Shimon b. Chalafta

Talmudic Figures

Shimon b. Chalafta came from an illustrious family and was a regular at R. Yehudah haNasi's academy. There he developed a close friendship with R. Yehudah's son, Shimon, and with the academy's leading student, R. Chiyya. In spite of his lineage, he subsisted on little until helped by R. Chiyya.

Sources

The Gemara asks: From what episode did Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta earn the title: Researcher of matters? Rav Mesharshiyya said: He saw that it is written: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise; which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, provides her bread in the summer” (Proverbs 6:6–8). Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta said: I will go and see if it is correct that they have no king. He went in the season of Tammuz, i.e., summer. Knowing that ants avoid intense heat, he spread his cloak over an ant hole to provide shade…

Chullin 57b:10-11

The Gemara again addresses old age: Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said to Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta: For what reason did we not greet you during the Festival the way that my fathers greeted your fathers? This was a polite way of asking Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta why he had not come to visit Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. He said to him: Because I have grown old, and the rocks on the road have become tall, and destinations that are near have become far away, and my two feet have been made into three with the addition of a cane…

The Gemara concludes its earlier discussion of obese Sages (84a). Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta was obese. One day he was particularly hot and went and sat on a mountain boulder to cool himself off. He said to his daughter: My daughter, fan me with a fan, and as a gift I will give you packages of spikenard. In the meantime, a strong wind blew. He said: How many packages of spikenard do I owe to the overseers of this wind?

Bava Metzia 86a:12

The Gemara asks: Is there such a thing as meat that descends from heaven? The Gemara answers: Yes, it is like this incident: As Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta was walking along the way, he encountered those lions that were roaring at him, intending to eat him. He said: “The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God” (Psalms 104:21), and they deserve to receive food. Two thighs of an animal descended from heaven for him. The lions ate one of these thighs, and they left the other one…

Sanhedrin 59b:23

One person sowed turnips on his field; he used to cut them off and sell them. It happened that a fox made his nest in a turnip’s head. It happened in Shihin that one stalk of mustard plant had three leaves; one leaf was split off to cover a potter’s hut and they found on it three qab of mustard seed. Rebbi Simeon ben Ḥalaphta said, I had a stem of mustard plant on my property and I climbed on it the way one climbs a fig tree.

Jerusalem Talmud Peah 7:3:15

An illustration: Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great and Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta were sitting to study the Torah in the great study hall of Tiberias on the day before Passover, and some say that it was the day before the great fast [Yom Kippur]. They heard the sound of people crying. He [Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta] said to him [Rabbi Ḥiyya]: ‘Those people, what will they do?’ He said: ‘One who has, will buy, and one who does not have will go to his employer and he will give them.’ He said to him: ‘If so, I too will go to my employer, and He will give me…

Ruth Rabbah 3:4

“The Lord said to Moses: Behold, your days are approaching to die; summon Joshua, and stand in the Tent of Meeting and I will command him. Moses and Joshua went, and stood in the Tent of Meeting” (Deuteronomy 31:14).
“The Lord said to Moses: Behold, your days are approaching” – halakha, a person of Israel whose deceased relative is laid out before him, what is the ruling; is it permitted for him to pray? So, the Sages taught: One whose deceased relative is laid out before him is exempt from the recitation of Shema and from the Amida prayer…

Devarim Rabbah 9:1

Variantly: "with wheat (as fat as) the fat of kidneys": Each wheat (stalk in Eretz Yisrael is destined to produce (the quantity of) two kidneys of a large ox, fourteen litras by the litra of Sepphoris. And do not wonder at that. Look at the turnip heads. A fox once denned in the head of a turnip, which when it (the turnip) was weighed, was found to be sixty litra by the litra of Sepphoris. And it once happened in Shichin (near Sepphoris) with a mustard stalk of three shoots, that (the bast of) one shoot, when it was stripped, sufficed to roof a potter's hut, and which, when pounded…

Sifrei Devarim 317:6

“Wash and anoint yourself, place your garment upon you, and descend to the threshing floor. Do not disclose yourself to the man until he finishes eating and drinking” (Ruth 3:3).
“Wash and anoint yourself” – wash yourself from the taint of your [previous] idol worship, and “anoint yourself,” these are the mitzvot and righteous acts. “Place your garment upon you.” Was she naked? Rather, these are the Shabbat garments. From here, Rabbi Ḥanina said: A person should have two outer garments, one for weekdays and one for Shabbat. Rabbi Samlai taught this in public…

Ruth Rabbah 5:12

Another matter, “a time to be born” – from the time to be born, it is the time to die. From the moment that a person is born, it is decreed upon him how many years he will live. If he merits, he will complete his years. If not, his life will be shortened, as it is written: “The fear of the Lord will increase days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened” (Proverbs 10:27). This is the opinion of Rabbi Akiva. The Rabbis say: If he merits, his life will be extended; if not, his life will be shortened…

Kohelet Rabbah 3:2:3

Another matter, “The advantage of land” – there was an incident involving a certain man who was standing on the bank of the river. He saw a frog laden with a scorpion and taking it across the river. He said: ‘This one is prepared to perform its mission.’ It took it across the river, and it went and performed its mission. [The frog] took it back to its place. The sound of wailing was heard in the city: A scorpion bit so-and-so, and he died.
Rabbi Pinḥas said in the name of Rabbi Ḥanin of Tzippori: There was an incident involving a certain man who was standing and digging in the Beit…

Vayikra Rabbah 22:4

“They brought the Tabernacle” – that is what is written: “Might and grandeur are her garment, and she laughs at the final day” (Proverbs 31:25). What is “at the final day”? It is that all the reward of the righteous is prepared for them in the World to Come. That is, “she laughs at the final day.” There was an incident involving Rabbi Abahu who was departing from the world and saw all the good that was prepared for him in the World to Come. He began rejoicing and said: ‘All this is for Abahu? “But I said: For nothing I labored, I expended my strength for emptiness and futility…

Shemot Rabbah 52:3

“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: Any man, when he has a discharge from his flesh, his discharge is impure” (Leviticus 15:2).
“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: Any man, when he has a discharge from his flesh…” That is what is written: “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). We learned, Akavya ben Mahalalel says: Consider three matters and you will not come to sin: Know from where you came – from a putrid drop; where you are going – to dust, maggots, and worms…

Vayikra Rabbah 18:1

RABBI SIMEON BEN CHALAFTA was one of the outstanding colleagues of Rabbi Jehudah ha-Nasi during the latter’s old age. He was a member of a family of scholars and the Talmud referred to his father as Be Rabbi (the son of a rabbi) which indicates that at least three generations had been ordained. The family of Rabbi Simeon was a loyal adherent of the dynasty of the Nasi for many generations. Rabbi Chalafta (sometimes called Chalfuta, Chulafta and Tachlifa) was a son of Rabbi Jose ben Chalafta who prided himself that he had planted five cedar trees in…

The Jewish Spiritual Heroes, Volume I; The Creators of the Mishna, Rabbi Simeon ben Chalafta

Livedתקופת פעילות

Tannaim - Sixth Generation

c.170 – c.200 CE

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