SIMON

See also:

• BEN (from Old Eng. bennan, within)

BEN YOHAI (2nd

See also:

• CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century A.D.)  , a Galilean Rabbi, one of the most eminent disciples of Aqiba (q.v.) . His mastei was executed by Hadrian, and Simon's anti-Roman sentiments led to his own condemnation by Varna c . 161 A.D . (according to Graetz) . He escaped this doom and dwelt for some years in a cavern . Emerging from concealment, Simon settled in Tiberias and in other Galilean cities . He acquired a reputation as a worker of miracles, and on this ground was sent to Rome as an envoy, where (legend tells) he exorcised from the emperor's daughter a demon who had obligingly entered the lady to enable Simon to effect his miracle . This Rabbi bore a large part in the fixation of law, and his decisions are frequently quoted . To him were attributed the important legal homilies called Sifre and Mekhilta (see MIDRASII), and above all the Zohar, the Bible of the Kabbalah (q.v.) . This latter ascription is altogether unfounded, the real author of this mystical commentary on the Pentateuch being Moses of Leon (q.v.) . The fullest account of Simon's teachings is to be found in W . Bacher's Agada der Tannaiten, ii. pp .

70-149 . (I .