Ravina, called Ravina, became head of the academy in the year 4234. And according to the Raavad, he died that same year. [And according to Rashbag Yuchsin, on the 5th day of the week, the 13th of Kislev in the year 810 (i.e., according to the Seleucid era), Ravina the son of Rav Huna died, which is the year 4259, and so it says in Sefer HaKeritot.] He died in the year of the sealing of the Talmud, the year 4260, and Ravina is the last of the Amoraim [(see there)].

That same year the king of Persia killed Ameimar bar Mar Yanuka bar Mar Zutra [(this requires examination, for Ameimar is the son of Mar Yanuka bar Rav Chisda)], the colleague of Rav Ashi, and Rav Mesharsheya and Mar Huna bar Rav Ashi Rabba and captured the young men of Israel and brought them out of the community. And Israel stood in great distress. This was in the year 4234 [end quote Tzemach David, and in Shir HaShirim, page 35, section 2, it says the year 4135, which is a scribal error.

And Rashbag wrote in Yuchsin: On the day Rav Sama the son of Rava died, on the Sabbath in Tevet in the year 880 (which is the year 4229), the great men Ameimar bar Mar Yanuka and Huna Mar the son of Rav Ashi Rabba and Mesharsheya bar Pakud were captured, and on the 18th day, Huna bar Mar Zutra the Nasi and Mesharsheya were executed, and in the month of Adar of that year, the great men Ameimar bar Mar Yanuka were executed, and in the year 880, all the synagogues of Babylon were closed and they seized the Jewish children, and in the year 887 (i.e., according to the Seleucid era, which is the year 4235, and in Shir HaShirim there it says the year 4236) Rav Sama the son of Rava died, and after him Rav Yosi reigned, and in his days the teaching ended and the Talmud was concluded].

Rabbah Tosefa'ah died in the year 4234.

In Yuchsin [in the letter of Rashbag]: At first, in the days of Rav, there was still no academy in Babylonia, but the Nasiim were called Rish Sidra. And after his death, they established an academy in Babylonia, based on the Torah, and this was the academy of Sura. And the first who was head of the academy in Babylonia was Rav Huna for 40 years, and after him Rav Chisda for 10 years. And Rabbah bar Nachmani was in Pumbedita, and from then there was an academy in Pumbedita, the academy of the Exile.

And Rabbah bar Nachmani reigned for 22 years, and after him Rav Yosef for 3 and a half years, and after him Abaye for 14 years, and after him Rava in Pumbedita and Sura for 14 years, and after him Rav Pappa for 19 years, and Rav Ashi for 60 years, and after him Rav Tavyumi, and after him Ravina Yosi in whose days the Talmud was sealed. And when Ravina Yosi died, the two academies remained without a Gaon until the Rabbanan Savoraei agreed who came after the Talmud that they would make two academies as in the days of Rav Huna.

Even though they did not add nor subtract from the Talmud, nevertheless they were heads of academies and Geonim who expounded and taught, and from them the teaching went out to all Israel [(and see Shir HaShirim, page 38, section 2, 2)].

And these are the advantages that the academy of Sura had over the academy of Pumbedita: that there was no Gaon from Pumbedita, only from Sura, based on the authority of those there and furthermore. If the heads of both academies gathered before the Exilarch in ancient land in Babylonia on the Sabbath when they were accustomed to gather before him, the head of Sura and his students read over the Exilarch the Torah scroll because of his greatness, while the head of Pumbedita was to his left.

And if they sat at a festive meal with one of the Exilarchs, the head of Sura cut the bread first and he recited the Grace After Meals and at entry and exit, the head of Sura came before him even if the head of Pumbedita was 80 years old and the head of Sura was young in years. And furthermore, when they sent letters to each other, the head of Pumbedita wrote "May be proper the Torah case before the Gaon and Rabban of Sura," and the head of Sura wrote "May be proper the Torah case before the Rabban of Pumbedita" and did not write "Gaon." And furthermore, if the Exilarch read the Torah scroll, the head of Sura translated over him, and the head of Pumbedita sat silent.

And when the Exilarch died, all his authorities were given to the head of Sura, and the head of Pumbedita had no share at all. And at first, the academy of Sura received two-thirds and the academy of Pumbedita one-third, until the Cohen Tzedek reigned in Pumbedita and the students of the academy multiplied and a third was not sufficient for them, and a quarrel arose between them until the heads of the generation gathered and made a compromise between them that they would divide equally [see there at length].

And furthermore [in Yuchsin in the letter of Rashbag]: The Exilarch - how is he appointed and how is he selected? All the officials agree with him at the time of his appointment, this is the matter. If the community agrees to appoint him, the two heads of academies gather with the members of their academies together with all the community leaders and elders in the house of a great man of Babylonia, from the leaders of the generation.

