Shimon HaKohen HaTzaddik
Kohen Gadol at the start of the Second Temple era and a survivor of the Men of the Great Assembly, remembered for the miracles of his years and for teaching what the world stands upon.
Biography
Torah and leadership
Shimon HaTzaddik zt"l was one of the earliest Kohanim Gedolim (High Priests) of the Second Temple, and one of the most famous. He was among the survivors of the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah (Men of the Great Assembly), the group of 120 sages who led the Jewish people at the beginning of the Second Temple era.
The Gemara divides the Second Temple period into three stages. The first was the most meritorious, the second was a gradual decline, and the third was the lowest, ending with the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash in the year 70 C.E. Shimon HaTzaddik served as Kohen Gadol in the first stage.
In his time Talmai conquered Yehudah, destroyed the walls of Yerushalayim, plundered the treasures of the Beis Hamikdash and sold 100,000 men and women into slavery. When Talmai finally left, Shimon HaTzaddik devoted himself to repairing the devastation of the land, and he rebuilt the walls of Yerushalayim.
The miracles of his years
Chazal relate that throughout the forty years that Shimon HaTzaddik served as Kohen Gadol, miracles happened again and again in the Beis Hamikdash.
On Yom Kippur, the lot marked LaHashem always came up in the right hand of the Kohen Gadol. The strip of crimson wool tied to the head of the scapegoat always turned white, a sign that the people were forgiven. The westernmost lamp of the menorah always stayed lit, and the kohen used its flame to light the lamps of the next day. The fire on the altar burned strongly without any extra wood. And a blessing rested on the first fruits of the Omer, on the two loaves of Shavuos and on the lechem hapanim (showbread), so that each kohen was satisfied with a portion no bigger than an olive.
His faithfulness and goodwill during his years as Kohen Gadol inspired the whole nation. He is described as a man who gave great thought and care to his fellow man, and his remarkable character deeply moved the people. It is told that this showed itself in the wonders that filled the Beis Hamikdash, the house to which Shimon HaTzaddik was so devoted.
Later years and passing
Shimon HaTzaddik passed away in Eretz Yisroel on 29 Tishrei 3449 (312 BCE), after falling ill for seven days following Sukkos.
Legacy
After his passing, the Jewish people could not sustain the spiritual heights they had reached in his lifetime, and they slid into a decline from which they never recovered. It continued and worsened as the Second Temple era went on. The miracles of the Beis Hamikdash became uncertain: in some years they occurred and in others they did not. The decline reached its lowest point in the last forty years of the Second Temple, and in those four decades none of the miracles happened at all.
Many sins spread among the people during this decline, but none was as self-destructive as sinas chinam (baseless hatred between one Jew and another). This wound, which the people inflicted on themselves, finally brought about the destruction of the Second Temple. The Gemara records that this national tragedy reached its height exactly forty years before the Churban (destruction), at a time when murder had become so common that the Sanhedrin stopped judging capital cases.
Stories
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.
His Last Yom Kippur
In the year that he passed away, Shimon HaTzaddik told those around him, "This year I am going to die." They asked how he knew. He answered, "Every Yom Kippur an elderly man dressed in white and wrapped in white would enter the Kodesh Hakodashim with me and leave with me. This time an elderly man dressed in black and wrapped in black entered with me, but he did not come out with me."
After Sukkos he fell ill for seven days, and then he passed away. That year the kohanim did not mention the Name of Hashem when they recited the priestly blessing.
Teachings
The Three Pillars of the World
Shimon HaTzaddik taught that the world stands upon three things: upon Torah, upon avodah (service, which is prayer), and upon acts of kindness.
Pirkei Avos 1:2
Also on 29 Tishrei
All hilulos on 29 Tishrei ›Historical sources
- Yoma 39b and 69a
- Pirkei Avos 1:2