Pesachim 115a – Syria or Sura?

Question

I'm learning now Pesachim 115a. On this page it reads:

בסוריא עבדי כרב הונא

In Syria, they acted in accordance with Rav Huna

This spelling is used in the Oz veHadar edition, on Mechon Mamre and Sefaria. Soncino, Sefaria translates it as in Syria. However, Artscroll (at least the first edition) and the Steinsaltz commentary use בסורא spelling in the translation meaning in Sura, the famous city in Babylonia. Actually the second one also makes sense, but I suppose it might be a typo. Dikdukei Soferim doesn't mention these variants. Are there any commentators discussing this? Was it changed in later editions?

https://www.sefaria.org/Steinsaltz_on_Pesachim.115a.2?lang=bi — Dr. Shmuel, Feb 27 '19 at 14:12
Rav Huna was Rosh yeshivat Sura ..https://he.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A8%D7%91_%D7%94%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%90 — kouty, Feb 27 '19 at 14:18
http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=43956&st=&pgnum=367&hilite= — Dr. Shmuel, Feb 27 '19 at 14:27
Oz Vehadar has Suria as you said, but they note that manuscripts say Sura. I assume it's a mistake with the Vilna Shas — robev, Feb 28 '19 at 18:50

רבות מחשבות · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-28T20:30:48.100

4

Using Hachi Garsinan, (or you can search the Hebrew terms here as well) or any other manuscript collection, in all (bar none) of the major written manuscripts that we have available (Munich 6, Munich 95, Columbia 294-295, Vatican 109b, Vatican 125, and many others, see here for more info), the correct reading is Sura.

Only some printed versions have the version of Suriya, which is mistaken. Notably (h/t to commenters), Rav Huna was the Rabbi of Sura (see here), making it clear that that is the correct reading.

Dikdukei Sofrim may not have had any versions that said Suriya, and therefore did not comment on this.

Edit: Here are some of the images, because for some reason people are super-impressed by pictures of manuscripts, and then they upvote twice as much as they would have if you just tell them that you actually checked the manuscripts...

Munich 6:

JTS Rab. 1608:

Cambridge University Library T-S F 1(1).116:

I find it funny that they get smaller and smaller...

edited Feb 28 '19 at 20:30

answered Feb 28 '19 at 17:31

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In an edition I found eventually among הגהות וציונים the following note: ב) בכת"י בסורא – Kazi bácsi Feb 28 '19 at 21:31
It's true, that's what the kisvei yad say... – רבות מחשבות Feb 28 '19 at 21:32
I'm also a manuscript fan, so I've checked the site you cited, and it's a great one! Although the chapters are in different order, but it's here in MS München 95. Fifth short row on the right side. For me it's hard to tell. – Kazi bácsi Mar 02 '19 at 18:04
@kazi thanks. It's hard to see overall, but even if it said Suriyah, it wouldn't change my conclusion. – רבות מחשבות Mar 03 '19 at 00:08

Pesachim 115a – Syria or Sura?

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