Rabbah bar bar Hana's journeys were not limited to the sea. An Arab guide led him across the desert to the most sacred and terrifying locations in biblical geography. According to Bava Batra 74a, he saw the dead of Korah, Mount Sinai, and the place where heaven and earth touch.
The Arab brought him to the spot where the earth swallowed Korah's rebels. Two cracks in the ground emitted smoke. The Arab took wool, soaked it in water, placed it on a spear, and lowered it into the rift. When he pulled it out, the wool was scorched. "Listen," the Arab said. From deep in the earth, Rabbah bar bar Hana heard the rebels repeating: "Moses and his Torah are true, and we are liars." Every thirty days, Gehinnom (גהנם) cycles them back to this spot, and they confess again.
Next, the guide showed him Mount Sinai. Scorpions encircled it, standing as tall as white donkeys. Rabbah bar bar Hana heard a divine voice saying: "Woe is Me that I took an oath; and now that I took the oath, who will nullify it for Me?" The Sages later rebuked him: you should have said, "Your oath is nullified." God was lamenting His oath of exile upon the Jewish people—and Rabbah bar bar Hana missed his chance to release them from it.
The Arab also showed him where heaven meets earth. Rabbah bar bar Hana placed his bread basket in a window of the firmament. When he finished praying, the basket was gone. "Are there thieves here?" he asked. The Arab explained: "The heavenly sphere has rotated. Wait here until tomorrow at this hour, and you will find your basket."
The Sages' consistent response to these stories was rebuke. "Every Abba is a donkey, and every bar bar Hana is an idiot." He went to extraordinary places and failed to act on what he found there. As the Psalmist lamented: "How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?" (Psalms 13:2)—the exile continues because those who could end it do not seize the moment.
and they were lying on their backs. And the knee of one of them was elevated, and he was so enormous that the Arab entered under his knee while riding a camel and with his spear upright, and he did not touch him. I cut one corner of the sky-blue garment that contains ritual fringes of one of them, and we were unable to walk. The Arab said to me: Perhaps you took something from them? Return it, as we know by tradition that one who takes something from them cannot walk. I then returned the corner of the garment, and then we were able to walk. When I came before the Sages, they said to me in rebuke: Every Abba is a donkey, and every bar bar Ḥana is an idiot. For the purpose of clarifying what halakha did you do that? If you wanted to know whether the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Shammai or in accordance with the opinion of Beit Hillel, as to whether there are four or three threads and joints in ritual fringes, in that case there was no need to take anything with you, as you should have simply counted the threads and counted the joints. Rabba bar bar Ḥana continues his account. That Arab also said to me: Come, I will show you Mount Sinai. I went and saw that scorpions were encircling it, and they were standing as high as white donkeys. I heard a Divine Voice saying: Woe is Me that I took an oath; and now that I took the oath, who will nullify it for me? When I came before the Sages, they said to me in rebuke: Every Abba is a donkey, and every bar bar Ḥana is an idiot. You should have said: Your oath is nullified. The Gemara explains: And Rabba bar bar Ḥana did not nullify the oath because he reasoned: Perhaps God is referring to the oath that He will not flood the earth again. But the Sages would argue that if that were so, why say: Woe is Me? Rather, this must be referring to God’s oath of exile upon the Jewish people. Rabba bar bar Ḥana continues his account. The Arab also said to me: Come, I will show you those who were swallowed by the earth due to the sin of Korah. I saw two rifts in the ground that were issuing smoke. The Arab took a shearing of wool, and dipped it in water, and inserted it on the head of a spear, and placed it in there. And when he removed the wool, it was scorched. He said to me: Listen to what you hear; and I heard that they were saying: Moses and his Torah are true, and they, i.e., we in the earth, are liars. The Arab further said to me: Every thirty days Gehenna returns them to here, like meat in a pot that is moved around by the boiling water as it cooks. And every time they say this: Moses and his Torah are true, and they, i.e., we in the earth, are liars. This Arab also said to me: Come, I will show you the place where the earth and the heavens touch each other. I took my basket and placed it in a window of the heavens. After I finished praying, I searched for it but did not find it. I said to him: Are there thieves here? He said to me: This is the heavenly sphere that is turning around; wait here until tomorrow and you will find it. § Rabbi Yoḥanan relates: Once we were traveling on a ship and we saw a certain fish that took its head out of the sea, and its eyes had the appearance of two moons, and water scattered from its two gills like the two rivers of Sura. Rav Safra relates: Once we were traveling on a ship and we saw a certain fish that took its head out of the sea, and it had horns, and the following was inscribed on them: I am a lowly creature of the sea and I am three hundred parasangs long, and I am going into the mouth of the leviathan. Rav Ashi said: That is the goat of the sea, which searches through the sea and has horns. Rabbi Yoḥanan relates: Once we were traveling on a ship and we saw a certain crate [kartalita] in which precious stones and pearls were set, and a species of fish called sharks encircled it. He descended,
