An Iron Pestle vs. a Copper Mortar: The Bitter Conflict between Sheila bar Avina and Rav Asi, Leading to Excommunication and Death (Niddah 36b-37a)
Rav's Misinterpreted Final Instruction to Rav Asi
Sheila bar Avina1 ruled in actual cases in accordance with a certain opinion of Rav.
When Rav was dying, he told Rav Asi to inform Sheila bar Avina that this ruling was in fact incorrect, and to persuade him to retract it (צנעיה); and if he wouldn’t listen, “drag him” (גרייה) to your side with convincing claims. Rav Asi misunderstood and thought Rav instructed him to excommunicate2 Sheila bar Avina if he did not comply.
שילא בר אבינא עבד עובדא כוותיה דרב
כי קא נח נפשיה דרב,
א"ל לרב אסי: זיל צנעיה
ואי לא ציית, גרייה
הוא סבר, גדייה א"ל
The Gemara relates that Sheila bar Avina ruled in an actual case in accordance with the opinion of Rav.
The Gemara further relates that when Rav was dying, he said to Rav Asi: Go and hide this halakha, i.e., inform Sheila bar Avina that my ruling is incorrect.
And if he does not listen to you, drag him [garyei] to your side with convincing claims.
Rav Asi misheard and thought that Rav said to him gadyei, excommunicate him.
Sheila bar Avina's Defiance and Rav Asi's Excommunication
After Rav died, Rav Asi approached Sheila bar Avina and asked him to retract the ruling, stating that Rav had changed his opinion on the matter. Sheila bar Avina refused, asserting that if Rav had indeed retracted his opinion, he would have informed him directly as his student, rather than through a messenger.
Rav Asi, believing it was Rav’s instruction, excommunicated Sheila bar Avina.
Sheila bar Avina warned Rav Asi of potential punishment for offending him. Rav Asi confidently replied, associating his name with prominent tanna figures and suggesting that like a copper mortar (אסיתא) immune to rot,3 he was protected from harm.
Sheila bar Avina retorted, mentioning his own name and his father's name, saying they he was an iron pestle (בוכנא) that could smash Rav Asi’s copper mortar.
בתר דנח נפשיה דרב,
א"ל: הדר בך, דהדר ביה רב
א"ל: אם איתא דהדר ביה, לדידי הוה אמר לי
לא ציית
גדייה
א"ל: ולא מסתפי מר מדליקתא?!
א"ל:
אנא איסי בן יהודה,
דהוא איסי בן גור אריה,
דהוא איסי בן גמליאל,
דהוא איסי בן מהללאל
אסיתא דנחשא, דלא שליט ביה רקבא
א"ל: ואנא שילא בר אבינא, בוכנא דפרזלא דמתבר אסיתא דנחשא
After Rav died,
Rav Asi went to Sheila bar Avina and said to him: Retract your ruling, as Rav himself retracted his opinion.
Sheila bar Avina said to Rav Asi: If it is so, that he retracted his opinion, he would have told me, as I was his student; he would not have sent a messenger to inform me of such a retraction.
Consequently, Sheila bar Avina did not listen to Rav Asi.
Rav Asi excommunicated him, as he thought that this was Rav’s instruction.
Sheila bar Avina said to Rav Asi: But is the Master not afraid of the fire, i.e., of a punishment for offending me?
Rav Asi said to him, linking in a fanciful manner his own name to the various names of an important tanna:
I am Isi ben Yehuda,
who is Isi ben Gur Arye,
who is Isi ben Gamliel,
who is Isi ben Mahalalel,
and this name alludes to a copper mortar [asita], over which rot has no power, i.e., no harm will befall me.
Sheila bar Avina said to Rav Asi: And I am Sheila bar Avina, and my father’s name alludes to an iron pestle [bukhna], which smashes a copper mortar, i.e., harm may befall you through the merit of my ancestors.
Illness and Deaths of Rav Asi and Sheila bar Avina
Rav Asi subsequently suffered from alternating fevers and chills, eventually leading to his death.
Upon Rav Asi's death, Sheila bar Avina, fearing that Rav Asi would report negatively about him to Rav in Heaven, instructed his wife to prepare shrouds for his own imminent death. Sheila indeed soon passed away.
It was later observed that there were myrtle branches moving between the two burial plots. This was interpreted as a sign that the two Sages had reconciled in Heaven.
חלש רב אסי,
עיילוה בחמימי, אפקוה מקרירי
עיילוה בקרירי, אפקוה מחמימי
נח נפשיה דרב אסי
אזל שילא, אמר לדביתהו: צבית לי זוודתא
דלא ליזיל ולימא ליה לרב מילי עילואי
צביתה ליה זוודתא, נח נפשיה דשילא
חזו דפרחא אסא מהאי פוריא להאי פוריא
אמרי: ש"מ, עבדו רבנן פייסא
The Gemara relates that Rav Asi fell ill
and contracted one sickness after another, so that when he entered the heat of a fever, he exited a sickness where he felt cold,
and when he entered into a sickness where he felt cold, he exited the heat of a fever.
Eventually, Rav Asi died.
Immediately upon Rav Asi’s death, Sheila bar Avina went and said to his wife: Prepare for me provisions [zevadata], i.e., shrouds for my burial, as I will soon die.
This is in order that Rav Asi will not go and tell Rav matters of criticism about me, that I did not listen to Rav Asi and that I caused his death because I took offense when he excommunicated me.
His wife prepared for him the provisions, and Sheila passed away.
The biers of Rav Asi and Sheila bar Avina were brought together for burial. Those accompanying the dead saw that the myrtle that was customarily placed on a bier was flying from this bier to that bier.
They said: Conclude from it that the Sages, i.e., Rav Asi and Sheila bar Avina, have made peace with one another.
שילא בר אבינא - a relatively obscure amora.
רקבא - may also mean “rust”.