He was a third-generation amora of the talmudic academies in Babylonia, which were in Asoristan, the Lower Mesopotamian part of the Sasanian Empire.
[3] His brethren in the Talmudic academies in Syria Palaestina wrote to Rabbah to move to Palestine, where he would find a teacher in Johanan bar Nappaha; it would be far better for him to have a guide than to rely on himself in his studies.
Residents of the city of Pumbedita hated Rabbah for his criticism of their practice of fraud according to tractate Shabbat 153a[7] but loved by his students.
[8] He initiated the Kallah, biannual month-long study gatherings, leading to the students being absent at the time of tax collections.
[8] According to Sherira ben Hanina, he was denounced to the emperor for causing twelve thousand men to be idle during the months of Elul in summer (קיטא qayṭā) and Adar in winter (סתוא saṯwā).
[17] He concentrated his attention on halakha, which he endeavored to elucidate by interpreting Mishnaic decisions and baraitot and by determining the fundamental reasons for the various Torah and rabbinical laws and explaining the apparent contradictions contained in them.
He studied all six orders of the Mishna according to tractate Ta'anit 24a,b and was the leading authority in the obscure subjects of nega'im and tumah and taharah.