Slanderers
told the king that there was a man among the Jews who made twelve
thousand of them idle for two months a year by teaching them Torah, and
Rabbah had to flee.
Finally he escaped to a marsh and was studying there. In the Heavenly Academy there was an argument about impurity connected to skin discolorations.
If a white hair grew on a white spot, it was impure. If a white spot
appeared under a white hair, it was pure. What if it was not known
which came first? God was saying it is pure, and the Academy ruled that
it is impure. They called Rabbah to decide on the issue, and his soul
ascended to heaven. 