And this one in whose house they gather gains honor in the matter and has great praise in it, and his honor increases through the gathering of the great ones and elders in his house. And they gather thus on Thursday, and they bless him and lay hands upon him, and they blow the shofar to announce to all the people from small to great. And when they hear the matter, each and every one sends him a gift according to his means, and all the community leaders and their wealthy ones send him beautiful garments and jewelry and vessels of silver and gold, each person according to his means.

And he prepares a feast on Thursday and Friday with all kinds of food and drink and garments and sweets. And when they go to the synagogue on the Sabbath, many of the community leaders gather with him to go to the synagogue. And they have already prepared for him in the synagogue from the eve of the Sabbath a wooden tower seven cubits long and four cubits wide, and they spread upon it beautiful garments of silk and blue and purple and scarlet wool until it is entirely covered and nothing of it is seen.

And underneath it sit young men chosen from the Nasiim of the community and their leaders, young and virtuous men with pleasant and sweet voices, expert in all matters, and the Exilarch himself is covered in a place with the heads of the academies, and the young men stand beneath the tower and no one sits upon it. And the cantor begins with "Blessed is He Who said," and the young men respond to every matter from "Blessed is He Who said" with "Blessed be He." And when he says "A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath day," they respond after him "It is good to give thanks to the Lord," and all the people together read the verses of praise until they finish them.

And the cantor stands and opens with "Nishmat Kol Chai" and the young men respond after him "Your Name shall be blessed." He says a word and the young men respond after him until they reach the Kedushah, and they say it - the congregation in a low voice and the young men in a loud voice. Then the young men are silent, and the cantor alone completes until "Go'el Yisrael." And all the people stand in prayer, and when he passes before the ark and reaches the Kedushah, the young men respond after him "HaKel HaKadosh" in a loud voice and they complete the prayer.

And all the congregation sits and the Exilarch comes out from the place where he was covered, and all the people stand on their feet until he sits on the tower they made for him. And the head of Sura comes out after him and sits on the tower after giving him a bow, bending forward, and he returns it. And then the head of Pumbedita comes out and he also gives him a bow and sits to his left. And all the while, all the people stand on their feet until the three of them finish taking their seats, and the Exilarch sits in the middle, and the head of Sura sits to his right, and the head of Pumbedita sits to his left, and between them and the Exilarch is an empty space, and over his place they spread a beautiful canopy over his head above the tower held by ropes of linen and purple.

And the cantor puts his head in his cloak in front of the tower and blesses him with blessings prepared from the day before in a low voice so that only those sitting around the tower and the young men underneath can hear him. And when he blesses him, the young men respond after him "Amen" in a loud voice, and all the people are silent until he finishes his blessings. And the Exilarch opens and expounds on the matter of the weekly Torah portion of that day, or gives permission to the head of Sura to open and expound, and the head of Sura gives permission to the head of Pumbedita, and they honor each other until the head of Sura opens, and a translator stands over him and announces his words to the people.

And he expounds with fear, closing his eyes and wrapping himself in a tallit covering his forehead, and there shall not be in the congregation when he expounds one who opens his mouth and chirps and speaks a word. And when he senses someone speaking, he opens his eyes and fear and trembling falls upon the congregation. And when he finishes, he begins with a question and says "Bar so-and-so needs such and such teaching," and an elder, an established man, stands and responds as to the matter and sits.

And the cantor stands and says Kaddish, and when he reaches "in your lives and in your days," he says "in the life of our Nasi, the Exilarch, and in your lives and in the life of all the house of Israel." And when he finishes the Kaddish, he blesses the Exilarch, and then blesses the heads of academies. And when he says the blessing, he stands and says "From the city so-and-so and all its daughters, so-and-so much comes from them," and he mentions all the academies that send to the academy and blesses each one.

So he blesses the people who are occupied with communal needs until it reaches the academies. And then they bring out the Torah scroll, and a Kohen reads and after him a Levi, and the cantor shows the Torah scroll to the Exilarch, and all the people stand, and he receives the Torah scroll from his hand and stands and reads from it. And the heads of academies stand with him, and the head of Sura translates over him.

And he returns the Torah scroll to the cantor and he returns it to the ark. And when it reaches the ark, he sits in his place and all people sit in their places. And after him the heads of Kallah read, and after them the students of the heads of academies. But the heads of academies themselves do not read from the Torah scroll on that day because another preceded them.

And when the one who reads the Haftarah finishes, a great and wealthy man stands and translates over him, and he gains praise and honor in this matter. And when he finishes, he adds to bless the Exilarch with a Torah scroll, and all the cantors who are accustomed and expert in prayer stand around the ark and say "Amen." And then he blesses the two heads of academies, and returns the Torah scroll to its place, and they pray Musaf and go out.

