Avodah Zarah, Daf Tet Zayin, Part 4
Introduction
The entire halakhic content of this sugya is the statement that a large animal has the same rule as small cattle when it comes to struggling. I explained this concept in section 2 of this daf, where I wrote, Struggling refers to an animal that was dying before it was slaughtered. If after it was slaughtered it struggles then we can assume that it was alive and the animal may be eaten. The section we learned today is not really about the content of this halakhah but about the attribution. This sugya does open a window as to how important attributions were to Babylonian amoraim and also to how those attributions were formed.
א"ר זירא כי הוינן בי רב יהודה אמר לן גמירו מינאי הא מילתא דמגברא רבה שמיע לי ולא ידענא אי מרב אי משמואל חיה גסה הרי היא כבהמה דקה לפירכוס. כי אתאי לקורקוניא אשכחתיה לרב חייא בר אשי ויתיב וקאמר משמיה דשמואל חיה גסה הרי היא כבהמה דקה לפירכוס אמינא ש"מ משמיה דשמואל איתמר.
R. Zera said: When we were at the school of Rav Judah he said to us: Learn from me this matter for I have heard it from a great man, but I do not know whether from Rav or from Shmuel: A large wild beast is like small cattle with regard to struggling.
When I came to Korkunia I found R. Hiyya b. Ashi who was sitting [in the academy] and saying in the name of Shmuel, A large wild beast is like small cattle with regard to struggling and I said, Learn from this that it was stated in the name of Shmuel.
R. Zera begins his adventure by learning at the school of R. Judah. There he learns the statement, but Rav Judah does not know whether he learned it from Shmuel or from Rav, the two great amoraim of the first generation in Babylonia.
At Korkunia, he hears another sage reciting the tradition in the name of Shmuel, so he believes that it originated with him.
כי אתאי לסורא אשכחתיה לרבה בר ירמיה דיתיב וקא"ל משמיה דרב חיה גסה הרי היא כבהמה דקה לפירכוס אמינא ש"מ איתמר משמיה דרב ואיתמר משמיה דשמואל
But when I came to Sura I found Rabbah b. Yirmiyah who was sitting and saying in the name of Rav, A large wild beast is like small cattle with regard to struggling. Then I said, That means that this has been stated in the name of Rav as well as in the name of Shmuel.
Sura is Rav s home town. There R. Zera learns that Rav issued the same statement.
כי סליקת להתם אשכחתיה לרב אסי דיתיב וקאמר אמר רב חמא בר גוריא משמיה דרב חיה גסה הרי היא כבהמה דקה לפירכוס אמרי ליה ולא סבר לה מר דמאן מרא דשמעתתא רבה בר ירמיה
Now, when I went up there I found R. Assi sitting and saying: R. Hama b. Guria said in the name of Rav: A large wild beast is like small cattle with regard to struggling. I said to him, Do you not hold, then, that the one who reported this teaching in the name of Rav is Rabbah b. Yirmiyah?
When R. Zera gets to Israel (if you learned Ketubot, you might remember that at the end of the masechet he makes Aliyah) he hears the statement attributed by a different amora to Rav. He asks R. Assi if this is indeed the correct transmission.
א"ל פתיא אוכמא! מינאי ומינך תסתיים שמעתא
He said back to me: You black-pot. Through me and you this report will be completed.
R. Assi insults R. Zera in return for his doubts about the attribution of the statement and then orders him to transmit it the way that R. Assi does.
איתמר נמי א"ר זירא אמר רב אסי אמר רבה בר ירמיה אמר רב חמא בר גוריא אמר רב חיה גסה הרי היא כבהמה דקה לפירכוס:
It has indeed been stated so: R. Zera said in the name of R. Assi, in the name of Rabbah b. Yirmiyah, in the name of R. Hama b. Guria, in the name of Rav: A large wild beast is like small cattle with regard to struggling.
In the end, everyone gets their name attached to Rav s statement. Now, was that so hard?