Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak רב נחמן בר יצחק
head of Pumbedita, who put the arguments in order
Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak studied under Rabbah bar Nachmani and under Rava, and after Rav Papa's death headed Pumbedita. In the Talmud his words are easy to recognise by their role: he rarely opens a subject and nearly always corrects it—"Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said: that is not how it was taught, but thus", "what is the difference here".
To him belongs one of the most practical remarks: "Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said: not because my learning is keener, but because I gather"—that is, the strength is not in acuteness but in holding at once everything said before.
His too are the words on why humility is needed in study: "Let a man always occupy himself with Torah and the commandments even not for their own sake—for out of ‹not for their own sake› comes ‹for their own sake›" (Pesachim 50b, Sanhedrin 105b), one of the most frequent justifications for beginning.
The sources give no years; the generation is the fifth Babylonian.
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Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Pesachim 50b; Sanhedrin 105b — «out of ‹not for its own sake› comes ‹for its own sake›»
Rishonim
- Seder Tannaim ve-Amoraim — the list of the sages by generation, put together about 884
Basis: Talmud and midrash.