RAV KOOK ON Tazria Part 2: Rabbi Abba Arrives in Babylonia

Babylonia did not become the center of world Jewry overnight. But a defining moment in the gradual relocation of Jewish leadership from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia may be pinpointed to a particular event: the arrival of Rabbi Abba Aricha on the shores of Babylonia in 219 CE. Rabbi Abba was the preeminent scholar of his generation. He was known to all by the simple appellation ‘Rav’ — the Rabbi. With Rav’s arrival and the establishment of his famed yeshiva in Sura, Babylonia emerged as the true center of Torah scholarship (see Gittin 6a, Ketubot 111a). The Talmud in Shabbat 108a offers an interesting account of this historic event. The great Babylonia scholar, Samuel of Nehardea, and his student Karna were sitting by the banks of the Malka River. Suddenly they saw the river waters rising and becoming muddied. Samuel told his student Karna: “A great man has arrived from the West [the Land of Israel]. He has a stomach ailment and the waters are rising in his honor. Go and ‘test his wine.'” Karna then greeted Rav and presented him with three questions: How do we know that Tefillin (phylacteries) may only be written on parchment taken from a ritually-pure animal? How do we know that blood is red? How do we know which part of the body should be circumcised? Rav successfully passed this unusual test. He then gave Karna a caustic ‘blessing’ — “May a horn ('karna’) sprout from your eye.” What is the meaning of this bizarre exchange?