Palestinain Rabbis Versus Babylonian Rabbis

We read in the Talmud (Baba Metziah 85a):

R. Zeira, when he moved to the land of Israel, observed a hundred fasts to forget the teachings of Babylonia, [1] so that they should not disturb him.He fasted another hundred times so that R. Elazar should not die during his years and the responsibilities of the community not fall upon him.He fasted another hundred times so that the fire of Gehenna should have no power over him.

Chaim Katz wrote this article starting with this source. He proposed a girsa issue crept in, and he has a manuscript supporting this, that really Rabbi Zeira fasted a hundred times to not forget the teachings of Babylonia.

I proposed at the bottom that the girsa is correct and reflects the pressure rabbis who made aliyah had to reject their Babylonian learning to "fit in". He fasted, but didn't really want to forget. He just wanted to be initiated into the Palestinian school.

I'll quote what I wrote there so I can add sources as I come across them, as well as remove inaccuracies:

It's clear that Rabbi Zeira had some disdain for those who lived in Babylonia. He called the Babylonians stupid for their diet ("bread with bread", Beitza 16a, Nedarim 49b), and he desperately wanted to make aliyah (Shabbat 114b), even having to sneak around Rav Yehuda to do so in Shabbat 41a. See Berachot 24b for alternative story.

The Rabbis of Palestine also expressed disdain for the rabbis of Babylonia. 

See Rav Yochanan's statement to a Babylonian, R' Chiyya bar Abba, in Bava Basra 107 and Bechorot 18a, "You were eating berries in Babylonia while I was learning." And see his statement to R' Chiyya again in Shabbat 105b, "You Babylonian," - who doesn't understand... 

Rav Yirmiya says that Babylonian rabbis argue by insulting each other - Sanhedrin 24a. He says that Babylonians are fools because they dwell in a land of darkness, they engage in dark discussion - Pesachim 34b, and Zevachim 60b and Menahot 52a (where R' Yochanan is also quoted as part of the discussion, though not on this precisely) 

Rav Yochanan is quoted that Palestinains hate Babylonians - Menachot 100a and Yoma 66b.
And see his [edit: student's] derasha in Shabbat 145b about how terrible Babylonians are.

 Rav Yochanan: "Rabbi Yochanan saw that Rav Kahana's lips were parted and thought Rav Kahana was laughing at him. He felt aggrieved and in consequence Rav Kahana died. On the next day, Rabbi Yochanan said to the rabbis, 'Have you noticed how the Babylonian was making a laughingstock of us?' But they said to him, 'That was his natural appearance.'" (Bava Kamma 117b)

Rabbah bar bar Chana, or someone else (as the discussion continues to be clarified), said to Resh Lakish that he hated him, which is explained to mean that the people living in Babylonia should have made aliyah but didn't come back in enough numbers. Rabbi Yochanan disagrees with his reasoning. - Yoma 9b 

So it makes sense to me that Rabbi Zeira, wanting to fit into the Palestinains yeshivas, had to convince them he was no longer a Babylonian by doing this.

When questioned where we find that fasting even indicates that one would lose knowledge, I presented:

See Sanhedrin 97a. And see Rashi who makes this connection explicitly משתכחת. מלומדיה. מתוך שאין להם מה לאכול

Also see Taanit 11b

When asked where I came up with fasting as  an initiation ritual, I claimed that I know of none. But certainly rabbis were very concerned with their Torah learning when they came to Israel:

It's not for naught that Rabbi Abba prayed to God in Beitza 38a that the Palestinian rabbis should accept his teachings in Palestine when he made aliyah. It was a frightening prospect, and he resorted to asking God for help. Their response was laughter. They mocked him. He was unsuccessful.

Rabbi Zeira came up with his own method. Again, I'm not saying it was an established tradition to do so, not that it was at all common. But with the evidence at hand, I think this explains well what Rabbi Zeira was trying to do.

My interlocutor wrote:

In addition to Rava, there were other important Babylonian Amoraim, such as Shmuel, who consistently favored the teachings of Babylonian scholars.

And my response was that this proves my point exactly.

It is interesting you point out Rava, who lived in Babylonia. He clearly did not take very well to the insults against him and Babylonia in general. He complains in Menachot 52a that they in Palestine never hear the good derashot from Babylonia, only the weak ones. In Yoma 57a he complains again about the insults. And yes, in Ketubot 75a, he says that really the reason why Palestinian scholars insult Babylonians is because they became so smart in Babylonia first, and then made aliya. In my opinion, the real answer is that they had to fit in, and Rava misread the situation. Babylonians, Rava and Shmuel alike, felt Babylonia was better, and fought back against their supposed inferiority proposed by the Palestinian academies.

Now I can add sources I find every so often.

Yerushalmu Shabbat 7:1 (40a)

אמר ליה רבי יוחנן בבלייא עברת בידך תלתא נהרין ואיתברת

Rabbi Yochanan said, Babylonian! You crossed over three rivers with your hands and broke them!

It would seem that Rav Yochanan was the leader of the bunch. He was the teacher of several of them.


I also see from my Facebook post back in '13 that I originally had three theories to explain the sources:

1. "Rav Lichtman syndrome" - So many cases are regarding Babylonian rabbis who made aliyah. They did so because of their passion for the land of Israel, and looked down upon those who didn't make aliyah.
2. In a related sense, but different - They didn't really mean to hate on the rabbis of Babylonia, but wanted to encourage them to make aliyah, and tried to impress upon their Babylonian brethren the elite-ness of Israel. In other words, it was a propaganda campaign. In other words, social and scholarly pressure.
3. Lastly, the one we see above, I seem to have gave short shrift to in '13, but its the one I remembered to this day, which is that they wanted to show their Palestinian brethren they were "one of them" by ranking on their former Babylonian colleagues. I refer to this: The Patriotic Rabbi