One of the five Sages whom Rabbi Akiva taught after his earlier students died, and who upheld Torah at that time
רַבִּי מֵאִיר
Rabbi Meir
Rabbi Meir is named first among the five Sages whom Rabbi Akiva taught after his earlier students died. Rabbi Yochanan says that a Mishnah with no name on it is Rabbi Meir, going according to Rabbi Akiva. A student meets him as a Sage who, as the Gemara says, had no equal in his generation, a scribe by trade, the Sage who is "concerned for the minority", and the husband of Beruria.
EraTanna
LandEretz Yisrael
PlaceAsya
Who he was
Who was Rabbi Meir?
First of the five who rebuilt Torah
The Mishnah is the main collection of the Oral Torah, and the Gemara is the Sages' discussion of the Mishnah. The Gemara in Yevamot tells that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students and that all of them died in one period, because they did not treat each other with respect. The world was desolate until Rabbi Akiva came to "our Rabbis in the south" and taught it to them. Five names follow, and Rabbi Meir is the first. The Gemara says these five upheld Torah at that time.
A teaching in the Gemara in Eruvin says: his name was not Rabbi Meir but Rabbi Nehorai. Why was he called Rabbi Meir? Because he lights up ("meir") the eyes of the Sages in halacha, which means Torah law. The teaching goes on: and his name was not Nehorai but Rabbi Nechemya, and some say Rabbi Elazar ben Arach, and he was called Nehorai because he lights up ("manhir") the eyes of the Sages in halacha.
In a baraita (a teaching from the time of the Mishnah that was not included in it), a Sage named Issi ben Yehuda used to list the praises of the Sages. He names ten, and Rabbi Meir comes first. About him he says: a sage and a scribe.
Many laws in the Mishnah are taught with no Sage's name. The Gemara in Sanhedrin quotes Rabbi Yochanan: an unnamed Mishnah is Rabbi Meir. He lists three other collections the same way, each with its own Sage, and ends: and all of them go according to Rabbi Akiva.
Rav Yehuda quotes Shmuel, who reports this in Rabbi Meir's name. When he came to Rabbi Yishmael, Rabbi Yishmael asked him: my son, what is your work? He answered: I am a scribe. Rabbi Yishmael said: my son, be careful in your work, because your work is the work of Heaven. If you leave out one letter or add one letter, you turn out to be destroying the whole world.
אָמַרְתִּי לוֹ: לַבְלָר אֲנִי
"I said to him: I am a scribe"
Speaking: Rav Yehuda quoting Shmuel in the name of Rabbi Meir; these words are Rabbi Meir's answer to Rabbi Yishmael
Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, who put the Mishnah together and is called simply "Rabbi", says: the reason I am sharper than my friends is that I saw Rabbi Meir from behind. If I had seen him from the front I would be sharper still. He brings a verse: "your eyes shall see your teachers".
"When Rabbi Meir died, the tellers of parables ceased"
The Mishnah at the end of Sotah lists Sages and says what the world lost when each one died. Rabbi Meir is first on the list. When he died, the tellers of parables ceased. A parable (mashal) is a short story told to teach a point.
Rabbi Yochanan says in Sanhedrin that when Rabbi Meir taught in public, a third was law, a third was aggadah (the stories and lessons of the Sages) and a third was parables. Rabbi Yochanan also said: Rabbi Meir had three hundred fox parables, and we have only three.
In Avot, the part of the Mishnah that collects the Sages' sayings on how to live, Rabbi Meir says: do less business and be busy with Torah, and be humble before every person. He adds: if you stop learning Torah, there are many idle things waiting for you. If you work hard at the Torah, He has much reward to give you.
A baraita in Kiddushin brings two readings of the verse "you are children of Hashem your God". Rabbi Yehuda says: when you behave like children you are called children, and when you do not, you are not called children. Rabbi Meir says: either way you are called children. He brings four verses. In three of them the people are doing wrong and are still called children. In the fourth, those who were told "you are not My people" are called "children of the living God".
he came to Rabbi Akiva first, could not follow him, and came back to him after learning with Rabbi Yishmael
Teacher
Rabbi Yishmael
he served Rabbi Yishmael and learned the traditions from him
Teacher
Elisha ben Avuya (Acher)
the Gemara in Chagigah says Rabbi Meir learned Torah from him and asks how he could; for a rav to decide whether to list him
Student
Sumchus
called his student by Rabbi Yochanan
Family
Beruria
his wife, as the Gemara in Berakhot calls her
He learned from Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says that wherever a teaching reads "a student said before Rabbi Akiva in the name of Rabbi Yishmael", that student is Rabbi Meir, who served both of them. The Gemara then brings two reports in Rabbi Meir's name that put the two teachers in a different order. It settles the order this way: first he came to Rabbi Akiva and could not follow his thinking. He went to Rabbi Yishmael and learned the traditions. Then he came back to Rabbi Akiva and learned the reasoning. The two reports also differ about which teacher forbade something he put in his ink, and the Gemara leaves that as a difficulty.
