Page:Chapters on Jewish literature (IA chaptersonjewish00abra).pdf/53

Rh was a manufacturer of veils for women’s wear, for, like many Amoraim, he scorned to make learning a means of living. Abbahu’s modesty with regard to his own merits shows that a Rabbi was not necessarily arrogant in pride of knowledge! Once Abbahu’s lecture was besieged by a great crowd, but the audience of his colleague Chiya was scanty. “Thy teaching,” said Abbahu to Chiva, “is a rare jewel, of which only an expert can judge; mine is tinsel, which attracts every ignorant eye.”

It was Rab, however, who was the real popularizer of Jewish learning. He arranged courses of lectures for the people as well as for scholars. Rab’s successor as head of the Sura school, Huna (212–297), completed Rab’s work in making Babylonia the chief centre of Jewish learning. Huna tilled his own fields for a living, and might often be met going home with his spade over his shoulder. It was men like