Shmuel ha-Katan (literally ''Samuel the Small'', or ''Samuel the Lesser'') was a
Babylonian Jew
The history of the Jews in Iraq ( he, יְהוּדִים בָּבְלִים, ', ; ar, اليهود العراقيون, ) is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BC. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and mos ...
considered a great early
religious scholar. He was one of the second generation of
Tannaim
''Tannaim'' ( Amoraic Hebrew: תנאים , singular , ''Tanna'' "repeaters", "teachers") were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the ''Tannaim'', also referred to as the Mis ...
, who served under the patriarch
Gamliel II
Rabban Gamaliel II (also spelled Gamliel; he, רבן גמליאל דיבנה; before -) was a rabbi from the second generation of tannaim. He was the first person to lead the Sanhedrin as '' nasi'' after the fall of the Second Temple in 70 CE.
...
of
Yavneh
Yavne ( he, יַבְנֶה) or Yavneh is a city in the Central District of Israel. In many English translations of the Bible, it is known as Jabneh . During Greco-Roman times, it was known as Jamnia ( grc, Ἰαμνία ''Iamníā''; la, Iamnia) ...
, during the last two decades of the 1st century CE.
He is supposed to have established some of the standard prayers of the Jewish liturgy, the
Siddur
A siddur ( he, סִדּוּר ; plural siddurim ) is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word comes from the Hebrew root , meaning 'order.'
Other terms for prayer books are ''tefillot'' () among Sephardi Jews, '' ...
. Particularly, he wrote the
Birkat HaMinim benediction, the 19th blessing in the silent prayer said three times daily, the
Amidah. This prayer condemns heretics, most likely the
Jewish Christians
Jewish Christians ( he, יהודים נוצרים, yehudim notzrim) were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Judea during the late Second Temple period (first century AD). The Nazarene Jews integrated the belief of Jesus a ...
.
External links
Jeffrey M. Cohen, "Shmuel HaKatan and the political background to Avot 4:19"originally in ''Judaism'', Spring, 1995
Mishnah rabbis
1st-century rabbis
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