person · P0151
Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon רבי אלעזר בן שמעון
Son of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who received his father's Torah in the cave where the two hid from Rome for thirteen years. In youth he studied alongside the future Rebbi before Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korchah; the aggadic cycle of Bava Metzia recounts his controversial service arresting thieves for the Roman government, the afflictions he accepted upon himself in penance, and his posthumous vindication.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- רבי אלעזר בן שמעון
- Also known as
- Rabbi Elazar beRabbi Shimon, Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon
- Era
- tannaim
- Generation
- T5
- Received the mesorah from
- Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai
- Parents
- Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai
- Teachers
- Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai
- Colleagues
- Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, Rabbi Yishmael beRabbi Yose
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3885–3945 AM
- Academic
- c. 125–185 CE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈60 years
- Precision
- approximate
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hid with his father Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in a cave for twelve years (thirteen including their return), sustained by a carob tree and a spring, immersed in Torah study.
Aggadic narrative. |
rabbinic | ★★★☆☆ | |
| Served the Roman government as an arrester of thieves and was rebuked for it ("vinegar, son of wine"); he accepted afflictions upon himself in penance. In youth he sat with Rebbi (Yehudah HaNasi) on the study benches before Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korchah.
Aggadic narrative cycle. |
rabbinic | ★★★☆☆ | |
| Taught, after the incident of the ugly man: a person should always be soft like a reed and not hard like a cedar. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| He and Rabbi Yishmael beRabbi Yose are described as so corpulent that a pair of oxen could pass beneath their bellies when they stood facing each other.
Hyperbolic physical-description narrative. |
rabbinic tradition | ★★★☆☆ | |
| Before dying he instructed his wife to keep his body in an attic because he feared the sages would refuse to bury him; she said the body remained there for between eighteen and twenty-two years.
Extraordinary aggadic postmortem narrative. |
rabbinic tradition | ★★★☆☆ | |
| The residents of Akhbaria resisted removal of his body, since no wild beast had harmed their town all the years it lay there; it was eventually taken on the eve of Yom Kippur and buried in his father's burial cave.
The Bavli does not identify the father's burial cave with Meron; that identification is a later tradition.
|
rabbinic tradition | ★★★☆☆ | |
| Traditional placement c. 3885–3945 AM (c. 125–185 CE): a youth at the time of the flight to the cave after the Bar Kokhba revolt, active in the generation of Rebbi.
Schematic traditional dating. |
tradition reconstruction | ★☆☆☆☆ |