For the source text click/tap here: Bava Metzia 86
To download, click/tap here: PDF
The Gemara relates that while Rabah bar Nachmeni was fleeing for his life from the Persian authorities, an argument was taking place in the Yeshiva in Shamayim. The argument involved the Halachah in the case of a white hair and a Baheres spot that appear on one's skin, but there is a doubt which appeared first. Hash-m, as it were, ruled that it is Tahor, while all of the members of the heavenly Yeshiva ruled that it is Tamei. They asked who could decide the matter conclusively, and they answered that Rabah bar Nachmeni could decide the matter since he was the greatest expert on Nega'im and Ohalos.
They sent a Shali'ach to bring Rabah to them, but the Mal'ach ha'Maves could not take him from this world because he did not stop learning Torah. At that moment, a wind blew and made the reeds move and make noise. Rabah heard the noise and thought that the Persian legions were coming to kill him. He prayed that he should die at that moment rather than be taken by the authorities. At the moment that he died he declared, "Tahor! Tahor!”
We explore the extraordinary tale of his martyrdom and clarify its site I’m level with other Syriac/Persian martyrology stories with the help of Simcha Gross.