Person
Rabbah Tosefa'ah רבה תוספאה
he finished the Talmud with short additions, whence his byname
A student of Ravina I and a contemporary of Ravina II; he succeeded Mar bar Rav Ashi at the head of Sura. His chief work was to bring what Rav Ashi had assembled to its end with short explanations and additions; whence, by one account, the byname Tosefa'ah, from tosafot, additions. By another account the byname comes from a place.
He stood at the head of Sura for six years and died in 494. The Talmud names him rarely, in nine places only; yet all the passages introduced by "some say" are customarily ascribed to him.
A ruling of his is well known—that a pregnancy may run from nine months to twelve (Yevamot 80b).
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Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Yevamot 80b — a pregnancy running to twelve months
Scholarship
- The Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) — the year of death, the six years at the head of Sura, and the explanation of the byname
- Jewish Encyclopedia, "Rabbah Tusfa'ah" — six years at the head of Sura and nine mentions by name
Basis: Talmud and midrash.