Symmachus ben Joseph (Yerushalmi Berachot 12b; Rif Berachot 7aEncyclopedia Da'at, article: סומכוס Romanized: Sômǝkôs ben Joseph) was a Jewish Tanna sage of the fifth generation.
Biography Rabbi Meir is considered his main teacher.Talmud, Kiddushin 33a After R. Meir died, and despite R. Judah ben Ilai's reluctance to teach R. Meir's students (who were considered "vexatious" students), Symmachus joined R. Judah ben Ilai's class and debated halakhic matters with him.
Symmachus' brilliance was described as follows:
The name Symmachus may have been common in the classical era among Hebrew speakers, as it may have been a Greek translation of the Hebrew Eleazar. Josephus writes that Eleazar translates as the name Symmachus, meaning: "the God of my father was my help."
Teachings He is quoted five times in the Mishna: three times his teachings appear, and twice he quotes an opinion of Rabbi Meir.
He is best known for the following disagreement about judgment in a case of monetary dispute:
Later opinions differ on which situations Symmachus intended for his rule to apply.The Position of Sumchus: Mammon Ha-Mutal Be-Safek Cholkim The Supreme Court of Israel cites the opinion of Symmachus in resolving divorce cases in which it is necessary to divide the assets. Symmachus argues for a division of the assets in cases when it is difficult to unravel the differences between the parties because of a lack of evidence.https://supremedecisions.court.gov.il/Home/Download?path=HebrewVerdicts%5C05/930/046/p19&fileName=05046930.p19&type=4
Relation to other individuals named Symmachus Some have tried to identify him with Symmachus the translator, but this view has been generally rejected.Jewish Encyclopedia, SYMMACHUS, By: Crawford Howell Toy & Felix Perles In Epiphanius' treatise On Weights and Measures, a certain Symmachus is said to have converted to Judaism from the Samaritan religion at the time of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius who is also called Verus.Epiphanius' Treatise on Weights and Measures - The Syriac Version (ed. James Elmer Dean), University of Chicago Press 1935, p. 32 Rabbi Meir would have been his contemporary. Paladius of Galatia found an insertion from Origen in an ancient manuscript: "This book I found in the house of Juliana, the virgin in Casesarea, when I was hiding there; who said she had received it from Symmachus himself the interpreter of the Jews." Michaël N. van der Meer concludes that the two figures, the Tanna and the translator, were two different people.van der Meer, Michaël N. “4.24 Symmachus, the Septuagint and the Sages: An Examination of the References to Sumkhos Ben Joseph in the Mishnah, Tosefta and Talmudim.” Randall X. Gauthier, Gideon R. Kotzé, Gert J. Steyn, Eds., Septuagint, Sages, and Scripture. Studies in Honour of Johann Cook, VTSup 172 (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 336-355., Brill.
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