Abba Arikha bar Aibo

• Preferred Name: Abba Arikha bar Aibo
  
• Alternate Name: Rav Abba bar Aybo
  
• Gender: M
  
• Birth: ABT 175 in Kafri, Asoristan, Babylonia at LATI: N2.54 LONG: E4.42
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: Rav.
  
• Clan Name: with note: Description: descended from Shimei, brother of King David
  
• Death: 247 in Sura, on the Euphrates River, Babylonia at LATI: N2.54 LONG: E4.42
  
• Religion: Rabbi
  
• Rabbi+Shela+made+him+lecturer+(amora)+of+his+college.: 219 in Nehardea, Babylonia at LATI: N2.54 LONG: E4.42 with note: Description: the exilarch appointed him agoranomos, or market-master
  
• Clan Name: with note: Description: 1st generation Amora Resh metivta Sura
  
• Residence: Kafri, Asoristan, in the Sasanian Empire
  
• founder+of+the+Sura+Academy: 225 in Sura, Babylonia at LATI: N2.54 LONG: E4.42
  
• FSID: LY7W-KC6
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  Abba Arikha (175–247 CE; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אבא אריכא; born: Rav Abba bar Aybo, רב אבא בר איבו), commonly known as Rav (רב), was a Jewish amora of the 3rd century. He was born and lived in Kafri, Asoristan, in the Sasanian Empire.
  
  Abba Arikha established at Sura the systematic study of the rabbinic traditions, which, using the Mishnah as text, led to the compilation of the Talmud. With him began the long period of ascendancy of the great Talmudic Academies in Babylonia around the year 220. In the Talmud, he is frequently associated with Samuel of Nehardea, with whom he debated many issues.
  
  His surname, Arikha (English: the Tall), he owed to his height, which exceeded that of his contemporaries. Others, reading Arekha, consider it an honorary title, "Lecturer". In the traditional literature he is referred to almost exclusively as Rav, "the Master", (both his contemporaries and posterity recognizing in him a master), just as his teacher, Judah HaNasi, was known simply as Rabbi. He is called Rabbi Abba only in the tannaitic literature, where a number of his sayings are preserved. He occupies a middle position between the Tannaim and the Amoraim, and is accorded the right, rarely conceded to one who is only an amora, of disputing the opinion of a tanna.
  
  Rav was a descendant of a distinguished Babylonian family which claimed to trace its origin to Shimei, brother of King David. His father, Aibo, was a brother of Hiyya the Great who lived in Palestine, and was a highly esteemed scholar in the collegiate circle of the patriarch Judah haNasi. From his associations in the house of his uncle, and later as his uncle's disciple and as a member of the academy at Sepphoris, Rav acquired such knowledge of the tradition as to make him its foremost exponent in Babylonia. While Judah haNasi was still living, Rav, having been ordained as teacher (with certain restrictions), returned to Babylonia, where he at once began a career that was destined to mark an epoch in the development of Babylonian Judaism.
  
  In the annals of the Babylonian schools, the year of his arrival is recorded as the starting-point in the chronology of the Talmudic age. It was the 530th year of the Seleucidan and the 219th year of the common era. As the scene of his activity, Rav first chose Nehardea, where the exilarch appointed him agoranomos, or market-master, and Rabbi Shela made him lecturer (amora) of his college. Then he moved to Sura, on the Euphrates, where he established a school of his own, which soon became the intellectual center of the Babylonian Jews. As a renowned teacher of the Law and with hosts of disciples, who came from all sections of the Jewish world, Rav lived and worked in Sura until his death. Samuel, another disciple of Judah haNasi, at the same time brought to the academy at Nehardea a high degree of prosperity; in fact, it was at the school of Rav that Jewish learning in Babylonia found its permanent home and center. Rav's activity made Babylonia independent of Palestine, and gave it that predominant position which it was destined to occupy for several centuries.
  
  Little is known of Rav's personal life. That he was rich seems probable; for he appears to have occupied himself for a time with commerce and afterward with agriculture. He is referred to as the son of noblemen, but it is not clear if this is an affectionate term or a true description of his status. Rashi does tell us that he is being described as the son of great men. He was highly respected by the Gentiles as well as by the Jews of Babylonia, as shown by the friendship which existed between him and the last Parthian king, Artaban. He was deeply affected by the death of Artaban (226) and the downfall of the Arsacid dynasty, and does not appear to have sought the friendship of Ardeshir, founder of the Sassanian dynasty, although Samuel of Nehardea probably did so.
  
  Rav became closely related, through the marriage of one of his daughters, to the family of the exilarch. Her sons, Mar Ukba and Nehemiah, were considered types of the highest aristocracy. Rav had many sons, several of whom are mentioned in the Talmud, the most distinguished being the eldest, Chiyya. Chiyya did not, however, succeed his father as head of the academy: this post fell to Rav's disciple Rav Huna. Two of his grandsons occupied in succession the office of exilarch.
  
  Rav died at an advanced age, deeply mourned by numerous disciples and the entire Babylonian Jewry, which he had raised from comparative insignificance to the leading position in Judaism.
  
  The method of treatment of the traditional material to which the Talmud owes its origin was established in Babylonia by Rav. That method takes the Mishnah of Judah haNasi as a text or foundation, adding to it the other tannaitic traditions, and deriving from all of them the theoretical explanations and practical applications of the religious Law. The legal and ritual opinions recorded in Rav's name and his disputes with Samuel constitute the main body of the Babylonian Talmud. His numerous disciples—some of whom were very influential and who, for the most part, were also disciples of Samuel—amplified and, in their capacity as instructors and by their discussions, continued the work of Rav. In the Babylonian schools, Rav was rightly referred to as "our great master." Rav also exercised a great influence for good upon the moral and religious conditions of his native land, not only indirectly through his disciples, but directly by reason of the strictness with which he repressed abuses in matters of marriage and divorce, and denounced ignorance and negligence in matters of ritual observance.
  
  Rav, says tradition, found an open, neglected field and fenced it in.
  
  === Still Living. ===
  Still Living.

1. Hobah bat Abba Arikha, b. ABT 210 in Jerusalem,Israel     d. in ancient Babylon