Rabbi Meir

Rabbi Meir was one of the leading Tannaim of the generation after the Bar Kokhba revolt and a chief disciple of Rabbi Akiva. The Talmud says he was secretly ordained by Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava during Hadrian's persecution (Sanhedrin 14a) and was one of the five students through whom Akiva's teaching survived. He helped renew rabbinic leadership at Usha, and his teachings are so central to the Mishnah that the rule is "an anonymous Mishnah follows Rabbi Meir" (Sanhedrin 86a). The Talmud explains his name, "the one who gives light," because he enlightened the eyes of the sages (Eruvin 13b).

His wife Bruriah, daughter of the martyr Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion, was herself a renowned scholar. He kept learning from his teacher Elisha ben Abuyah even after Elisha abandoned the faith, "eating the fruit and throwing away the peel" (Hagigah 15b), and taught, "Do not look at the jug but at what is in it" (Avot 4:20). Remembered as Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes, "master of the miracle," for rescuing his wife's sister from Roman captivity (Avodah Zarah 18a), he is honored at a tomb in Tiberias, and charity boxes bear his name.