Shimon HaTzaddik and Alexander the Great

The Gemara relates that the twenty-fifth of Teves is called the day of Har Gerizim, and eulogies are forbidden on it because it is a day of rejoicing. On that day the Kutim asked Alexander of Macedon for permission to destroy the Beis Hamikdash, and he agreed. Shimon HaTzaddik, who was Kohen Gadol at the time, put on the priestly garments, and the leading men of Yerushalayim went out with him carrying torches.

When Alexander saw them approaching in the distance, he asked the Kutim who these men were. They answered that these were the Jews who had rebelled against him. But as soon as Alexander met Shimon HaTzaddik face to face, he stepped down from his chariot and bowed to him. His servants protested that so great a king should not bow to a Jew. Alexander replied that this was the face that appeared to him before every battle that he won.

Alexander then asked the Jews why they had come. They said that the Beis Hamikdash, where they prayed for him and for his kingdom, was about to be destroyed because of the false words of idolaters. He asked who these idolaters were, and the Jews pointed to the Kutim standing before him. Alexander said, "I hand them over to you. Do with them as you wish." The Kutim were dragged to Har Gerizim, and their own temple was destroyed in the very way they had planned to destroy ours.

That day was declared a holiday. Out of gratitude to the Greek king, every boy born that year was named Alexander.