Rav Chisda - Youth

Youth

Rav Chisda descended from a priestly family. He studied under Rav, who was his principal teacher and after the latter's death he attended the lectures of Rav Huna, a companion of the same age. The pair were called "the Hasidim of Babylon". Rav Chisda was also among those called Tzadikim, those who could bring down rain by their prayers. At first he was so poor that he abstained from vegetables because they increased his appetite and when he walked in thorny places he raised his garments, saying: "The breaches in my legs will heal of themselves but the breaches in my garments will not". At the age of sixteen he married the daughter of Hanan b. Raba and together they had seven or more sons and two daughters. Later, as a brewer, he became very wealthy. One of his pupils, Raba, became his son-in-law.