisrael and taught halakhot he heard from R' Yehuda HaNasi. He bases this on:

"ר׳ אחא, ר׳ בא בשם רבי: משיטול ידיו."

"R' Aḥa, R' Ba in the name of Rabbi [R' Yehuda HaNasi]: from when he washes his hands."

Yerushalmi Shabbat 1:2

In fact this is a scribal error and must read "in the name of Rav," because the Bavli says explicitly:

"מאימתי התחלת אכילה? רב אמר: משיטול ידיו."

"When does a meal begin? Rav said: from when he washes his hands."

Shabbat 9b

He also cites Genesis Rabbah, where R' Abba said:

"אף כל דא לא הוי צריך למקשי, דהא רבי הוה יתיב ודרש, והא אמור לאבא יודן, היה אמורא, וכו׳."

"None of this even needed to be asked, because Rabbi [R' Yehuda HaNasi] was sitting and expounding, and he said to Abba Yudan, who was his amora, etc."

Genesis Rabbah 10:8 — amora here = the spokesman who relayed the lecture to the audience

Here the reference is without doubt to R' Yehuda HaNasi, since Abba Yudan is known to have been his amora. But that scholar did not notice that a scribal error has entered the Midrash Rabbah. The source is the Yerushalmi, which has the correct reading:

"א״ר אסי: ר׳ יוחנן פליג. ואפילו אף עלה לא הוה צריך מפלגא, דרבי מפקד לאבדן, וכו׳."

"R' Assi said: R' Yoḥanan disagrees. And he did not even need to disagree on this, because Rabbi [R' Yehuda HaNasi] instructed Abdan, etc."

Yerushalmi Berakhot 4:1 (28b)

He also says there that this R' Abba learned from the disciples of R' Yehuda HaNasi, namely from R' Ḥanina:

"א״ר אבא, א״ר חנינא."

"R' Abba said, R' Ḥanina said."

Menaḥot 88b

But the Shittah Mekubbetzet already struck out the words "R' Abba," and Dikdukei Soferim reports that all the manuscripts omit them.

[Yerushalmi] Ketubot 1:10 reads "R' Abba in the name of R' Yannai," but the same saying appears in Ketubot 15a in the name of R' Yannai alone. [Yerushalmi] Sanhedrin 3:8 reads "R' Berekhiah and R' Ḥelbo, R' Ba in the name of R' Yannai." This is no proof either, because the name of the middle Amora has clearly dropped out, as in:

"א״ר אבא, א״ר הושעיא, א״ר ינאי."

"R' Abba said, R' Hoshaya said, R' Yannai said."

Ketubot 79a

In Nedarim 22a, R' Abba only explains the words of R' Yannai.

He also says that we find this R' Abba together with R' Yonatan:

"ר׳ אבא ור׳ יונתן בשם ר׳ לוי אמרי."

"R' Abba and R' Yonatan said in the name of R' Levi."

Leviticus Rabbah 22:9

It is surprising that he did not notice the scribal error there. How could R' Yonatan speak in the name of R' Levi, who was a preacher in the study house of R' Yoḥanan? The Yalkut on Psalms 146 reads: "R' Aḥa and Rav Bizna in the name of R' Meir."

He also says that this was the R' Abba before whom Resh Lakish raised a question and who answered him, as in [Yerushalmi] Nedarim 1:2. Mevo ha-Yerushalmi, s.v. "R' Ba," already noted that this is a scribal error. The plain meaning is probably that the text "Resh Lakish asked before R' Ba" actually means that R' Ba asked Resh Lakish.

6. Conclusion

So it is clear that there were only three sages called simply "R' Abba." I will explain them in chronological order.