Resh Lakish

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, called Resh Lakish, was a 3rd-century sage of the Land of Israel with an unusual past. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 84a) tells that he was once a bandit: seeing Rabbi Yochanan bathing in the Jordan, he leapt into the river after him, and Rabbi Yochanan said, "Your strength should be for Torah." Resh Lakish replied, "Your beauty should be for women," and Rabbi Yochanan promised him his sister in marriage if he would repent and study. Another passage says he had sold himself to the gladiator arena (Gittin 47a). He became one of the greatest sages of Tiberias.

Their study partnership became a byword: whenever Rabbi Yochanan stated a law, Resh Lakish raised twenty-four objections and drew out twenty-four answers. It ended in tragedy after a dispute about when blades become susceptible to impurity, in which Rabbi Yochanan taunted, "A bandit knows his trade"; Resh Lakish fell ill and died, and his partner died of grief. Among his sayings: "A person sins only when a spirit of folly enters him" (Sotah 3a).