Simeon the Just

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Simeon the Just

Simeon the Just (or Shimon HaTzaddik or Shimon the Pious or Simeon the Righteous) was the Jew

Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish High Priest

Kohen Gadol

Kohen Gadol or Kohen ha-Gadol is the title of wiktionary:High Priest of early Israelite religion and of Classical Age Judaism from the rise of the Israelite nation until the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem....
during the time of the Second Temple

Second Temple

The Second Temple was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem which stood between 516 BCE and 70 CE. During this time, it was the center of Judaism worship, which focused on the sacrifices known as the korbanot....
. He is also known for some of his views which are recorded in the Mishnah

Mishnah

The Mishnah or Mishna is a major work of Rabbinic literature, and the first major redaction into written form of Jewish oral traditions, called the Oral Torah....
, (making him a Tanna
Tannaim

The Tannaim were the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 70-200 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 130 years....
in Rabbinic terminology).

on the Just is identical either with Simon I

Simon I (High Priest)

Simon I son of Onias I, was Kohen Gadol in the Temple in Jerusalem. Some identify him as Simeon the Just.References...
(310-291 or 300-270 BCE), son of Onias I, and grandson of Jaddua

Jaddua

Jaddua was a the son of Jonathan and a high priest during the postexilic period. Reference to Jaddua may be found in Nehemiah verses 12:11,22....
, or with Simon II (219-199 BCE), son of Onias II.

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Simeon the Just (or Shimon HaTzaddik or Shimon the Pious or Simeon the Righteous) was the Jew

Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish High Priest

Kohen Gadol

Second Temple

Mishnah

Confusion as to Identity

Simeon the Just is identical either with Simon I

Simon I (High Priest)

Simon I son of Onias I, was Kohen Gadol in the Temple in Jerusalem. Some identify him as Simeon the Just.References...
(310-291 or 300-270 BCE), son of Onias I, and grandson of Jaddua

Jaddua

Jaddua was a the son of Jonathan and a high priest during the postexilic period. Reference to Jaddua may be found in Nehemiah verses 12:11,22....
, or with Simon II (219-199 BCE), son of Onias II. Many statements concerning him are variously ascribed by scholars to four different persons who bore the same surname; e.g., to Simeon I by Fränkel and Grätz

Heinrich Graetz

Heinrich Graetz was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective.Born Tzvi Hirsh Graetz to a butcher family in Ksiaz-Wielkopolski in Germany , he obtained his doctorate from the University of Jena....
; to Simeon II by Krochmal and Brüll; to Simon Maccabeus by Löw; and to Simeon the son of Gamaliel by Weiss.

About no other high priest does such a mixture of fact and fiction center, the Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
, Josephus

Josephus

Josephus , also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu and, after he became a Roman citizenship, as Titus Flavius Josephus, was a first-century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and royal ancestry who survived and recorded the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70....
, Sirach and the Second Book of Maccabees

2 Maccabees

2 Maccabees is a deuterocanonical books book of the Bible which focuses on the Jews' revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes and concludes with the defeat of the Syrian general Nicanor in 161 BC by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work....
all containing accounts of him. He was termed "the Just" either because of the piety of his life and his benevolence toward his compatriots (Josephus, Antiquities
Antiquities of the Jews

Antiquities of the Jews was a work published by the important Jewish historian Josephus about the year 93 or 94. Antiquities of the Jews is a Jewish history, written in Greek language for Josephus' gentile patrons....
, 12:2, § 5), or because he took thought for his people (Ecclesiasticus 50. 4). He was deeply interested both in the spiritual and in the material development of the nation. Thus, according to Ecclesiasticus 50. 1-14, he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
, which had been torn down by Ptolemy Soter

Ptolemy I Soter

Ptolemy I Soter was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great who became ruler of Egypt and founder of both the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Dynasty....
, and repaired the damage done to the Temple

Temple in Jerusalem

The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to a series of structures located on the Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem. Historically, two temples were built at this location, and a The Third Temple features in Jewish eschatology....
, raising the foundation-walls of its court and enlarging the cistern

Cistern

A cistern is a receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Often cisterns are built to catch and store rainwater. They range in capacity from a few litres to thousands of cubic metres ....
therein so that it was like a pool (that these statements can apply only to Simeon I is shown by Grätz, and they agree, moreover, with the Talmudic accounts of Simeon's undertakings).

When Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
marched through Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It is derived from a name used already much earlier for a narrower geographical region, mainly along the coastal region....
in the year 333 BCE, Simeon the Just, according to the legend, dressed in his eight priestly robes went to Antipatris

Antipatris

Antipatris, one of two places known as Tel Afek, was a city built by Herod the Great, and named in honour of his father, Antipater the Idumaean....
to meet him (Yoma 69a), although Josephus (l.c. xi.8, § 4) states that Alexander himself came to Jerusalem (but see Jew. Encyc. i.341b, vii.51b). The legend further declares that as soon as the Macedon

Macedon

Macedon or Macedonia was the name of a monarchy centred in the northernmost part of ancient Greece. The homeland of the ancient Macedonians, it was bordered by the kingdom of Epirus to the west and the region of Thrace to the east....
ian saw the high priest, he descended from his chariot and bowed respectfully before him. When Alexander's courtiers criticized his act, he replied that it had been intentional, since he had had a vision in which he had seen the high priest, who had predicted his victory. Alexander demanded that a statue of himself be placed in the Temple; but the high priest explained to him that this was impossible, promising him instead that all the sons born of priests in that year should be named Alexander and that the Seleucidan

Seleucid Empire

The Seleucid Empire /s?'lus?d/ was a Hellenistic empire, i.e. a successor state of Alexander the Great's empire. The Seleucid Empire was centered in the near East and at the height of its power included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir Mountains and parts of Pakistan....
era should be introduced (Lev. R. xiii, end; Pesi?. R., section "Parah"). This story appears to be identical with III Macc. ii, where Seleucus (Kasgalgas) is mentioned (So?ah 33a; Yer. So?ah ix. 3; Cant. R. 38c; Tosef., So?ah, xiii). During the administration of Simeon the Just the Red Heifer

Red heifer

In Abrahamic religions, the Red Heifer was a sacrificial cow whose ashes were used for the ritual purification of people who came into contact with a corpse....
is said to have been burned twice, and he therefore built two wooden bridges from the Temple Mount

Temple Mount

The Temple Mount , also known as Mount Moriah and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary , is a religious site in the Old City of Jerusalem of Jerusalem....
to the Mount of Olives

Mount of Olives

The Mount of Olives is a mountain ridge in east Jerusalem with three peaks running from north to south. The highest, at-Tur, rises to 818 meters ....
(Parah iii.6; Yer. She?. iv.2).

His Position

Simeon occupied a position intermediate between the Hasmonean

Hasmonean

The Hasmoneans were the ruling dynasty of the Hasmonean Kingdom of Israel , an independent Jewish state. The Hasmonean dynasty was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after his brother Judas Maccabeus defeated the Seleucid army during the Maccabean Revolt in 165 BCE....
s and the Hellenists

Hellenistic civilization

File:Diadochen1.pngHellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Ancient Greece influence in the Classical Antiquity from 323 BC to about 146 BC ....
, while, as he himself boasted, he was an opponent of the Nazirite

Nazirite

A nazirite or nazarite, , refers to a Jew who took the ascetic vow described in . The term "nazirite" comes from the Hebrew word nazir meaning "consecrated" or "separated"....
s and ate of the sacrifice

Korban

Korban , in Judaism, is the term for a variety of Sacrifice described and commanded in the Torah. Such sacrifices were offered in a variety of settings by the ancient Israelites, and later by the Jewish priesthood, the Kohen, at the Temple in Jerusalem....
offered by one of that sect only on a single occasion. Once a youth with flowing hair came to him and wished to have his head shorn. When asked his motive, the youth replied that he had seen his own face reflected in a spring and it had pleased him so that he feared lest his beauty might become an idol to him. He therefore wished to offer up his hair to God, and Simeon then partook of the sin-offering

Sin-offering

A sin offering is a type of korban, specifically a sacrifice made for the atonement of an unintentional sin ....
which he brought (Naz. 4b; Ned. 9b; Yer. Ned. 36d; Tosef., Naz. iv; Yer. Naz. i.7).

