SIMEON B. JEHOZADAK:

By: Wilhelm Bacher, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach

Palestinian amora of the first generation; probably the teacher of Johanan, who has transmitted several halakic sayings of his (R. H. 34b; Yoma 43b; 'Ab. Zarah 47a; Ned. 45a; Niddah 10b; Ta'an. 28b). Simeon lived to be very old, and when he died Yannai and Johanan followed his remains to the grave (Yer. Naz. 56a). Simeon b. Jehozadak was a haggadist also, and several of his haggadic sayings have been preserved, handed down almost without exception by Johanan. "A scholar who does not avenge insults, but who harbors resentment like Nahash, King of the Ammonites, is no true scholar" (Yoma 22b; comp. Bacher, "Ag. Pal. Amor." i. 121). "One against whose ancestry no reproach can be brought should not be given charge of a congregation, because it is well to be able to say to one entrusted with such a charge, if he becomes proud, 'Look behind thee, and see whence thou comest'" (Yoma l.c.). "Better that a letter of the Torah should be put aside than that God's name should be publicly profaned" (Yeb. 79a). A few examples of Simeon's method of halakic exegesis occur in Sukkah (27a) and Baba Meẓi'a (22b).

W. B. J. Z. L.