Abba Bar Zavda
ABBA BAR ZAVDA
ABBA BAR ZAVDA (third century), Palestinian amora. Abba studied in Babylonia, first under Rav and later under R. Huna. He returned to Ereẓ Israel, where he became one of the leading scholars at the yeshivah of Tiberias. He quotes halakhot in the name of the last of the tannaim: R. Simeon b. Ḥalafta, R. Judah ha-Nasi, and R. Ḥiyya as well as R. Ḥanina, R. Johanan, and Resh Lakish. After the deaths of R. Johanan and R. Eleazar b. Pedat, Abba b. Zavda became one of the most prominent sages in Ereẓ Israel. At the yeshivah of Tiberias he was given the honor of opening the lecture which Ammi and Assi closed (tj, Sanh. 1:4, 18c). His humility is stressed by the sages (ibid., 3:5, 21a). His saying, "A Jew, even though he sins, remains a Jew" (Sanh. 44a) is well known. In a sermon delivered on a public fast day, Abba b. Zavda called on those who wished to repent first to mend their evil ways, for "if a man holds an unclean reptile in his hand, he can never become clean, even though he bathes in the waters of Shiloaḥ or in the waters of creation" (tj, Ta'an. 2:1; in tb, Ta'an. 16a, the statement with slight variations is ascribed to Abba b. Ahavah).
bibliography:
Hyman, Toledot, 43–44; Frankel, Mevo, 66b.
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat]