Simeon bar-Yohai

(mid 2nd century)

   Palestinian tanna. A pupil of AKIBA, he studied at Bnai Brak. He was one of the five outstanding pupils that survived the Roman persecution after the revolt of BAR-KOCHBA, and continued studying with Akiba after the latter’s imprisonment. Simeon established his school in Tekoah in the Hebron hills and told his pupils they should ‘learn my rules by heart as they are refined from those refined by Akiba’. Due to the brutal killing of his teacher and the religious persecutions of the Jews, Simeon bar-Yohai hated all gentiles and the Romans in particular. Once when they were praised for their public works Simeon said, ‘They have built market places to set harlots in them; baths for their own enjoyment, and bridges to levy tolls.’ The Romans, hearing of this, sentenced him to death. He and his son Eleazar fled and lived in a cave, probably in the Dead Sea area, for thirteen years. It is said they lived off the fruit of a carob tree, water from a nearby spring and the study of the Torah, and that it was the prophet Elijah himself who told them of HADRIAN’S death. After they returned to civilization, Simeon became renowned for his great learning. He was sent as the emissary of the Sanhedrin to Rome to plead with the Senate to annul certain of the anti-Jewish decrees, and was successful. The pupils at his academy in Tekoah included the future patriarch, JUDAH HA-NASI.

   Simeon’s judgments and sayings appear frequently in the Mishnah. He was the reputed author of the Zohar (see Moses de LEON) and thus became a central figure in cabbalistic lore. He was buried at Meron in Galilee and his grave has become a place of pilgrimage on Lag ba-Omer, the anniversary of his death. SIMEON ben-Gamaliel II (of Jabneh) First half of 2nd century. Nasi. Simeon, an erudite scholar, succeeded his father, GAMALIEL II, as nasi (‘patriarch’). He re-established rabbinical authority after the disruption caused by the BARKOCHBA revolt. When he was able to return from a period of hiding, he set about re-shaping the Sanhedrin, which was ruled by a triumvirate: the nasi, av bet-din (‘president’) and the chacham (‘sage’). Simeon also reaffirmed the importance of the Land of Israel over the Babylonian centre of learning. This was important as the nasi once again was responsible for the Jewish calendar and the intercalation - the insertion of an extra month each leap year.