RABBAH BAR NAHMANI (d. around 330 CE), a third-generation Babylonian amora, rabbinical colleague of Yosef bar Ḥiyyaʾ and Ḥisdaʾ. Rabbah studied with Hunaʾ and several other Babylonians, including Yehudah bar Yeḥezqeʾl and, some modern scholars argue, with Yoḥanan bar Nappaḥaʾ in Palestine. After Yehudah's death, Rabbah began a twenty-two-year career as the head of a circle of students and a court in the city of Pumbedita. Serving as a judge, he had authority to impose rabbinic law in the marketplace and in various civil, property, and communal matters (B.T., Ḥul. 43b; Neusner, 1969).

Rabbah taught his disciples Torah, including everyday practical advice, lectured to them in the kallah gatherings (B.T., B.M. 86a), and, in his court, trained them as apprentice judges. His support for rabbinical privileges such as a tax exemption apparently brought him into conflict with the exilarch...