“Huna, our friend, we wish you peace!”: The Story of a Tense Correspondence between Rav Anan and Rav Huna (Ketubot 69a-b)
Outline
Rav Anan sends a letter to Rav Huna
Rav Huna sends Rav Sheshet to reply
Rav Sheshet communicates the message to Rav Anan
Rav Anan goes to Mar Ukva to consult with him about Rav Huna’s reply
The Passage
Rav Anan sends a message to Rav Huna
Rav Anan (a 2nd generation Babylonian amora) sent a message1 to Rav Huna with a greeting of peace (שלם - shelam) and a request: When the woman bearing the message arrives, she should be given one-tenth of her father’s estate.
שלח ליה רב ענן לרב הונא:
הונא חברין, שלם!
כי אתיא הא איתתא לקמך, אגביה עישור נכסי.
Rav Anan sent the following letter to Rav Huna:
Huna, our friend, we wish you peace!
When this woman bearing this letter comes before you, provide her one-tenth of her father’s estate.
Rav Huna sends Rav Sheshet to reply
Rav Huna instructed Rav Sheshet to deliver a reply to Rav Anan, cautioning that failure to convey the exact words would result in excommunication (שמתא).
The message asked whether the one-tenth should be provided from real estate (=land) or movable property, and included a question about who sits at the head in the house of a marzeiḥa (מרזיחא)2.
הוה יתיב רב ששת קמיה, אמר ליה:
זיל אימא ליה: ובשמתא יהא מאן דלא אמר ליה:
״ענן ענן! ממקרקעי או ממטלטלי?״
ו״מאן יתיב בי מרזיחא ברישא?״
Rav Sheshet was sitting before him, and Rav Huna said to him: Go and say to Rav Anan my reply. Knowing that Rav Sheshet may be hesitant to relay the sharp language of the reply, Rav Huna cautioned him:
And whoever does not say to him my exact words is in a state of excommunication:
Anan, Anan, should the one-tenth be provided from real estate or from movable property?
And, incidentally, tell me who sits at the head in the house of a marzeiḥa?
Rav Sheshet communicates the message to Rav Anan
Rav Sheshet respectfully delivered Rav Huna's message to Rav Anan, emphasizing Rav Huna's authority and the risk of excommunication for not conveying the exact words.
The message is communicated exactly as Rav Huna said it.
אזל רב ששת לקמיה דרב ענן, אמר ליה:
מר רבה, ורב הונא רביה דרבה,
ושמותי שמית מאן דלא אמר ליה,
ואי לאו דשמית, לא הוה קאמינא:
״ענן, ענן, ממקרקעי או ממטלטלי?
ומאן יתיב בי מרזיחא ברישא?״
Rav Sheshet went before Rav Anan and reverentially said to him, addressing him in the third person:
My Master is a teacher, but Rav Huna is the teacher of the teacher.
Moreover, he readily excommunicates whoever does not say to him, i.e., to you, my teacher, his precise message,
and if it were not that he would excommunicate me, I would not say his words:
Anan, Anan, should the one-tenth be provided from real estate or from movable property?
And, incidentally, tell me who sits at the head in the house of a marzeiḥa?
Rav Anan goes to Mar Ukva to consult with him about Rav Huna’s reply
Rav Anan consulted Mar Ukva about Rav Huna’s reply, expressing offense at being addressed informally as "Anan, Anan" and confusion over the term "marzeiḥa."
Mar Ukva asked for the details of their exchange.
After hearing the story, Mar Ukva explained that it was inappropriate for Rav Anan, who did not know what "marzeiḥa" meant, to have originally addressed Rav Huna informally (as “Huna, our friend”), justifying Rav Huna's offense.
The Talmud then clarifies that "marzeiḥa" means a mourner, based on a biblical verse from Jeremiah 16:5.
אזל רב ענן לקמיה דמר עוקבא,
אמר ליה: חזי מר היכי שלח לי?!:
רב הונא ״ענן ענן״,
ועוד, ״מרזיחא״ דשלח לי, [לא ידענא] מאי ניהו?
אמר ליה: אימא לי איזי, גופא דעובדא היכי הוה?
אמר ליה: הכי והכי הוה מעשה.
אמר ליה: גברא דלא ידע מאי ניהו ״מרזיחא״, שלח ליה לרב הונא ״הונא חברין״?!
מאי ״מרזיחא״ — אבל, דכתיב: ״כה אמר ה׳ אל תבא בית מרזח וגו׳״.
Rav Anan went before Mar Ukva to consult with him about Rav Huna’s reply.
He said to him: Let the Master see how Rav Huna sent me an offensive message, addressing me as Anan, Anan.
Moreover, with regard to this word marzeiḥa in the letter that he sent me, I do not know what it is.
Mar Ukva said to him: Say to me, my friend [izi], how the incident itself happened. What are the particulars of your exchange that brought about this end result?
He said to him: Such and such was the incident, and Rav Anan related the details to Mar Ukva.
He said to him: A man who does not know what a marzeiḥa is sends a letter to Rav Huna addressing him as Huna, our friend? It is not your place to take such liberties in your correspondence with him, and Rav Huna was justifiably offended.
The Gemara explains: What is a marzeiḥa? A mourner, as it is written: “For so says the Lord: Enter not into the house of mourning [marze’aḥ], neither go to lament, neither bemoan them” (Jeremiah 16:5).
Steinzaltz translates “letter”, but this is not stated in the text; it may have been an oral message delivered verbatim via the woman herself, as with Rav Huna’s message via Rav Sheshet in the next part.