Rav Nachman bar Yaakov רב נחמן בר יעקב
the judge whose word settled property cases; husband of Yalta
His standing is explained by kinship: Chullin 124a indicates that he was connected with the house of the Exilarch, the head of Babylonian Jewry. Hence both his judicial practice and his confident tone in cases of money, pledges and oaths.
The best-known story in which he appears is not about him. Ulla was his guest, and after the meal refused to pass the cup of blessing to the mistress of the house, Yalta, explaining that a woman's offspring are blessed through her husband. Yalta rose, went down to the cellar and smashed four hundred barrels of wine. The Gemara reports this without condemnation and without explanation; Ulla sent her another cup, and she answered that travellers bring empty words.
Yalta appears several times in the Talmud, always as someone who is reckoned with: she puts halakhic questions to the sages and receives substantive answers.
Rav Nachman himself is known for his rule on oaths, and for requiring a judge to take account of the parties' circumstances and not of the document alone.
On the timeline
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Chullin 124a — the connection with the house of the Exilarch
- Berakhot 51b — the cup of blessing and Yalta's four hundred barrels
Basis: Talmud and midrash.