According to the Talmud, his father was a descendant of the
Roman Emperor Nero who, it is said, escaped death at the time of his deposition and became subsequently a convert to Judaism.
Azariah de Rossi and
David Gans propose that Nero may have converted to Judaism secretly, explaining the lack of historical evidence.
Maimonides and
Chaim Kanievsky affirm the Talmudic claim, asserting that Rabbi Meir was Nero’s direct descendant, while
Menahem Azariah da Fano offers an allegorical interpretation, suggesting Rabbi Meir was a
reincarnation of Nero rather than a literal descendant. Some modern scholars view the story as a rabbinic motif linking a non-Jewish figure to a Jewish sage, emphasizing its
symbolic rather than
historical significance. Twenty four thousand students of
Rabbi Akiva died in a plague. He found five new students, including Meir and Rabbis
Judah ben Ilai,
Eleazar ben Shammua,
Jose ben Halafta, and
Shimon bar Yochai. Meir entered the school of Rabbi Akiva, then went to the school of
Rabbi Ishmael. During this time, Meir held the profession of a
scrivener, copying principally sacred script, for which he was admonished: "My son, pay particular heed to your profession, since your profession is the work of heaven; lest perhaps you leave out one letter, or else you add one superfluous letter, and in so doing you find that you have destroyed thereby the entire world." He then returned to Akiva, who, recognizing his
dialectical powers, ordained him over the heads of his other disciples. This ordination, which was considered invalid on account of Meir's youth, was confirmed by
Judah ben Baba. Unlike Akiva, Meir seems to have kept aloof from the revolutionary movement of
Bar Kokhba. Nevertheless, he suffered greatly from its consequences. His father-in-law,
Hananiah ben Teradion, was killed in the
Hadrianic persecutions, and his sister-in-law was taken to Rome and sold to a brothel. During the Hadrianic persecutions Meir lived abroad, but he returned to Judea after the repeal of the oppressive edicts, and took part in the reestablishment of the
Sanhedrin in the city of
Usha. Shortly afterward
Simeon ben Gamaliel II was elected patriarch, and Meir became a
hakham, in which office he was charged with the duty of preparing the subjects to be discussed in the Sanhedrin. In the later part of Meir's life in one day he lost two sons, who died suddenly on a
Sabbath while he was at the
house of study. Shortly after the death of his sons his wife died. According to a legend, she committed suicide after having been dishonored by one of her husband's pupils. The last years of Meir's life were passed in Asia Minor. He was induced to leave
Judea because of the conflict that arose between him and the patriarch over the change introduced by Simeon in the ceremonial of the Sanhedrin. Custom required its members to rise when the president, the judge, or the reader entered the academy. Simeon issued an order that the assembly should rise as a body only on his own entrance, while on the entrance of the judge only the first row, and on that of the reader only the second row, should rise. Meir and Nathan (the judge) felt offended at this new arrangement and determined to show Simeon's unfitness for his office by puzzling him with difficult
halakic questions which he would be unable to answer. Informed of this, Simeon expelled them from the Sanhedrin, but he could not prevent them from writing difficult questions and distributing them among its members. Compelled to readmit both Nathan and Meir, he contrived that their names should not be recorded in the ordinances enacted by him. Nathan submitted, but Meir continued to embarrass the patriarch by addressing to him difficult questions. When, at last, the patriarch threatened excommunication, he answered, "I do not care for your sentence unless you can prove to me on whom, on what grounds, and under what conditions excommunication may be imposed," and left the Sanhedrin. A different story in the Babylonian Talmud indicates that he was forced to flee to
Babylonia due to pursuit by the Roman authorities, or due to other unclear circumstances. == Name ==