person · P0077
Ben Azzai בן עזאי
Ben Azzai was a leading early second-century sage celebrated for intense devotion to Torah study. His teachings stress the self-reinforcing power of mitzvot and the universal dignity of humanity. Rabbinic texts also preserve the tension between his strong advocacy of procreation and his own failure to marry, as well as his death in the mystical Pardes narrative.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- בן עזאי
- Also known as
- Shimon ben Azzai, Simeon ben Azzai
- Era
- tannaim
- Generation
- T3
- Colleagues
- Rabbi Akiva, Ben Zoma
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3830–3895 AM, in the generation of Rabbi Akiva
- Academic
- fl. early 2nd century CE.
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈65 years
- Precision
- approximate
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Azzai taught: run to perform even a minor commandment and flee from transgression, because one commandment leads to another and one transgression leads to another.
Directly stated in the cited source. |
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| Although he taught that neglecting procreation diminishes the divine image, Ben Azzai answered criticism of his own celibacy by saying that his soul desired Torah and the world could be sustained by others.
Directly stated in the cited source. |
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| In the account of four sages who entered the Pardes, Ben Azzai gazed and died; the verse "precious in the eyes of God is the death of His pious ones" is applied to him.
Mystical-aggadic narrative. |
rabbinic | ★★★☆☆ | |
| Ben Azzai said that "This is the book of the generations of Adam" is an even greater principle of Torah than "love your neighbor as yourself," emphasizing common human descent.
The cited source supports this summary; minor wording or identification details are interpretive.
|
rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| Ben Azzai testified: "I found a scroll of genealogies (megillat yuchasin) in Jerusalem," citing traditions recorded in it.
First-person statement quoted in the Mishnah there. |
rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| The traditional placement c. 3830–3895 AM, in the generation of Rabbi Akiva, is a schematic Mesorah Atlas reconstruction from his association with Rabbi Akiva's generation and the Pardes circle; the cited sources do not state an absolute AM range.
The cited sources establish relative chronology or regnal duration; they do not state the absolute AM range.
|
tradition reconstruction | ★☆☆☆☆ |