Simeon of Shiḳmona

Tanna of the second generation and pupil of Akiba. He was anative of Shiḳmona, a locality in the vicinity of Mt. Carmel (see Neubauer, "G. T." p. 197). Only three sentences of his, exegetic ones, have been preserved. They were transmitted by his fellow pupil R. Ḥidḳa; and all of them express the principle that good and evil are brought about through the respective agencies of good and of evil persons. Thus the Sabbath-breaker mentioned in Num. xv. 32 was the cause of the law relating to the punishment for desecrating the Sabbath (Sifre, Num. 114 [ed. Friedmann, p. 34a]); the pious questioners described in Num. ix. 7 were the cause of the law concerning the Pesaḥ Sheni (Sifre, Num. 68 [ed. Friedmann, p. 17b]); and the demand of the daughters of Zelophehad led to the enunciation of the law relating to the inheritance of property (Sifre, Num. 133 [ed. Friedmann, p. 49b]).

Bibliography: Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, p. 364; Bacher, Ag. Tan. i. 445-446.

By Wilhelm Bacher, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach.