Rabbah Bar Bar Hana - Haggadic Aphorisms

Haggadic Aphorisms

Some haggadic sayings by Rabbah bar bar Hana have been preserved. Citing Jeremiah 23:29, he compares the Torah to fire, in that as fire does not start of itself neither does the Law endure in solitary study. His interpretations of Proverbs 9:3,14 and Isaiah 28:26 also are noteworthy; his saying that "the soul of one pious man is worth the whole world" is especially memorable.

Rabbah bar bar Hana's stories of his marvelous experiences during his voyages and his journeys through the desert have become famous. These accounts may be divided into two classes. In the first he records his observations, generally beginning with the words "I have seen." Among these are his remarks regarding the identity of the most fertile part of Palestine—"the land flowing with milk and honey"; the distance between Jericho and Jerusalem; the area of the district in the plains of Moab mentioned in Numbers 33:49 as the camp of the children of Israel; the castor-oil plant cultivated in Palestine, or the gourd of Jonah. Here also belong his accounts of his relations with the Arabs, one of whom once used a term that explained to him the word in Psalms 55:23.