"At first he came before Rabbi Akiva, and since he could not follow his view he came before Rabbi Yishmael and learned the traditions, and then he came back before Rabbi Akiva and learned the reasoning"
Speaking: The Gemara, settling a contradiction between two reports (the first statement is Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi's)
Ordination (semicha) is the appointment that gave a Sage the title "Rabbi". The Gemara in Sanhedrin tells that the government once decreed death for anyone who gave ordination and anyone who received it. Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava sat between two mountains, between the towns of Usha and Shefaram, and ordained five elders. Rabbi Meir is named first. When their enemies found them he told them to run, and he was killed. The Gemara then asks: was it Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava who ordained Rabbi Meir? Rabba bar bar Chana said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan that anyone who says Rabbi Akiva did not ordain Rabbi Meir is mistaken! It answers: Rabbi Akiva ordained him and they did not accept it. Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava ordained him and they accepted it.
"Rabbi Akiva ordained him and they did not accept it; Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava ordained him and they accepted it"
Speaking: The Gemara, answering its own question; the story before it follows a statement of Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav praising Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava, at the end of the page before
The Gemara in Chagigah asks how Rabbi Meir could learn Torah from Acher ("the other one", the Gemara's name for Elisha ben Avuya, a Sage who went out to bad ways). It quotes a teaching that a person should seek Torah only from a teacher who is like an angel of Hashem. Reish Lakish and Rav Chanina bring verses that seem to allow it. The Gemara settles the verses: one speaks of a great person and one of a small one.
הָא בְּגָדוֹל, הָא בְּקָטָן
"This one is about a great person, that one about a small one"
The Gemara in Chagigah tells that Rabba bar Sheila met Eliyahu the prophet. Eliyahu told him that Hashem was saying teachings in the names of all the Sages but not in the name of Rabbi Meir, because he learned from Acher. Rabba bar Sheila answered: Rabbi Meir found a pomegranate, ate the inside and threw away the peel. Eliyahu said: now He is saying, "Meir my son says".
Rabbi Abbahu says in the name of Rabbi Yochanan that Rabbi Meir had a student named Sumchus. On every matter of impurity he would give forty-eight reasons why it is impure, and on every matter of purity forty-eight reasons why it is pure.
There were violent men in Rabbi Meir's neighborhood who caused him a lot of pain. He was praying that they should die. His wife Beruria said to him: what are you thinking? Is it because the verse says "let chata'im come to an end"? Is it written "sinners"? It is written "sins". She added: look at the end of the verse, "and the wicked will be no more". Rather, pray for them that they should repent. He prayed for them, and they repented.
"Beruria his wife said to him: What are you thinking? Because it is written "let chata'im come to an end"? Is it written "sinners"? It is written "sins""
Speaking: The Gemara, telling the story; the quoted words are Beruria speaking to Rabbi Meir
Each story is told from one book, named under the quote.
He wrote a Megillah from memory
The Gemara in Megillah quotes Rabba bar bar Chana in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: it is forbidden to write even one letter without copying from a written text. It challenges this from a report of Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar: Rabbi Meir once went to a place called Asya to add a month to the year. There was no Megillah (the scroll of Esther) there, so he wrote one by heart and read from it. Rabbi Abbahu answers that Rabbi Meir is different, and applies to him the verse "your eyelids look straight before you". Rabbi Yirmeya of Difti explains: these are the words of Torah, and they were straight with Rabbi Meir. The Gemara then shows from another story that this alone does not permit it, and answers: a time of pressing need is different.
Rabbi Yochanan tells this in Horayot. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel was the Nasi (the head of the Sages), Rabbi Meir was the Chacham ("the Sage", a senior position), and Rabbi Natan was the head of the court. Everyone used to stand for all three. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel wanted a difference between his honor and theirs, and he made a new rule on a day when the two were not there. When they came the next day and saw that people did not stand for them as before, Rabbi Meir said to Rabbi Natan: let us ask him to teach Uktzin, a section of the Mishnah that he does not know. When he cannot, we will remove him. I will be head of the court and you will be Nasi.
The story in Horayot goes on. Rabbi Yaakov ben Kudshai (as this text spells the name) overheard the plan. He sat behind Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel's upper room and repeated Uktzin aloud again and again, until Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel understood and learned it. The next day he taught it, and then had the two put out of the study hall. They wrote questions and answers on notes and threw them inside, until Rabbi Yosei said: the Torah is outside and we are inside? Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel let them back in, with a penalty: teachings would not be said in their names. Rabbi Meir was called "Others" and Rabbi Natan "Some say". In a dream they were told to go and make peace with him. Rabbi Natan went. Rabbi Meir did not go. He said: words of dreams do not raise and do not lower.
Every item says who is making the claim: the Gemara itself, a classical commentator, or a modern writer.
But elsewhere
An open question, and Rav Mesharshiya: these rules do not hold
After giving rules for whose view is the law among Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon, the Gemara in Eruvin asks whose view is the law when Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Shimon disagree, and leaves the question unanswered. Right after that, Rav Mesharshiya says that these rules do not hold. The Gemara asks where he learned this and goes on to test several sources.
