Simeon Ben Zoma - His Contemplations

His Contemplations

Ben Zoma's erudition in the Halakah became proverbial, for it was said, "Whoever sees Ben Zoma in his dream is assured of scholarship" (Ber. 57b). He was, however, specially noted as an interpreter of the Jewish Scriptures, so that it was said (Soṭah ix. 15), "With Ben Zoma died the last of the exegetes" ("darshanim"). Yet only a few of his exegetic sayings have been preserved. The most widely known of these is his interpretation of the phrase, "that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of Egypt" (Deut. xvi. 3), to prove that the recitation of the Biblical passage referring to the Exodus (Num. xv. 37-41) is obligatory for the evening prayer as well as for the morning prayer. This interpretation, quoted with praise by Eleazar ben Azariah (Ber. i. 5), has found a place in the Haggadah for the Passover night. In a halakic interpretation Ben Zoma explains the word "naḳi" (clean) in Ex. xxi. 28 by referring to the usage of the word in every-day life (B. Ḳ. 41a; Ḳid. 56b; Pes. 22b).

The principal subject of Ben Zoma's exegetic research was the first chapter of the Torah, Genesis. One of his questions on this chapter, in which he took exception to the phrase "God made" (Gen. i. 7), has been handed down by the Judean haggadists (though without the answer), with the remark, "This is one of the Biblical passages by which Ben Zoma created a commotion all over the world" (Gen. R. iv.). An interpretation of the second verse of the same chapter has been handed down in a tannaitic tradition (Tosef., Ḥag. ii. 5, 6; compare Ḥag. 15a), 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 Gen. i. 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 (see Ben Azzai). It was said of him that he beheld the secrets of the garden and "was struck" with mental aberration (Ḥag. 14b). The disciples of Akiba applied to the limitless theosophic speculations, for which Ben Zoma had to suffer, the words of Prov. xxv. 16, "Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it" (Tosef., Ḥag. l.c.; Bab. Ḥag. l.c.; compare Midr. Mishle on xxv. 16).