Length of Tenure

During Simeon's administration seven miracles are said to have taken place. A blessing rested (1) on the offering of the first fruits

First Fruits

First Fruits are a religious offering of the first agricultural produce of the harvest. In classical Ancient Greek religion, Religion in ancient Rome, Judaism and Christianity religions, the first fruits were offered to the temple or Church ....
, (2) on the two sacrificial loaves, and (3) on the loaves of showbread

Showbread

Showbread , in the King James Version: shewbread, in a Bible or Judaism context, refers to the cakes or loaves of bread which were always present on a specially dedicated table, in the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God....
, in that, although each priest received a portion no larger than an olive, he ate and was satiated without even consuming the whole of it; (4) the lot cast for God (see Lev. xvi.8) always came into the right hand; (5) the red thread around the neck of the ram invariably became white on the Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur , also known in English as the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn and important of the Jewish holidays. Its central themes are Atonement in Judaism and Repentance in Judaism....
; (6) the light in the Temple never failed; and (7) the fire on the altar required but little wood to keep it burning (Yoma 39b; Men. 109b; Yer. Yoma vi.3). Simeon is said to have held office for forty years (Yoma 9a; Yer. Yoma i.1, v.2; Lev. R. xxi). On a certain Day of Atonement he came from the Holy of Holies

Holy of Holies

The Holy of Holies is a term in the Hebrew Bible which referred to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle and later the Temple in Jerusalem which could be entered only by the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur....
in a melancholy mood, and when asked the reason, he replied that on every Day of Atonement a figure clothed in white had ushered him into the Holy of Holies and then had escorted him out. This time, however, the apparition had been clothed in black and had conducted him in, but had not led him out—a sign that that year was to be his last. He is said to have died seven days later (Yoma 39b; Tosef., So?ah, xv; Yer. Yoma v.1).

Simeon the Just is called one of the last members of the Great Assembly

Great Assembly

According to Judaism, the Great Assembly or Anshei Knesset HaGedolah , also known as the Great Synagogue, was an assembly of 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, in the period from the end of the prophets up to the time of the development of Rabbinic Judaism, marking a transition from an era of prophets to an era of Rabbis....
, but it is no longer possible to determine which of the four who bore this name was really the last.

Elegy by Ben Sira
Ben Sira

Sirach, by Ben Sira, also known as The Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, or Ecclesiasticus, is a work from the second century BC, originally written in Hebrew language....

The personality of Simeon the Just, whose chief maxim was "The world exists through three things: the Law, worship, and beneficence" (Pirkei Avoth
Pirkei Avoth

Pirkei Avot / Ovos is a tractate of the Mishna composed of ethics maxims of the Rabbis of the Mishnaic period. It is the second-last tractate in the Mishnaic order Nezikin....
1:2), and the high esteem in which he was held, are shown by a poem in Ecclus. (Sirach) 50., which compares him, at the moment of his exit from the Holy of Holies, to the sun, moon, and stars, and to the most magnificent plants. This poem appeared with certain changes in the ritual of the evening service for the Day of Atonement; a translation of it is given in Grätz, Gesch. ii.239, and in Hamburger, R.B.T. ii.111. After Simeon's death men ceased to utter the Tetragrammaton

Tetragrammaton

Tetragrammaton The letters, properly read from right to left , are:|-! Hebrew !! Letter name !! Pronunciation|-valign=top| ?'...
aloud (Yoma 30b; Tosef. So?ah, xiii).

Simeon the Just

Confusion as to Identity

His Position

Length of Tenure

Elegy by Ben SiraBen SiraSirach, by Ben Sira, also known as The Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, or Ecclesiasticus, is a work from the second century BC, originally written in Hebrew language....

See also

Elegy by Ben Sira
Ben Sira

Sirach, by Ben Sira, also known as The Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, or Ecclesiasticus, is a work from the second century BC, originally written in Hebrew language....