Reish Lakish, a well known Talmudic rabbi, was marking the entrances to the burial caves of Sages. He began searching for the cave of Rabbi Hiya, but it eluded him. “Why can’t I find it?” Reish Lakish wondered aloud. “Am I not worthy? Did I not debate and analyze Torah like Rabbi Hiya?” Just then, a bat kol, a Divine Voice, called out, saying: “You analyze Torah like Rabbi Hiya, but you did not disseminate it, you did not teach it, like he did.”
Rabbi Hiya would often quarrel with another rabbi, Rabbi Hanina. Rabbi Hanina would say “Do you dare quarrel with me?! Even if, God forbid, all Torah were forgotten by the Jewish people, I could restore it myself through my powers of analysis and intellect.”
Rabbi Hiya would respond: “Do you dare argue with me, considering what I have done to ensure that the Torah will never be forgotten by the Jewish people?!
What do I do? Well, I weave nets from the flax I plant, and I use the nets to catch deer. I skin the deer for parchment, and I give the meat to orphans. On the parchment, I write the five books of Torah.
“Then I go to a town where there are no teachers, and I teach the five books to five children, one book each. I then teach the six orders of the Mishnah to six other children, again one order each. Then I tell each child: ‘Until I return, teach each other the book you learned.’ And thus, my efforts ensure that the Torah will not be forgotten by the Jewish people.”
This is what Rabbi Yehuda haNasi said in regard to Rabbi Hiya’s achievement: How great are the deeds of Hiya.