There are two elements to a person’s name: what the name is,
and what a person is actually called by others. Two Tannaim in Avot 4:1-3,
Shimon ben Zoma and Shimon ben Azzai, are known only as Ben Zoma and Ben Azzai.
Why?
The commentary on Avot that is ascribed to Rashi offers two
reasons. First, that they both died young and were therefore referred to only
by their fathers’ names. Secondly, they had not yet received semichah,
rabbinic ordination and had thus to be referred to only by their fathers’
names. The Bartenura agrees with these
explanations.
Neither of the explanations offered above would seem to
compel the use of the father’s name alone. One might have thought that it was
all the more important to preserve a person’s memory by citing his name in full
if he had died young; further, if the son only taught what he had learned from
his father, the mishnayot should be learned in the father’s full name (e.g.
Zoma ben Ploni), not the son’s. In any
event, another Shimon who is known only by his father’s name, but who is not
said to have died young, is Shimon ben Nanos, a distinguished contemporary of
Rabbi Akiva. I do not think that it is anywhere suggested that he had not
received semichah. We might also consider, regarding lack of semichah,
that this factor would have disentitled a Torah scholar from being called
‘Rabbi’, but why jettison his forename?
Not all commentators accept that Ben Zoma and Ben Azzai died
young. The Tashbetz and the Maharal both assert that they had long lives. Since
the Talmud later describes each of them by their full name, they conclude that
it was only the want of semichah at the time when they taught their
mishnayot that resulted in the suspension of the use of their forenames. Ben Zoma
is however mentioned as “Rabbi Shimon ben Zoma” in the mishnah and gemara at
Chullin 83a and Ben Azzai is “Rabbi Shimon ben Azzai” in a mishnah (Yadayim 3:5)
and in the gemara (Yevamot 49a-b).
There may be another, simpler explanation of why these two
Tannaim are known only by their father’s names, an explanation that applies to
Ben Nanos too. Shimon was the most popular name among Tannaim. The Jewish
Encyclopaedia lists no fewer than 33 of them, including Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai
(known simply in Avot as ‘Rabbi Shimon’) and the various Shimons who were
descended from Hillel the Elder. Many of us have experienced Shimon-confusion
at one time or another. If at least some of them are given another handle by
which they may be called, the likelihood of confusion diminishes.
It is important for us to know the names of our teachers,
and this importance goes beyond the realm of good manners. The baraita at Avot
6:6 lists the citation of one’s learning in the name of the person who first
said it as one of the 48 means of acquiring Torah and then adds:
הָא
לָמַֽדְתָּ, כָּל הָאוֹמֵר דָּבָר בְּשֵׁם אוֹמְרוֹ, מֵבִיא גְאֻלָּה לָעוֹלָם,
שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: וַתֹּֽאמֶר אֶסְתֵּר לַמֶּֽלֶךְ בְּשֵׁם מָרְדְּכָי
This is what we have learned: One
who says something in the name of its speaker brings redemption to the world,
as it states: "And Esther told the king in the name
of Mordechai."
This baraita cites Esther 2:22, a pivotal verse in the
Megillah which opens a narrative that ultimately leads to the king’s Jewish
subjects being spared the fate that Haman had in store for them. Esther cites
her trusted source, and the rest of the story shows how God manipulates events
without the need to reveal His presence.
Is this not an incentive to us to make at least an effort to quote our
sources in full?
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