“True leadership does not seek to shine, but keep the lamp burning in the know when others would no longer shut down.” — Attributed to Rabban Simon ben Hillel (reconstruction-traditional-inspired in the House of Hillel)

Identity, age and status

• Name and affiliation: Shimon (Simeon) ben Hillel; the son of Hillel the Elder and father of Rabban Gamaliel I.
• Period: the first half of the first century ad.C., between the death of Hillel (≈10 d.C.) and the full activity of Gamaliel (≈20-50 d.C.). Exact dates not conserved sources rabbinical.
• Title: The Talmud (Shabbat 15a) what explicitly included in the line of the Nesi'im (presidents) of the Sanhedrin. However, some studies encyclopedic warn that the notion of “nasi” as is headquartered formal in that initial stretch, and its alignment with the “patriarch” back are issues discussed by historiography; it is advisable, therefore, to try the title with caution.
• Treatment honorific “Rabban”: the stable use of “Rabban” as a prefix distinctive nasi documented safety from Gamaliel and its successors; there is no solid evidence you applied already to Shimon ben Hillel.

Sources and key passages

• Talmud Bavlí, Shabbat 15a (quote programmatic): “Hillel, and his son, Shimon, and his grandson Gamaliel, and his great-grandson Shimon exercised their nesi'ut... for a hundred years before [the destruction]”. This is the single direct mention that defines your role.
• Encyclopedic information confirm the chain Hillel → Simeon/ Shimon ben Hillel → Gamaliel I, but underscore the scarcity of biographical data specific Shimon.

Life (what we say)

1. Dynastic transition: The death of Hillel (≈10 d.C.), Shimon would have happened to his father as supreme authority of the school of Hillel and, according to the baraita cited, as nasi of the Sanhedrin. The exact duration of their mandate is unknown.
2. Continuity of the doctrinal: In the absence of such own-preserved, it is assumed that ensured the transmission institutional the halachah “beit Hillel” to Gamaliel I, the first to lead with clarity the title Rabban and prominent figure of the first generation tanaítica.
3. Political-religious: Its likely performance falls in the years immediately prior the relocation of the Sanhedrin outside of the “Lishkat haGazit” (40 years before the destruction of the Temple) and in the period of increasing tension under Rome. This frame is inferred to be of the same passage of Shabbat 15a and chronologies standard of the end of the Second Temple.

Work and teaching (what is attributable to and what not)

• No in the Mishnah or in the literature tanaítica these or decrees preserved in the name of Shimon ben Hillel. The work rules known in that arc associated to Gamaliel I and, later, to Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel I/II, Yochanan ben Zakkai, etc Any specific formulation of “teachings of Rabban Shimon ben Hillel” lacks support textual.
• Attribution plausible: your legacy is institutional: maintain the school of Hillel and to ensure the succession that would lead to Gamaliel I, who consist takkanot leadership and explicit.

Debates and controversial points

1. What was really “nasi” in the technical sense? The text of Shabbat 15a uses that language, but several sources with modern warn you that the concept and the terminology of the patriarchate are not linear in this phase. Conclusion: likely effective leadership, with nuances about the title.
2. Identification with the Simeon in Luke 2: Christian authors have proposed that the “Simeon” blesses the child Jesus Simeon ben Hillel; the academic literature what comes as a hypothesis speculative without conclusive evidence.

Chronology of reference (reconstruction minimum)

• Hillel dies ≈ 10 d.C.
• Shimon ben Hillel assume (duration is not fixed by the sources); his nesi'ut integrates the computation of “a hundred years before 70 d.C.” along with the Gamaliel I and Shimon ben Gamaliel I.
• Gamaliel I in full activity ≈20-50 d.C.
• Shimon ben Gamaliel I governs in the decades prior to 70 d.C. and dies as a one of the Ten Martyrs according to the tradition.

Historical assessment

• Degree of certainty: Medium-low biographical; high in the string dynastic and at the mention of talmudic your nesi'ut.
• Input: Transmission and continuity of the House of Hillel on the cusp of leadership pharisee/halachic during a period of critical transition, more contributions to doctrinal own registered.