Pumbedita

Pumbedita פומבדיתא
Shown within Iraq
Location	Fallujah, Iraq
Coordinates	33.351111°N 43.786111°E / 33.351111; 43.786111

Pumbedita (sometimes Pumbeditha, Pumpedita, or Pumbedisa; Aramaic: פומבדיתא‎) was the name of a city in ancient Babylonia close to the modern-day city of Fallujah. The city had a large Jewish population and was a major center of Talmud scholarship that, together with the city of Sura, gave rise to the Babylonian Talmud. The academy there was founded by Judah ben Ezekiel in the late third century.

The Babylonian Talmud mentions an incident where Rav Sheishet, a famous Rabbi/judge from Nehardea, uses Pumbedita as part of a jest in an argument with Rav Amram after Rav Amram made a forced argument regarding whether children can assume ownership of a father's property in a case of doubtful transference of real property rights. After Rav Amram stated his position, Rav Sheishet retorted: "Are you from Pumbedita, where they push an elephant through the eye of a needle?" (Baba Metzia, 38b) As in most debates, the jest was not the end of the argument.

See also

• Talmudic Academies in Babylonia
• Fallujah
• Pumbedita Academy
• Mahuza
• Nehardea Academy
• Nehardea
• Firuz Shapur
• Sura (city)
• Sura Academy
• Talmudic Academies in the Land of Israel