Rabbi Zeira Moves to Eretz Yisrael
Rabbi Zeira fasts a hundred fasts and slips away from his rebbe Rav Yehudah to settle in Eretz Yisrael, then eats meat Bavel would forbid, following his new home's custom.
Rebbe Zaira longed to learn in Eretz Yisrael. He deeply desired to master the Eretz Yisrael style of Torah learning, and the Gemara tells us that he fasted one hundred fasts so he would be able to fully acclimate to their radically different style of study, leaving his Babylonian methodology behind. Meanwhile, he had to actively evade his beloved rebbe, Rav Yehuda, who didn’t want him to go.
Rebbe Zaira eventually made aliyah. Soon after his arrival, local scholars noticed that he was eating meat that was kosher according to exact Israeli standards but was considered non-kosher according to strict Babylonian standards (specifically, mugremes, meat from an animal where the slaughtering knife was slightly diverted).
The rabbinical students were astonished. They asked him, “Aren’t you from Bavel? Rav and Shmuel, the greatest of Babylonian sages, ruled that such a slaughter is completely invalid! Shouldn’t you follow the strict halachic rulings of your hometown?”