Rav Papa רב פפא
“had I not been a brewer, I would not have grown rich”
Rav Papa is one of the men through whom the Talmud's generations connect: he heard the disputes of Abaye and Rava and passed them on towards the generation of Rav Ashi. The formula "Rav Papa said" appears hundreds of times, usually where two similar cases must be told apart.
He was well off, and the source of his means is named without embarrassment: Pesachim 113a records his words — had I not brewed beer, I would not have grown rich. The line is sometimes attributed to Rav Chisda; in the Gemara it stands in a list of counsels on how to live, and is usually read as "do what feeds you, and do not be ashamed of it."
He founded his own academy at Naresh, not far from Sura, and taught there.
In halakhah many rules about probabilities and about how to act in doubtful cases are associated with his name; Rav Papa inclines to decisions that can be applied rather than to those that are more elegant.
On the timeline
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Pesachim 113a — “had I not been a brewer, I would not have grown rich”
Basis: Talmud and midrash.