person · P0147
Rabbi Elazar ben Shammua רבי אלעזר בן שמוע
The plain "Rabbi Elazar" of the Mishnah — a kohen, among the five later students of Rabbi Akiva who restored Torah after the Hadrianic persecutions, and one of the teachers to whom the young Rebbi (Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi) went to learn. Remembered for his teaching that the honor of one's student should be as dear as one's own.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- רבי אלעזר בן שמוע
- Also known as
- Rabbi Elazar, Elazar ben Shamua
- Era
- tannaim
- Generation
- T4
- Received the mesorah from
- Rabbi Akiva
- Teachers
- Rabbi Akiva
- Students
- Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi
- Colleagues
- Rabbi Yehudah bar Ilai, Rabbi Yose ben Chalafta, Rabbi Meir
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3860–3945 AM
- Academic
- c. 100–185 CE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈85 years
- Precision
- approximate
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taught: "Let the honor of your student be as dear to you as your own, and the honor of your colleague as the reverence of your teacher, and the reverence of your teacher as the reverence of Heaven." | rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| Named among the five later students of Rabbi Akiva in the south who revived Torah after the death of the first students. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| Rebbi recalled going to learn Torah from Rabbi Elazar ben Shammua, whose students banded against him "like the roosters of Beit Bukya" before allowing him in. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| Was among the five sages ordained by Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava at a remote site between Usha and Shefaram during the Roman prohibition on ordination, and escaped with the other newly ordained sages when Roman forces discovered the gathering.
His name is explicit in the list of ordinands. |
rabbinic tradition | ★★★★★ | |
| Traditional placement c. 3860–3945 AM (c. 100–185 CE): a student of Rabbi Akiva who lived to teach Rebbi, extending late into the Usha generation.
Schematic traditional dating. |
tradition reconstruction | ★★☆☆☆ |