Shimon ben Eleazar
140 CE–210 CE · Tannaim · Tiberias
Rabbi Shimon ben Eleazar was a fourth-generation Tanna active primarily in Tiberias during the late second century CE. He was a student of Rabbi Meir and a contemporary of Rabbi Judah the Prince. Shimon ben Eleazar became known for his sharp dialectical mind and his expertise in legal reasoning, frequently appearing in Mishnaic disputes where he offers distinctive interpretations of Jewish law. He was particularly engaged with questions of ritual purity, damages, and other areas of halakha. His teachings were preserved in the Mishnah and Tosefta, and he was remembered as a rigorous transmitter of tradition and an independent voice in the academy at Tiberias during a formative period of rabbinic Judaism.
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TiberiasLand of Israel
We know they were here, but the specifics of what they did at this stop aren’t recorded yet in our corpus.
Tiberias in this era
Under the Roman emperors from Antoninus Pius through Septimius Severus, Tiberias flourished as the spiritual and administrative heart of Palestinian Jewry, its lakeside academies humming with the voices of sages debating Torah while Roman legions garrisoned the broader land. The Jewish community there—prosperous merchants, scribes, and scholars—enjoyed a degree of autonomy under their own patriarchs, who administered civil law and collected taxes on Rome's behalf, a precarious equilibrium that allowed Jewish learning to bloom even as Rome's grip tightened elsewhere in the province. The very generation in which R. Shimon ben Eleazar taught saw the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135 CE) still casting its shadow: restrictions on Jewish practice had eased somewhat, but the community remained vigilant, aware that Roman patience was conditional and could fracture at any moment. In this atmosphere of fragile stability, the sage contributed to the Mishnah's crystallization, helping preserve oral law at a moment when the old Jewish political order had been permanently shattered.
About Tiberias
Galilee center; home of Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and his Hasidic disciples after aliyah.
In Tiberias at the same time
Anonymous (Sefer Yetzirah), Yose ben Yehuda, Chiyya HaGadol, Levi bar Sisi, Reish Lakish
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Shimon ben Eleazar’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
Anonymous (Sefer Yetzirah), Yose ben Yehuda, Chiyya HaGadol, Levi bar Sisi, Reish Lakish
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Shimon ben Eleazar’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Jewish world
- Yehoshua ben Korcha· 100 CE–190 CE
- Yochanan HaSandlar (the Cobbler)· 100 CE–170 CE
- Rabbi Nehorai· 100 CE–170 CE
- Yehuda bar Ilai· 110 CE–180 CE
- Eleazar ben Shamua· 110 CE–180 CE
- Nechemia· 110 CE–180 CE
- Eliezer ben Yaakov (II)· 110 CE–180 CE
- Natan HaBavli (the Babylonian)· 110 CE–180 CE
- Rabbi Yose ben Halafta· 110 CE–180 CE
- Rabbi Meir· 110 CE–175 CE
- Beruriah bat Chananyah ben Teradion (wife of R. Meir)· 110 CE–170 CE
- Symmachus ben Joseph· 120 CE–190 CE
- Eliezer ben Shimon (son of Rashbi)· 130 CE–200 CE
- Yehudah HaNasi (Rabbi)· 135 CE–217 CE
- Pinchas ben Yair (son-in-law of Rashbi)· 140 CE–220 CE
- Bar Kappara· 150 CE–220 CE
- Mar Ukva (Resh Galuta)· 165 CE–240 CE
- Rav (Abba Arikha)· 175 CE–247 CE
- Karna (Dayyana di-Galuta)· 180 CE–250 CE
- Rav Asi the Babylonian· 180 CE–250 CE
- Yannai (Akbra)· 180 CE–250 CE
- Chanina bar Chama· 180 CE–250 CE
- Hoshaya Rabbah· 180 CE–250 CE
- Shmuel (Babylonian Amora)· 180 CE–254 CE
Scientists
Graeco-Roman world
Christian world
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.