Babylonia did not become the world center of Torah overnight. Nonetheless, the defining moment of this process — the exile of the Torah and the relocation of the leading Jewish community to Babylonia — may be pinpointed to a particular event: the arrival of Rabbi Abba Aricha (175-247) from the Land of Israel in 219 CE. Rabbi Abba was the preeminent scholar of his time, known to all by the simple appellation 'Rav' (the rabbi). With Rav’s arrival and the establishment of his yeshiva in Sura, Babylonia emerged as the center of Torah scholarship (see Gitin 6a, Ketubot 111a).

The Talmud in Shabbat 108a gives an intriguing account of this historical event:

"Samuel of Nehardea and Karna were sitting on the banks of the Malka river when they saw the waters rising and becoming muddied. Samuel said to his student Karna: a great man has arrived from the West (the Land of Israel); he has a stomach ailment and the waters are rising in his honor. Go and test his wine."

The Talmud describes how Karna met Rav and asked him three questions. How do we know that Tefillin (phylacteries) may only be written on parchment from a ritually-pure animal? How do we know that blood is red? And how do we know which part of the body should be circumcised?

Rav successfully passed this peculiar test, and responded by giving Karna a caustic 'blessing': May a horn (karna) sprout from your eye. What is the meaning of this bizarre exchange?

Uplifting yet Murky

The waters in Babylonia did not rise just in Rav's honor. This was a sign of Babylonia's rising fortunes and its emergence as the leading center of Torah learning. At the same time, the waters were murky, a sign that this historic event involved great sadness to the nation. It meant the waning of the Jewish community in Israel and the bolstering of the community in Babylonia. Rav's personal illness was a reflection of his inner pain and sorrow at the necessity for deepening the exile.

What was the meaning of the peculiar test that the Babylonian rabbis set for Rav? They realized that Rav was pained by the exile of Torah from the Land of Israel — and yet Rav was the very vehicle by which this was occurring! Rav's life was the fulfillment of this great yet bitter vision, a historical event both uplifting and murky, containing elements of national aspiration and collective suffering. Only a great soul could unite such terrible contradictions. Therefore Samuel told his disciple: go test this scholar.

Three Questions

All three of Karna's questions hinted at the centrality of the Land of Israel for the Jewish people. It is interesting to note that it is precisely in the sayings of the Babylonian scholars and their Talmud that we find statements praising the sanctity of the Land of Israel and the importance of living there. The ideology of the Babylonian rabbis was to negate and belittle the Diaspora, despite whatever advantages, material or spiritual, it held.

The first question posed to the scholar leaving Israel was piercing in its appropriateness. How do we know that Tefillin may only be written on parchment from a ritually-pure animal? Parchment from other animals may be just as suitable for writing on; but the holiness of the Tefillin cannot bind with impure material. So too, the holiness of the Torah cannot properly rest in a Jewish community residing in an impure land. Perhaps some great necessity required Rav to leave Israel for Babylonia, but there should be no doubt as to the Holy Land's spiritual advantage over the impure land of exile.

What about Karna's second question — from where do we know that blood is red? This question was meant to measure Rav's love for the Land of Israel. Besides the spiritual qualities of the Land of Israel and its intrinsic holiness, there is also the nation's natural devotion to its homeland - ties of blood built up through generations of self- sacrifice, defending against enemies attempting to take our land. This blood is a metaphor of our natural connection to the land — ties that cannot be severed by reason or rationale.

Connected to the Physical

Karna's final question dealt with the mitzvah of brit "milah". We find that the Torah speaks of removing the orlah of the heart (Deut. 10:16) and the orlah of the ears (Jer. 6:10). So where should circumcision be performed?

Rav replied that the Torah calls the fruit of a tree's first three years orlah (Lev. 19:23). Just as that orlah refers to that which produces fruit, so too circumcision is performed in a place that produces fruit.

This question too is about our ties to the Land of Israel. One might think that brit milah is some sort of spiritual undertaking, such as removing the heart's orlah to deepen one's ethical sensitivity, or removing the ear's orlah so it can hear and absorb elevated messages. This type of spiritual growth, however, requires a foundation of brit milah in the flesh, influencing future generations — "in a place producing fruit." 

So too, the special aspirations of the Jewish people must be based on the physical realm: the Land of Israel. Our foundations of holiness must be connected to the material, just as the soul only functions in this world while inside a physical body. Only after the brit is established in the physical realm is it possible to purge the other types of spiritual blockage, removing the orlah from the heart and ear.

With regard to the heart and the ear, the Torah uses the word orlah. But regarding trees, the Torah uses the same exact phrase as is used with circumcision — orlato — 'his/its orlah.' This, Rav explained, is the full expression of orlah, referring to one's most basic level of spiritual obstruction.

Two Types of Keren

At the end of this strange test, Rav had a sharp retort for his interviewer. 'Your name is Karna? Then may a horn (karna) sprout from your eye.' What did Rav mean by this?

The Hebrew word keren has two meanings. It may refer to a ray of light, or it may refer to the horn of an animal. Thus a keren can enable the eye to see, or conversely, it can blind it.

Rav rejected the implied criticism that, by leaving the Land of Israel, he was weakening the connection of the Jewish people to their land. His true intention was to enlighten the Jews living in exile and elevate them with the Torah's holiness. Then they would be worthy of returning to the land of their fathers, to build it and be built through it with honor and holiness.

By way of analogy, Rav noted that while a keren should be a source of spiritual light, it can also be a physical horn, blinding instead of enlightening. So too, love for the Land of Israel should be a source of inspiration and holiness, but it may be debased into greed for material gain and physical pleasure. Exile was necessary in order to elevate the nation’s love for the land to a noble holiness. Then they will be ready for their redemption, to leave the land of darkness to the place of light, the Holy Land.

(Adapted from Ein Eyah vol. IV pp. 277-279)

Copyright © 2006 by Chanan Morrison