Rav Ravai of Rov רבאי מרוב
a Savora whose word entered the text of the Talmud
Rav Ravai of Rov is a Savora named in the Epistle of Rav Sherira and—far more rarely—in the commentaries on the Talmud themselves. The Rishonim, analysing particular passages, note: here it is not an Amora who speaks but a Savora, and they give his name.
The importance of this is hard to overstate for anyone who wants to understand how the Talmud is built. Usually the text runs as an unbroken web, and it is impossible to tell where the generation of disputants ends and the generation of editors begins. Here it is possible: there are passages of which medieval tradition says definitely whose hand they are. From them one sees what the Savoraim actually did: they connected, explained the arrangement, posed a question so that the reader would not lose the thread.
The town of Rov is one of those places in Babylonia of which nothing but the name survives.
The years are taken from the Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon—the letter of 4747 (987), the only source in which the age of the Savoraim is set out by name and year. There is no other testimony, and that should be kept in mind.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Rishonim
- Seder Tannaim veAmoraim — passages ascribed to Savoraim by name
Documents of the period
- Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon — Rav Ravai of Rov in the list of Savoraim
Basis: documents and evidence.