Rav Kahana רב כהנא
Rav's disciple who fled to Tiberias
Rav Kahana was one of the young men around Rav in Sura. When a certain man declared he would hand a Jew's goods to the Persian power and would not desist even under threat, Rav Kahana broke his neck; Rav said: till now the Greeks judged, now the Persians execute without trial—flee to the Land of Israel, and for seven years ask Rabbi Yochanan nothing (Bava Kamma 117a).
In Tiberias he sat in the back row, but on the strength of one question Rabbi Yochanan moved him forward through seven rows. The Talmud goes on to tell of his death from the master's slight, of Rabbi Yochanan praying him back from the tomb—and of the words: "in Babylonia was I a lion, and here have I become a fox?" The theme that exile changes a sage's strength grew out of his story.
The sources give no years of life; the window of activity is set by generation, following Aharon Hyman's Toldot Tannaim ve-Amoraim.
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Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Bava Kamma 117a — the informer, the flight and the seven rows
Rishonim
- Seder Tannaim ve-Amoraim — the list of the sages by generation, put together about 884
Basis: Talmud and midrash.