Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua רבי אלעזר בן שמוע
fifth of Rabbi Akiva's disciples, teacher of Rebbi
When the plague took twenty-four thousand of Rabbi Akiva's students, the Torah was raised again by five men of the south, and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua was among them (Yevamot 62b). His ordination he received from Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava in the defile, under the Roman spears. His long life he explained thus: never did I make a shortcut of a synagogue, nor step over the heads of the people to my seat (Megillah 27b).
He is counted a teacher of Rabbi Yehuda haNasi: the compiler of the Mishnah recalled how the students crowded in his study house. In Pirkei Avot, in his name: "let your student's honour be as dear to you as your own, your fellow's honour as the awe of your teacher, and the awe of your teacher as the awe of Heaven" (Avot 4:12). The midrash of the Ten Martyrs numbers him among those slain by the empire.
The sources give no years of life; the window of activity is set by generation, following Aharon Hyman's Toldot Tannaim ve-Amoraim.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Yevamot 62b — the five who restored the Torah in the south
- Megillah 27b — how he earned length of days
- Avot 4:12 — «your student's honour as your own»
Basis: Talmud and midrash.