Blogs

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Why was Shimon a Tzadik?

Everyone knows the second mishna in pirkei avos: “Shimon Hatzadik was one of the last of the men of the great assembly…”. I must have learned this mishna dozens, if not hundreds, of times. Yet this week I was struck by a question which I have not yet found an answer to. I wanted to share it with you, and hopefully someone will have something to help me.
The question is very simple. Why was Shimon Hatzadik called Hatzadik? What did he do (or not do) that made him one of the very few people in Jewish history to be known as ‘righteous’? (I think the only other two are Yosef Hatzadik and Binyamin Hatzadik.) I had assumed that there was some statement of Chazal that would explain this title, or some well known tradition about his righteousness.
But (as you may have guessed by now) there isn’t!
As far as I know, apart from this Mishna, Shimon Hatzadik appears only twice more in Shas. (actually there is also a statement in Yoma 9a that he served as Cohen Gadol for 40 years).
There is the famous story of him meeting Alexander of Macedonia (Yoma 69a). Shimon Hatzadik came out to greet Alexander (who was on his way to conquer Jerusalem) wearing his Cohen Gadol outfit. When Alexander saw him, he dismounted and prostrated himself before Shimon Hatzadik. He explained to his entourage that whenever he went out to battle he saw this person leading him to victory.
The other (also famous) story is that Shimon Hatzadik claimed to only once having eaten a sacrifice of a nazir (Nedarim 9a). He saw a boy with exceptionally beautiful hair, and asked him why he had become a nazir, as a result of which he had to shave his head. The boy answered that he once saw a reflection of himself in a pool, and felt vain at his beauty. At that moment he resolved to become a nazir, to overcome his vanity. Shimon Hatzadik felt that this was the only person who had been sincerely motivated to become a nazir.
While both of these stories show the greatness of Shimon Hatzadik, neither seems to indicate ‘righteousness’. My understanding of the concept of ‘tzadik’ (in talmudic literature as opposed to the current usage of the term, when everyone is automatically a tzadik and a gaon to boot!) is that it refers to someone who has never sinned. This is in contrast to someone who has sinned and done teshuva. Hence the famous phrase ‘the place where baalei teshuva stand even the completely righteous can not stand” (Brachos 34b). We see from here the definition of a tzadik as someone who does not need to do teshuva, someone who has never sinned.
Why should that appellation be applied to Shimon Hatzadik?
It is true that he lived at a crossroads in Jewish history. As the last survivor of the Anshei Knesses Hagedola (men of the great assembly) he was the bridge between the era of prophecy and the era of chachamim. In a sense he was the first tanna (though the mishnaic era didn’t get going properly until much later, in the time of beis hillel and beis shammai).
As one of the Anshei Knesses Hagedola he was part of the canonization of the tanach, and hence bridged the period of ‘written law’ and ‘oral law’ (even though they both existed until that time, the distinction became clearer after the canonization).
He was also the last ‘good’ cohen gadol. He served for 40 years. After that they would need to find a replacement every year (sometimes more often), showing that the candidate was not worthy of the office. He lived at a time of great upheaval for the Jewish nation, with both external pressures and threats from the Greeks and Syrians, and internal fighting between the Sadducees and Pharisees.
Yet none of these things seem to show ‘righteousness’. Good, wise, diplomatic, powerful - yes. Righteousness (in the strict sense of being a ‘tzadik’) – no.
A clever Rabbi showed me that R’ Moshe Shapiro writes about this question in Afikei Mayim on Chanukah (p. 22). R’ Moshe explains that just as Yosef Hatzadik prepared the way for the Israelites to go into exile in Egypt, so too Shimon Hatzadik prepared the Jewish people (as they were called by that time) to go into the Roman exile.
This is a very interesting and exciting idea. However, he doesn’t bring any sources for this being the meaning of ‘tzadik’, nor does he demonstrate that this is why Yosef was called a tzadik (the simple meaning – I think – is that he is a tzadik because he didn’t sin with Potiphar’s wife).
Another clever Rabbi told me that he is probably called Hatzadik because that was his name. (good answer!)
So, I am still not clear why he is called by that name. Does anyone have any other explanation, or source, that shows why Shimon is always called a tzadik?