Rav Meir Baal Haness

Early years and family

Rav Meir Baal Haness zt"l (the master of the miracle) was a sage of the Mishnah, a Tanna of the fourth generation. He descended from converts. The Gemara teaches that his father was a descendant of the Roman Emperor Nero, who had converted to Judaism. His birth is placed in Asia Minor.

The Gemara records that his real name was not Meir. It was Nehorai, or by other opinions Measha or Nechemiah. He was called Meir, “the illuminator,” because he enlightened the eyes of the scholars in halachah.

His main teacher was Rabbi Akiva. He also learned from Rabbi Yishmael and from Elisha ben Avuyah. Among his known talmidim were Symmachus and Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar.

His wife was Beruriah, the daughter of Rav Chananiah ben Teradyon, one of the very few women whose words are cited in the Gemara. She advised him wisely when wicked neighbors troubled him. When their two sons passed away, she broke the news to him gently and comforted him. They also had a daughter, whose husband was Zivsai.

Torah and leadership

Rav Meir was a scribe, and the Gemara tells that he once found himself in a place with no books and wrote out the entire Megillas Esther from memory. He earned three selaim a week. With one he bought food and drink, with the second clothing, and the third he gave to Torah scholars. When his students asked what would be left for his children, he answered that if they were righteous, Dovid’s words would hold true: a tzaddik is never forsaken, nor his children left begging for bread. If they were not, he asked, why should he leave his own money to the enemies of Hashem.

He is the third most frequently mentioned sage in the Mishnah. A total of 335 halachos in the Mishnah carry his explanations. He debates Rabbi Yehudah seventy-two times, Rabbi Yose thirty-two times, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai ten times and Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar once, and he appears in many beraisos and in the Tosefta, Sifra, Sifri, the Yerushalmi and the Aggadah. The Gemara says that an anonymous Mishnah follows Rabbi Meir, whose own view followed that of Rabbi Akiva.

Rabbi Akiva ordained him. After the persecutions that followed the Bar Kochba revolt, he was one of five sages ordained by Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava, together with Rabbi Yehudah, Rabbi Yose, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Rabbi Elazar. It is said that after the death of Rabbi Akiva’s talmidim, Rabbi Meir went to the rabbonim of the South and taught them, and that they raised up the Torah once more. Chazal say that those five sages stood up and filled all of Eretz Yisroel with Torah. During those years of persecution he and other sages had to flee Eretz Yisroel or go into hiding.

He was present at Usha, where the office of Nasi and the Sanhedrin were renewed after the revolt. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel was appointed Nasi, Rabbi Nasan became av beis din, and Rabbi Meir was appointed chacham. At one point Rabbi Nasan and Rabbi Meir tried to remove Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel from his post but did not succeed, and an attempt to place Rabbi Meir under a ban also failed. The Gemara teaches that, as a result of this opposition to the Nasi, all his later statements were recorded in the Mishnah anonymously, under the words “acherim omerim” (others say).

Rabbi Meir divided his lectures into three parts: one third halachah, one third aggadah and one third parables. He knew three hundred fox fables with which he seasoned his lectures, and three of them have been preserved. The Mishnah at the end of Sotah says that with his passing the composers of fables came to an end. He also gave a lecture every Friday evening, and one of the best-known stories about him is told below.

Why he is called Baal Haness

Rav Meir is called Baal Haness because of what happened when the Romans put his father-in-law to death for teaching Torah in public. His wife’s sister was sentenced to a life of shame, and Beruriah asked her husband to save her. He went, at risk to himself, and a series of miracles followed. The Gemara tells this episode in Avodah Zarah, and it is retold below.

Out of it grew a tradition kept to this day: a Jew in crisis gives tzedakah for the benefit of Torah students in Eretz Yisroel, whichever yeshivah it may be, dedicates it to the memory of Rav Meir Baal Haness, and says the words “Elokah deMeir, aneini” (God of Meir, answer me).

Passing and kever

Rav Meir went to live in Asia, and it was there that he passed away, on 14 Iyar. Before his passing he asked to be buried in Eretz Yisroel, by the seashore, so that the sea that washes the shores of Eretz Yisroel would also wash against his grave.

He was buried in Teveria, in a standing position, as the Arizal confirms in Shaar HaGilgulim. His kever lies on the shore of the Kinneret, a short distance from the city, and is one of the holiest sites in the Jewish world. Thousands of people come to pray there for their salvation.

Legacy

Tradition holds that Rav Meir said he would help those who give to the poor of Eretz Yisroel. Before his passing he promised, as a legacy to all generations, that he would personally plead in Heaven on behalf of anyone in distress who gives tzedakah to the poor in Eretz Yisroel for the sake of his soul. It has long been a sacred custom among Jews in crisis or in need to say “Elokah deMeir, aneini” as they give. The kabbalist Rav Menachem Azariah of Fano (1548 to 1620) explained the intention behind these words.

Countless stories are told of men and women who experienced miraculous help in a time of crisis after giving to the fund in memory of Rav Meir Baal Haness. The Lubavitcher Rebbe often encouraged people to give specifically to this tzedakah, as can be seen in Likutei Sichos, volume 31, pages 264 and 270, and volume 36, pages 276 and 289.