About Shmuel ha-Katan
Lived 100 – 200. Shmuel ha-Katan was a rabbi.
Shmuel ha-Katan (literally Samuel the Small, or Samuel the Lesser) was a Babylonian Jew considered a great early scholar in Jewish law. He was one of the second generation of Tannaim who served under the patriarch Gamliel II of Yavneh during the last two decades of the 1st century CE.
He composed some of the standard prayers of the Jewish liturgy. He wrote the Birkat HaMinim benediction, the 19th blessing in the silent prayer said three times daily, the Amidah.
He is said to have said, "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls".
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Important facts
Related people
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Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Shmuel ha-Katan's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Shmuel ha-Katan?
1st century CE Babylonian Jew and religious scholar
When was Shmuel ha-Katan born?
Shmuel ha-Katan was born in 100.
When did Shmuel ha-Katan die?
Shmuel ha-Katan died in 200.
What was Shmuel ha-Katan's occupation?
Shmuel ha-Katan was a rabbi.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Shmuel ha-Katan. https://biography.guide/shmuel-ha-katan/
MLA: "Shmuel ha-Katan." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/shmuel-ha-katan/.
Chicago: "Shmuel ha-Katan." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/shmuel-ha-katan/.
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