Rabbi Heiman wrote on Rabbi Nechunyah Hagadol (my translation):
"In Megillah 28a it is told that Rabbi Akiva asked him [RN"H]: In the merit of which virtue were you blessed with longevity? Rabbi Neḥunya’s attendants [gavzei] came and started beating Rabbi Akiva, for they felt that he was acting disrespectfully by highlighting Rabbi Neḥunya’s old age. Rabbi Akiva ran away from them, and he climbed up and sat upon the top of a date palm. From there, he said to Rabbi Neḥunya: My teacher, I have a question about the verse concerning the daily offering that states “one lamb” (Numbers 28:4). If it is stated “lamb” in the singular, why is it also stated “one”; isn’t this superfluous? Upon hearing Rabbi Akiva’s scholarly question, Rabbi Neḥunya said to his attendants: He is clearly a young Torah scholar, let him be. Rabbi Neḥunya then addressed Rabbi Akiva’s questions. With regard to the second question, he said to him: The word “one” teaches that the lamb should be the unique one of its flock, i.e., only the best quality lamb should be used. With regard to the original question, Rabbi Neḥunya said to him: In all my days I never accepted gifts. Nor was I ever inflexible by exacting a measure of retribution against those who wronged me. And I was always openhanded with my money."
And then he concludes:
"And from this it may be slightly understood that R"N Hagadol is not Rabbi Nechunyah ben Hakanah.
How did Rabbi Heiman reach this conclusion? Is it because of the differences between what R"N ben Hakanah said about his longevity? They do have one similarity, though.
