person · P0208
Rav Nachman רב נחמן
Shmuel's student, chief judge in Nehardea, and son-in-law of the exilarch's house (second–third generation, Bavel) — the Talmud's preeminent authority in civil law, whose rulings in monetary matters are followed. Abaye and Rava both received from him, joining the Nehardea line back into the main Pumbedita spine.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- רב נחמן
- Also known as
- Rav Nachman bar Yaakov
- Era
- amoraim
- Generation
- A3
- Received the mesorah from
- Shmuel
- Transmitted the mesorah to
- Abaye, Rava
- Teachers
- Shmuel, Rabbah bar Avuha
- Students
- Rava
II. When
- Traditional
- d. c. 4080 AM
- Academic
- c. 235–320 CE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈85 years
- Precision
- approximate
III. Where
- Places
- Nehardea
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Iggeret names him among "the students of Shmuel" (at Nehardea), and the Rambam lists him among the great sages who received from Rav and Shmuel. | rabbinic tradition | ★★★★★ | |
| His judicial standing was singular: "Rav Nachman said — one such as I may judge monetary cases alone," a self-description the Talmud preserves in its discussion of judicial authority. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| "Both of them [Abaye and Rava] also received from Rav Nachman" — the Rambam's statement drawing his line forward into the fourth generation. | rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| After Nehardea's destruction he sat "at Shilhi and at Machoza with the scholars of Nehardea," meeting Rav Huna as a peer — "Huna our colleague" — rather than as a subordinate; the exiled court of Nehardea remained his. | tradition | ★★★★☆ | |
| Rav Nachman's wife was Yalta, who is identified as a daughter of the Exilarch's house.
The relationship and Yalta's exilarchic standing are explicit in the passage.
|
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| Yalta entered the household wine store and broke four hundred barrels after a guest refused to send her the cup of blessing.
Aggadic domestic narrative; the number may be stylized.
|
rabbinic tradition | ★★★★☆ | |
| Before his death Rav Nachman asked Rava to request that the Angel of Death not cause him suffering; he later appeared to Rava in a dream and described death as painless as removing a hair from milk.
Deathbed and postmortem dream narrative.
|
rabbinic tradition | ★★★☆☆ |