Hanina
ananyahSegan ha-Kohanim ( he, ר' חנינא (חנניה) סגן הכהנים, lit. ''"R. Hanina (Hananiah)
heSegan (Deputy) Ha-Kohanim (High priest)"'') was of the first Generation of the Jewish
Tanna sages. He was the father of Rabbi Simeon ben
ha-Segan.
He lived during the destruction of
Second Temple of Jerusalem, and had testified, following that event, on what he had seen occur during the destruction. The book "Yihusei Tanna'im ve-Amora'im" cites that he was killed along with
Shimon ben Gamliel and
Ishmael ben Elisha ha-Kohen. It is said that he was one of the
Ten Martyrs
The Ten Martyrs ( he, עֲשֶׂרֶת הָרוּגֵי מַלְכוּת ''ʿAsereṯ hāRūgēi Malḵūṯ'', "The Ten Royal Martyrs") were ten rabbis living during the era of the Mishnah who were martyred by the Roman Empire in the period after ...
, and was killed on the 25th of
Sivan.
Hanina earned his title due to the role he fulfilled - as Deputy to the
Kohen Gadol
High Priest ( he, כהן גדול, translit=Kohen Gadol or ; ) was the title of the chief religious official of Judaism from the early post- Exilic times until the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. Previousl ...
(High priest) in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem.
Ha-Segan was a position with the responsibility of overseeing the actions of the work of the
Temple priest staff, as well as a stand-in position, ready to take the role of High priest in case he will be found unfit to serve the holy work on the temple. In that conjunction, Hanina was considered a "Segan Ha-Kohanim", only second to the High priest, as R. Hanina himself indicates: "R. Hanina the Segan of the priests said: Why a 'Segan'
eputyis ever appointed ? In case the high-priest became unfit for service, the 'Segan'
eputyshould enter at once to do the service".
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
, Tractate Sotah, 42a
At his time, many High priests reshuffled, while he remained in his role, and for that reason, it is believed to be the possible reason he was named 'Segan ha-Kohanim' rather than the more common term used in the
Gemara: '
Ha-Segan'.
See also
*
Segan
Two out of three most prominent Segans are noted on the Talmud and on Josephus Flavius' work: Hanina Segan ha-Kohanim, and Eleazar ben Hananiah ben Hezekiah, Eleazar ben Hanania (son of Hananiah b. Hezekiah b. Garon who served as High Priest).
Se ...
References
Mishnah rabbis
1st-century rabbis
{{MEast-rabbi-stub