Simeon ben Zoma


Simeon ben Zoma, also known as Simon ben Zoma, Shimon ben Zoma or simply Ben Zoma, was a tanna of the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. His name is used without the title "Rabbi" because, like Ben Azzai, he died at a young age, remaining in the grade of "pupil" and never receiving semikhah. Ben Zoma and Ben Azzai are often mentioned together distinguished representatives of this class. Like Ben Azzai, also, he seems to have belonged to the inner circle of Joshua ben Hananiah's disciples, and a halakhic controversy between them is reported in which Ben Zoma was the victor.

Esoteric contemplation

Ben Zoma was specially noted as an interpreter of the Jewish Scriptures, so that it was said, "With Ben Zoma died the last of the exegetes".
The principal subject of Ben Zoma's exegetic research was the first chapter of Genesis. One of his questions on this chapter, in which he took exception to the phrase "God made", has been handed down by the Judean aggadists, with the remark, "This is one of the Biblical passages by which Ben Zoma created a commotion all over the world". An interpretation of the second verse of the same chapter has been handed down in a tannaitic tradition, together with the following anecdote: Joshua ben Hananiah was walking one day, when he met Ben Zoma, who was about to pass him without greeting. Thereupon Joshua asked: "Whence and whither, Ben Zoma?" The latter replied: "I was lost in thoughts concerning the account of the Creation." And then he told Joshua his interpretation of Genesis 1:2. When speaking to his disciples on the matter, Joshua said, "Ben Zoma is outside," meaning thereby that Ben Zoma had passed beyond the limit of permitted research.
As a matter of fact, Ben Zoma was one of the four who entered into the "garden" of esoteric knowledge. It was said of him that he beheld the secrets of the garden and "was struck" with mental aberration. The disciples of Akiva applied to the limitless theosophic speculations, for which Ben Zoma had to suffer, the words of Proverbs 25:16, "Have you found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for you, lest you be filled with it, and vomit it".

Halachic teachings

Ben Zoma's erudition in the halakhah became proverbial, for it was said, "Whoever sees Ben Zoma in his dream is assured of scholarship".
Only a few of Ben Zoma's exegetic teachings have been preserved. The most widely known of these is his interpretation of the phrase, "that you may remember the day when you came forth out of Egypt" to prove that the recitation of the biblical passage referring to the Exodus is obligatory for the evening prayer as well as for the morning prayer. This interpretation, quoted with praise by Eleazar ben Azariah, has found a place in the Haggadah for the Passover night.
In a halakhic interpretation, Ben Zoma explains the word "naḳi" in Exodus 21:28 by referring to the usage of the word in everyday life.

Aggadah

Ben Zoma, seeing the crowds on the Temple Mount, said, "Blessed be He who created all these to attend to my needs. How much had Adam to weary himself withal, until he could find a morsel of bread to eat! He ploughed , and then sowed it, and then harvested , and then bound it into sheaves, and then threshed it, and then winnowed it, and then cleansed it, and then ground it, and then sifted it, and then kneaded it, and then baked it, and only then did he eat it; but I get up in the morning and find all this ready before me. How much had Adam to weary himself withal, until he could find clothing to wear! He sheared , bleached , combed and carded it, spun it, wove it, and only then did he find that which to clothe himself; but I rise up in the morning and find all this ready before me. All skilled trades come early at my door, and I have but to rise and I find all these things before me!"
In the closing words of Ecclesiastes, "for this is the whole man," he found the thought expressed, that the pious man is the crown and end of mankind; the whole race was created only to be of service to him who fears God and respects His commandments.

Quotes