Simeon ben Gamaliel II.

Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel II. (Also: Simon ; also: Shimon ; also: Gamliel II. , Hebrew רבן שמעון בן גמליאל; in the patriarchal count = Simeon III. , * Around 100 ; † after 160 ) was an ancient Jewish scholar , is counted among the 3rd generation Tannaites and held the patriarchal office from about 135 to 165 .

He was the son of Gamaliel II. In his youth, when the Bar Kochba uprising broke out, Simeon was in Betar, and when the Romans took the fortress, he managed to escape the massacre. After Hadrian's death around 140 in Usha - the center of the rabbinate founded by Akiba's students there instead of Jawne - chairman ( Nassi ) of the newly formed synhedrion in the succession of his father. Simeon's deputy was the son of the exilarchen, Natan the Babylonian , who at times disputed Simeon's chairmanship or - ultimately unsuccessfully - wanted to force his abdication.

During the patriarchy of Shimon ben Gamaliel II, the Jewish people were the subject of various persecutions and humiliations. This moved the Patriarch to the following remark (Shir ha-Shirim Rabba III, 3):

"Our forefathers only knew suffering from afar, but we have been persecuted by it for so many days, months and years that we have earned more than this the right to become impatient."

Simeon's Halachot take into account the practicability of the regulations and reject the unconditional validity of the same, instead calling for a modification depending on the case at hand. He also has a high regard for customary law. The protection of the interests and the dignity of women and slaves were of particular concern to him.

According to Simeon, the well-being of the whole is so important that in case of doubt the well-being of the individual has to take second place.

In the sayings of the fathers , the following sentence is passed down from him: "The world rests on three things: on justice, truth and peace" (I, 18).

According to tradition, Simeon is buried in Kfar Manda in Lower Galilee .

Simeon ben Gamaliel II was the father of Yehuda ha-Nasi .

literature

• Zacharias Frankel : Hodegetica. Leipzig 1859.
• Wilhelm Bacher, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach:  Simon (Ben Gamaliel II.). In: Isidore Singer (Ed.): Jewish Encyclopedia . Volume 11, Funk and Wagnalls, New York 1901-1906, pp.  347-348 .
• Aaron Hyman : Toldoth Tannaim we-Amoraim. London 1910.
• Simon Dubnow : World History of the Jewish People. 1925 ff.
• Simon III In: Salomon Wininger : Great Jewish National Biography. Vol. V, Orient Printing House, Chernivtsi 1931.
• Johann Krengel: SIMON ben GAMALIEL II. In: Georg Herlitz (Hrsg.): Jüdisches Lexikon . Vol. IV, 2, Jüdischer Verlag, Berlin 1927.
• Hermann L. Strack , Günter Stemberger : Introduction to Talmud and Midrash. 7th edition, CH Beck, Munich 1982.