Simeon ben Azzai

Shim'on ben Assai, usually just called Ben Assai (Hebrew בן עזאי or בן עזיי, name variants: Simon Ben Asaj, Simeon ben Azzai, Ben Azzai etc. - abbreviation of Azariah ), was a Jewish scholar of antiquity, and belonged to the younger group of the second generation of the Tannaim (second post-Christian century) called.

Although great learning he was not ordained and remained talmid, in terms of learning but as a shining example pattern emerged ( bKidd. 49b). He stood in close relation to the heads of the grammar school of Jamnia. He closed the Bible canon with intake of Shir ha - Schirim and Ecclesiastes.

Ben Assai was a student of Yehoshua ben Hananiah, traditional in its name against Rabbi Akiba ( Jeb. 4.13, Joma 2.3 ), as his pupil and friend, he saw himself otherwise (he had also married Akiba's daughter, but devoted himself soon exclusively to the study of Torah ).

Ben Assai studied with such diligence and perseverance that when he died, said: " With the death of Ben Assais perseverance heard in the study on " ( Sota 9:15). He is portrayed as a symbol of piety and was one of the most astute scholar. He also dealt with mystical questions ( " has entered the Pardes " ), which should have given him a premature death ( bChag. 14 b, 15 b ): He was one of the " ten martyrs " ( ECHA Rabbati II, 2). His fame later rose so high that both Yochanan bar Nappaha, the largest Palestinian amora, and Raw, the largest amora of Babylonia, to underpin their teaching authority, are said to have exclaimed: "Here I am Ben Assai! " ( jBikk. II, 65a; BPEA VI, 19c ).

Ben Assai clung to the traditional Judaism and argued against the propagated by Paul Christianity ( ECHA R. I, 1).

In Aboth following sayings are handed down from him (IV, 2-3 ):