Hanan bar Rava

Ḥanan bar Rava (חנן/חנא/חנין בר רב/א) or Ḥanan bar Abba (חנן בר א/בא) was a Talmudic sage and second-generation Babylonian Amora. He lived in Israel, moved to Babylonia with Abba b. Aybo, and died there ca. 290 CE. He is distinct from the late-generation Babylonian Amora of the same name who apparently conversed with Ashi (352-427 CE).

Ḥanan b. Rava's father was not Abba b. Joseph b. Ḥama (called Rava in the Talmud), who lived a century later. Ḥanan b. Rava was the son-in-law of Abba b. Aybo (Rav), tutored Rav's son Hiyya b. Rav, and is often quoted relaying Rav's teachings or describing his customs. He was the father-in-law of Ḥisda, by whom he had at least seven grandsons, two granddaughters, two great-granddaughters, and four great-great-grandchildren, including Amemar b. Yenuqa.

Bizna, Z'era, Kahana b. Taḥlifa, Nachman b. Yaakov, G'neva, Ḥisda, Abin, and others relay his teachings in the Talmud.

In 1997, the Supreme Court of Israel cited Ḥanan b. Rava's dictum, "All know for what purpose a bride enters the bridal canopy. Yet against whomsoever speaks obscenely thereof, even if a sentence of seventy years happiness has been sealed for him, it is reversed for evil," in establishing guidelines for legal censorship of pornography.