Background
Arikha was born to a distinguished Babylonian family, he went to Palestine to join his uncle, the noted scholar Rabbi Hiyya.
Arikha was born to a distinguished Babylonian family, he went to Palestine to join his uncle, the noted scholar Rabbi Hiyya.
He went to Palestine to study at the academy of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi, who ordained him to teach and to deliver legal decisions. He remained a considerable time in Palestine, achieving widespread recognition.
In 217 Rav returned to Babylonia and two years later founded his own academy in Sura, which for hundreds of years was to remain a great focus of rabbinic teaching and authority. He helped to raise the reputation of Babylonian scholarship, bringing it on a par with Palestinian, and students flocked to his academy in the hundreds. In Rav’s time, the academy had 1,200 permanent students, and many others coming for short periods.
Although he may not himself have stood at the head of the academy, he was its outstanding figure, his reputation enhanced by the tradition of his descent from the house of David and by his daughter’s marriage into the family of the community’s lay head, the exilarch.
He was closely associated with Samuel, the head of the academy in the town of Nehardea; Samuel excelled in civil law, Rav in ritual law. Their discussions feature prominently throughout the Babylonian Talmud.
Rav was a noted homilist and theological interpreter. He was responsible for a New' Year prayer emphasizing creation, and composed the standard prayer for the New Moon.
Rav regarded Torah study as the supreme duty of the Jew. Stressing ethical teachings, he stated that the advent of the Messiah depended on repentance and the performance of good deeds.
However, he strongly opposed asceticism, stating, “Every individual will be made accountable in the world to come for every enjoyment in this world which he refused without adequate reason.”
Quotations:
• God Himself prays, “May My mercy overcome My anger.”
• When your mind is not at ease, do not pray.
• In the future world there will be no eating, drinking, propagation, business, jealousy, hatred or competition, but the righteous will sit with crowns on their heads enjoying the brilliance of the Divine Presence.
• What is improper in public, is forbidden in secret.
• Each individual will be called to account in the hereafter for every enjoyment he declined without sufficient cause.