Rav Chisda Asks Rabbah Not to Tell the Students
When Rabbah disproves Rav Chisda's new interpretation, Rav Chisda asks him not to tell the students, lest they rejoice at his error and be punished.
Rav Chisda offered his own novel interpretation in the beis midrash. In response, Rabbah proved from the words of an earlier Tanna that Rav Chisda’s interpretation was incorrect. Whereupon Rav Chisda asked Rabbah not to inform the students in the beis midrash of his error. According to Rashi, we can understand why he didn’t want the talmidim to know that he erred, as he was concerned for their welfare. He realized that some students would slightly rejoice over his error and therefore deserve Divine retribution. In fact, Rashi explicitly explains the reason that Rav Chisda directed Rabbah not to inform the students of his error: “They will be happy that a disproof was found for my opinion.”