SIMEON B. YANNAI:

By: Wilhelm Bacher, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach

Palestinian amora of the third century. He transmits a halakic saying of his father's which he had received from his sister, who had heard it uttered (Yer. Shab. 14b, 15d). Some of Simeon's haggadic explanations of Scriptural passages are extant, of which the following may be mentioned: On the passage in Ps. xii. 5, "now will I arise," he remarks: "As long as Jerusalem remains enveloped in ashes the might of God will not arise; but when the day arrives on which Jerusalem shall shake off the dust [Isa. lii. 2], then God will be 'raised up out of His holy habitation'" (Zech. ii. 17 [A. V. 13]; Gen. R. lxxv. 1). On Ps. cvi. 16 et seq. he says: "The people had decided to elect as their leaders Dathan and Abiram instead of Moses and Aaron [Num. xiv. 4], with the result that the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram" (Midr. Teh. to Ps. cvi. 5 [ed. Buber, p. 228a]).

W. B. J. Z. L.