And when the Exilarch goes out, all the people go out before him and after him and say before him words of songs and praises until he reaches his house. But the heads of academies do not go with him to his house. And all the students who go with him and accompany him to his house - he does not leave any of them who came from his house for seven days, and from that time and onwards he does not go out of the entrance of his house, and the people gather and pray with him always, on weekdays, Sabbaths, and holidays.

And if he wants to go out and do his needs, he rides in a carriage, the second chariot like the chariots of the king's ministers, in beautiful garments, and up to 15 people go after him, and his servant runs after him. And when he passes by one of Israel, they run to him and hold his hands and turn his face, and so does every Jew he passes until up to 50 or 60 gather around him until the place where he goes.

And when he returns to his house, they do likewise for him. And he never goes out until all his group and entourage go after him, and in his walking he is like one of the king's ministers. And when he wants to enter before the king to ask something of him or to see his face, he asks the king's ministers and servants who enter before him always to speak to the king to give him permission to enter before him, and he gives him permission to the gatekeepers to let him in.

And when he enters, all the king's servants run before him, and he has prepared in his bosom golden dinars and zuzim to give to those servants who run before him until he enters. And he puts his hand in his bosom and gives to each one something that God provides him. And they honor him and hold his hand until he comes and stands before the king, and he bows to him. And the king gestures to him that he should stand on one foot and lean on the second until the king gestures to two of his servants about him and they take his hand and seat him in the place the king gestured to seat him.

And then he speaks with the king, and the king asks him about his welfare and his matters and why he came before him, and he asks permission from him to speak before him, and he permits him. And then he begins with praises and blessings prepared for him beforehand, and he arranges before him the custom of his fathers and forefathers and appeases him with pleasant words until he does his request and gives him his petition and writes for him everything he asked of him.

And he goes out from there and departs in joy and peace. [This continues at great length...]

And this is an abbreviated version of the extensive passage about the customs and authority of the Exilarch and the Geonim, describing the intricate protocols, financial arrangements, division of territories, and relationships between the academies of Sura and Pumbedita, including detailed accounts of how queries were answered, students were examined, and teachings were disseminated throughout the Jewish world.

It is written [Shir HaShirim, pages 32 and 35, section 2]: Sura is Mata Mechasya, which is the land of the deer, near the Land of Israel, which is the village of Tirash. And see the Zohar, Vayera, why it is called Mata Mechasya.

The Order of Rabbanan Savoraei

The Rabbanan Savoraei were [those who came] after the sealing of the Talmud and did not add to or subtract from it [(only to give reasoning and explanation (hence they are called Savoraei)).

And Shir HaShirim page 35, section 2 writes that they were called Rabbanan Savoraei because troubles of various kinds befell Israel and the academies could not study at ease and they engaged in understanding the Mishnayot according to the explanations.] Nevertheless, we find their words in the Talmud which they added to the compilation of Rav Ashi at the beginning of Kiddushin and other places - Rav Achai and Rav Avdu - and they are Rabbanan Savoraei. So writes Rabbi Shimshon of Kinon in Sefer HaKeritot, chapter 8.

And know that Rashbag and the Raavad did not agree together in the order of the Rabbanan Savoraei and the Geonim. But since Rashbag was closer to them in time than the Raavad, also the Geonim were the house of the ancestors of Rashbag, he is more established.

Therefore, we will arrange the Rabbanan Savoraei and the Geonim according to the responsum of Rashbag, and where the responsum of Rashbag is insufficient, we will take the tradition from the Raavad [(so writes Tzemach David)].

In the book [Keritot, page 10, column 2, section 2]: And those are the Rabbanan Savoraei and these are their names: Rav Acha from Bei Chatim. Rav Geviya from Argiza. Rav Acha bar Nehila'i. Ravina Sama bar Ravina Yehuda.

Rav Shmuel from Pumbedita. Ravina bar Ariman. Rav Achadboi bar Katina. Mar Zutra bar Chanina.

And in their days, the era of sin went out to the world. 472 after the counting of documents, 380 years before the destruction, end of quote. And this requires examination, for I did not understand it and did not find mention of it.

It is written [Yuchsin in the order of Kabbalah that the Rama copied]: And after them arose the Rabbanan Savoraei. The first was Rabbah bar Yosef, who was head of the academy after Ravina for 38 years (and in my opinion it was Rav Yosi, see above year 4235). And in his days the Talmud was sealed, and it was about 70 years from when they began to compile the Talmud until it was sealed, and 316 years from when the Mishnah was written until the Talmud was sealed.

And Rabbah bar Yosef died in the year 4275. And in the second generation was Rav Achai bar Rav Huna.