שמעון הצדיק

Shimon HaTzaddik is the link that tied the end of prophecy to the beginning of the wisdom of the Sages. Of the last of the Men of the Great Assembly, he served as High Priest in the Second Temple, and it was he who transmitted the maxim on which all the Oral Torah stands: 'on three things the world stands: on the Torah, on the service, and on acts of loving-kindness' (Avot 1:2).

Tradition tells of a miracle: all the years he served, the 'western lamp' of the Menorah burned all day, and the Yom Kippur lottery came up in the right hand, signs of favor. And when he died, the miracles ceased, as if his personal holiness had held something up in the world. He did not merely serve; he was a pillar on which everything leaned.

In him a founding moment occurred: according to tradition he went out to meet Alexander of Macedon in his priestly garments, and the great king descended from his chariot and bowed to him. Holiness subdued power. Shimon HaTzaddik showed that true spiritual greatness commands respect even from empires.

What do we learn from him? That three things hold up a world: Torah, service of the heart, and kindness to others, and each alone is not enough. Shimon HaTzaddik teaches that a leader's personal holiness is not a private matter, it holds something up for the whole people, and that one who stands on these three pillars stands firm before any power in the world.