שמואל

Shmuel, head of the Nehardea academy, is the Amora who knew the paths of the heavens like the paths of his city, and who also set the relationship between the Jew and the government. A great physician and astronomer, he said 'the paths of the sky are as clear to me as the streets of Nehardea' (Berachot 58b), yet his greatness lay not in science but in law, chiefly in monetary matters where the law follows him.

The great principle he laid down changed the life of the exile: 'the law of the kingdom is law' (Nedarim 28a), the government's law binds the Jews in matters of money and taxes. In this Shmuel gave a framework that would let the people live honestly under foreign rule, without clashing with it at every step, and without surrendering its Torah.

Shmuel was also a man of kindness and action. He cared for the health of the community, set calendars and times, and showed humility toward his colleague Rav: though they differed greatly, he honored him as his teacher. The Sages tell of his closeness to King Shapur, as a model of proper relations between the sages of Israel and the government.

What do we learn from him? That one can be expert in the sciences of the world and still see the law as the essence. Shmuel teaches that Judaism knows how to live within a foreign reality without denying it, 'the law of the kingdom is law,' and that true wisdom finds the way to combine civic honesty with absolute faithfulness to the Torah.