Rabbi Yehudah Nesiah's Mishloach Manos

One Purim, R’ Yehuda Nesiah sent to R’ Oshaya the thigh of a calf and a bottle of wine. R’ Oshaya sent back the following message: “Our teacher: By giving us (R’ Oshaya and his family) these gifts you have fulfilled the mitzvah of mishloach manos” (Vilna Gaon’s version of the text).

What was the point of R’ Oshaya’s statement? Of course the mitzvah of mishloach manos was fulfilled! The Chida writes in his Sefer Pesach Einayim that one might have thought that the Megillah was specific in the use of the term “rei’eihu.” This term generally refers to a friend or peer. R’ Oshaya did not consider himself to be a peer of R’ Yehuda Nesiah, but rather a student of his. It might have been erroneously assumed that one cannot fulfill the mitzvah of mishloach manos by giving gifts to an individual of a lesser stature than the giver. R’ Oshaya’s message was that even though he considered himself to be of a lesser stature than R’ Yehuda Nesiah, the mitzvah of mishloach manos was still fulfilled; a rebbi can fulfill the mitzvah of mishloach manos by giving two portions of food to his talmid.