לֵיתַנְהוּ לְהָנֵי כְּלָלֵי
"These rules do not hold"
Speaking: Rav Mesharshiya; the question about Rabbi Shimon before it is the Gemara's
At the end of its search for Rav Mesharshiya's source, the Gemara in Eruvin restates what he meant: these rules are not the words of everyone, because Rav does not hold of them.
In a baraita in Eruvin, Rabbi Meir lists women who must still wait three months before they marry again, and Rabbi Yosei allows them to be betrothed and married at once. Rabbi Asi reports that Rabbi Yochanan ruled like Rabbi Yosei. The Gemara asks why he needed to, when the rule already says the law follows Rabbi Yosei against Rabbi Meir. It answers: what is the difficulty? Perhaps he said it to exclude what Rav Nachman said in the name of Shmuel, that the law follows Rabbi Meir in his decrees.
When a man dies with no children, the Torah tells his brother to marry the widow (yibum) or to release her with a ceremony (chalitzah). In a baraita in Yevamot, Rabbi Meir says that a boy or girl who is not yet grown does neither. They said to him: why not yibum? He answered: the boy may turn out to be a man who cannot have children, and the girl may turn out to be a woman who cannot have children, and then the marriage would be a forbidden one. The Gemara there names this view: Rabbi Meir, who is concerned for the minority, meaning the few cases. It brings the baraita to test whether Rabbi Eliezer agrees with him.
These are general rules. The Gemara itself lists exceptions.
The Gemara says
Why the law was not fixed like him
Rabbi Acha bar Chanina says: it is known before Hashem that there was no one like Rabbi Meir in his generation. Then why did they not fix the law like him? Because his friends could not get to the end of his thinking. He would say about something impure that it is pure and give reasons that looked right, and about something pure that it is impure and give reasons that looked right.
A rule: with Rabbi Yehuda the law follows Rabbi Yehuda, and with Rabbi Yosei it follows Rabbi Yosei
The Gemara in Eruvin brings rules for deciding between certain Sages. Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi says in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: when Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda disagree, the law follows Rabbi Yehuda. When Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosei disagree, the law follows Rabbi Yosei. So there is no need to say that when Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yosei disagree, the law follows Rabbi Yosei. The Gemara introduces this with the words "in this same way". Just before, three Sages disagree about how strong such a rule is: fixed law, a leaning, or what seems right. These rules are not left unchallenged (see the next two items).
A decree (gezeira) is a rule the Sages added as a safeguard. In Ketubot, a woman's ketubah (the marriage document that states what her husband owes her) was lost, and they came before Rav Yosef. He first said, from Rav Yehuda in the name of Shmuel: this is Rabbi Meir's view, but the Sages say a man may keep his wife two or three years without a ketubah. So the view he calls Rabbi Meir's is that a man may not keep his wife without one. (In the Mishnah this passage discusses, Mishnah Ketubot 5:1, Rabbi Meir is strict that a ketubah may not be written for less than the fixed amount.) Abaye said to him: but Rav Nachman said in the name of Shmuel that the law follows Rabbi Meir in his decrees! Rav Yosef answered: if so, go and write one for her.
הֲלָכָה כְּרַבִּי מֵאִיר בִּגְזֵירוֹתָיו
"The law follows Rabbi Meir in his decrees"
Speaking: Abaye, quoting Rav Nachman in the name of Shmuel
Rabbi Nechemya. the teaching in Eruvin mentions this name next to "Nehorai", but Rabbi Yochanan in Sanhedrin lists Rabbi Nechemya as a separate Sage, the one behind the unnamed Tosefta (a collection of teachings that stands beside the Mishnah)
Rabbi Elazar ben Arach. also mentioned in the teaching in Eruvin about the name Nehorai
"Others say" (Acherim). the Gemara in Horayot says Rabbi Meir's teachings were quoted under this name
Acher. "the other one", the Gemara's name for Elisha ben Avuya; not the same as "Others" (Acherim)
Rabbi Nehorai. the teaching in Eruvin says this was Rabbi Meir's name; this page does not treat every "Rabbi Nehorai" as Rabbi Meir
Honest limits
What the sources do not tell us
The passages on this page do not give the year he was born or the year he died.
The passages on this page do not give his father's name.
The teaching in Eruvin about his name can be read in more than one way. This page gives its words and does not decide whether "Rabbi Nechemya" and "Rabbi Elazar ben Arach" are said about Rabbi Meir or about a Sage named Nehorai.
The Gemara in Megillah does not say where Asya was.
The Gemara in Megillah shows Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar as the one who reports about Rabbi Meir. That passage does not call him his student.
The Gemara in Eruvin asks whose view is the law when Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Shimon disagree, and leaves the question unanswered.
The passages on this page do not call Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava his teacher (he ordained him) and do not call Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi his student (he says he saw him from behind).
Last checked 2026-10-12. Found a mistake? Tell us.
Every Hebrew and Aramaic quote on this page was checked by script against the passage it cites.
The texts come from Sefaria: the Talmud Bavli is
the William Davidson Edition (Koren Publishers, vowels by Dicta, CC BY-NC), and the Mishnah is the
Torat Emet edition. English translations and explanations are Torah Tech originals, and any
mistakes are ours.
This page is for learning. It is not a halachic ruling.
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