person · P0158

Levi ben Sisi לוי בן סיסי

Student and attendant of Rebbi, the "Levi" cited in the Bavli without the title Rabbi — a transitional semi-tanna who compiled his own collection of baraitot (the mishnayot "of the school of Levi"). Sent by Rebbi to serve the townspeople of Simonia, he later carried the tannaitic tradition eastward, arriving in Nehardea after Rebbi's death and teaching there beside the fathers of the first amoraim.

I. Who

Hebrew: לוי בן סיסי
Also known as: Levi bar Sisi, Levi
Era: tannaim
Generation: T6

Received the mesorah from: Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi

Teachers: Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi
Colleagues: Rabbi Chiya

II. When

Traditional: c. 3930–3990 AM
Academic: c. 170–230 CE
Lifespan (traditional): ≈60 years
Precision: approximate

V. How do we know

Claim	Evidence	Confidence	Sources
Demonstrated kidah (the full prostration on thumbs alone) before Rebbi and became lame — the Talmud attributing his lameness both to this and to his hurling words heavenward during a drought prayer. Aggadic; Sukkah 53a records the kidah before Rebbi, Taanit 25a weighs the two causes ("this and that caused it").	rabbinic	★★★☆☆	Taanit 25a Sukkah 53a
When the people of Simonia asked Rebbi for one man to serve as preacher, judge, chazan, scribe, and teacher of their traditions, Rebbi gave them Levi bar Sisi; seated on a great platform, he was publicly stumped by their questions — and later explained himself before Rebbi.	rabbinic	★★★☆☆	Yerushalmi Yevamot 12:6
In the years after Rebbi's death he came to Nehardea and taught there — the report of "a tall, lame great man" who arrived in Nehardea and expounded that the kelila ornament is permitted led Rav to identify him as Levi and to deduce that Rabbi Afes had died and Rabbi Chanina now presided, leaving Levi without a study companion in the Galil; geonic tradition counts "the school of Levi" among the compilations of baraitot cited in the Talmud. Shabbat 59b: Rav infers "Rabbi Afes has died and Rabbi Chanina sits at the head, and Levi had no one to sit with, so he came here" — the deduced death is Rabbi Afes's (who presided after Rebbi's death, per Ketubot 103b), not Rebbi's. Rav Sherira cites "as Levi said in his mishnah" among the tannaitic collections.	rabbinic tradition	★★★★☆	Shabbat 59b Iggeret Rav Sherira Gaon
Was present during the discussions surrounding Rebbi's deathbed succession arrangements and asked why the firstborn Gamliel required explicit appointment as Nasi. Concrete placement in Rebbi's immediate circle; in the same exchange Rabbi Shimon ben Rabbi refers to Levi's limp.	rabbinic tradition	★★★★★	Ketubot 103b
The Bavli cites "the notebook (pinkas) of Levi," a written record of matters he had said before Rebbi. "It is written in the pinkas of Levi: I said before Rebbi..." — an attribution of a physical written record, although no manuscript survives.	rabbinic tradition	★★★★☆	Shabbat 156a
Traditional placement c. 3930–3990 AM (c. 170–230 CE): attendant of Rebbi in the Galil, active in Nehardea after Rebbi's death in the earliest amoraic years. Schematic traditional dating.	tradition reconstruction	★★☆☆☆	Shabbat 59b (Levi's arrival in Nehardea in the earliest amoraic years)