Who was Shimon Kepha? Was he Christianity’s first pope – or a Jewish sage?

Who was Shimon Kepha? Was he a Jew who abandoned his faith and founded Christianity as an independent religion, or was he the student of the Chachamim, the Sages, who sacrificed his spiritual wellbeing for the sake of his people, like Yael or Queen Esther?

The Chosen Apostle?

The starting point of our search in clarifying the history of Shimon Kepha, also known as Shimon HaKalphus,1 is a passage in the Talmud about “oso ha’ish, that man,” the Nazarene. This passage was censored and does not appear in most extant versions of the Talmud.

The Talmud relates that oso ha’ish was a student of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Parchiah. He was driven away by his rebbe as a result of an incident in an inn, when he expressed himself coarsely about the matron of the inn. Later, the banished student wanted to apologize, but caught Rabbi Yehoshua precisely at the moment he was reciting Kriyas Shema. Rabbi Yehoshua signaled for him to wait, but the student (known in the Talmud as Yeshu) thought he was driving him away again and was refusing to accept his teshuvah, repentance. He abandoned Judaism as a result of this mistakenly perceived humiliation (Sota 47a).

“On erev Pesach, Yeshu the Notzri (Nazarene) was hanged. Forty days before he was hanged, a proclamation was made that whoever could bring cause for leniency in his case should step forward, or he would be stoned (and hanged) for witchcraft, and enticing Jews to idol worship. No merit was found, and they hanged him on erev Pesach” (Sanhedrin 43a).

The Gemara mentions five of Yeshu’s students who were also executed by the Sanhedrin, but doesn’t mention anyone named Shimon.

Historians mention that one of Yeshu’s most faithful students was a Jew by the name of Shimon bar Yona. He wasn’t taken for execution with the rest (and maybe that’s why he isn’t mentioned in the Gemara).

Yeshu was impressed with Shimon bar Yona’s loyalty to him and he renamed him Petros (Peter), which means “rock” in Greek, implying that Shimon bar Yona would be the rock upon which his new religion would be built.

According to Christian historians, Shimon was a fisherman in Kfar Nachum before meeting Yeshu. Shimon was given important missions after joining the Notzrim in Nazareth, including the mission to find a replacement for Yehudah of Kariot (Judas), who betrayed Yeshu to the Sanhedrin. He traveled on missionary trips for Yeshu in Lod, Yaffo, and Caesarea. Later, the Sanhedrin tried Shimon bar Yona — Kepha — Peter — twice (but the Talmud Bavli makes no mention of this).

Peter fled to Rome after the execution of Yeshu. He became the first bishop of Rome, which automatically made him the first pope according to the Roman Catholics, and he became known as Saint Peter, one of the founders of the early Church.

His death is shrouded in mystery. According to Christian historians, the Romans arrested Shimon Kepha — Peter — in 67 BCE and crucified him. Jewish sources give a different account, as we shall see. In any case, the Roman Catholic Church considers all the popes as successors of Peter, from whom they derive their authority and right. In honor of Peter’s occupation before becoming an Apostle, the popes wear the Fisherman’s Ring, which bears an image of the saint casting his nets from a fishing boat.

The Author of Nishmas

A cloak of mystery surrounds the identity of the author of Nishmas Kol Chai, which we recite every Shabbos and Yom Tov. A number of sources ascribe the authorship to none other than Shimon Kepha, or Peter.

“Rav Yuda ben Rav Yaakov wrote that R. Shimon Kepha was the author [of Nishmas” (Siddur Chasidei Ashkenaz, Hershler Publishing).

Concerning the brachah ahavah rabah, there is a notation: “Ahavah rabah — there are those who say Shimon Kepha wrote it — and so I heard from Rav Yuda ben HaRav Yaakov, ztz”l.”2

Some attempt to prove that Shimon Kepha was the author of Nishmas because we find the initials of his name sealed in the central stanzas of the prayer. However, Rav Wolf Hidenheim proves that the custom of initializing the author’s name in stanzas of the liturgy was not extant in the time of the Tannaim, and therefore this would not serve as any proof. (Introduction to the Machzor Shimini Atzeres).

A Revolting Peter Chamor

Rashi vehemently negated the possibility that Shimon Kepha was the author of Nishmas:

“Some say that the revolting Shimon peter chamor (firstborn donkey), the error of Rome, wrote this prayer (Nishmas) and other [liturgy] when he was on the rock. G-d forbid there should be such a thing in Israel! Anyone who says this will have to bring a fat sin offering when the Beis HaMikdash is rebuilt” (Issur V’Heter).

However, Rashi’s famous grandson, Rabbeinu Tam, expresses an entirely different view about Shimon Kepha. In the Machzor Vitri, he is quoted as saying that Shimon Kepha wrote the piyut, liturgical poem, Etein Tehillah from Musaf on Yom Kippur, which describes the service of the Kohein Gadol in the Beis HaMikdash. Rabbeinu Tam includes him as an example of “our rabbis and men of distinction” who wrote additions to the liturgy.3

Secret Agent of the Sages

How could a Jew who was the first pope be the author of important parts of our liturgy? We can better understand this from a midrashic source which imparts a positive view of Shimon Kepha:

“After these events, contention grew between the Jews and the Notzrim (the early Christians, all of whom were Jews). A Notzri would take every opportunity to kill a Jew, and the troubles continued to mount for thirty years. The Notzrim formed armies of tens of thousands and prevented the Jews from making the pilgrimage to the Beis HaMikdash on the holidays. … Twelve of Yeshu’s students (the apostles) went to twelve different countries and prophesized to them about the new religion, and many Jews joined them. …

“The Sages saw the terrible events and said: ‘Please, Hashem, give us advice … for innocent blood has been shed among your people because of oso ha’ish …’

“When they finished speaking, one of the wise men named Shimon Kepha rose … and said to them: ‘Listen my brothers, if it is good in your eyes, I will cause these men to separate from the congregation of Israel. … If you will accept upon yourselves [the responsibility for] the sin.’ And they answered, saying, ‘We will accept responsibility for the sin.’

The Midrash relates how Shimon Kepha went to the Beis HaMikdash and managed to take out the sheim hamefurash, the ineffable Name of G-d, and perform miracles before the Notzrim in Rome. He told them: “I’m the messenger of Yeshu and he commanded me to come to you. Swear to me that you’ll do all I ask you to do,” and they agreed.

He told them: “Yeshu hated the Jews and their Torah, and G-d has rejected the Jews as His chosen people. He could wipe them out in a moment, but He has decided to keep them so that Yeshu’s crucifixion will be remembered for all generations. Yeshu commanded not to harm any Jew, and if a Jew asks a Christian to accompany him for a mile, he should accompany him for two miles. If he hits you on the cheek you should turn the other cheek. All this is so they’ll receive their reward in this world and they won’t have any reward in the World to Come. You must replace Pesach with Easter, Shavuos with Pentecost, and Succos with Christmas.”

They agreed on condition he would stay with them. He stipulated that he was commanded to eat only bread and water and live in a tower until the day he dies. He lived in the tower “and served the G-d of his fathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and wrote many liturgical poems, sending them to all parts of the Jewish world. … He dwelt in the tower for six years and died, and they buried him in the Tower as he requested. Afterwards they built a magnificent building, and it still exists in Rome. He is known to them as Peter, which means rock, because he sat on a rock until the day of his death” (Otzer HaMidrashim, Eisenstein, pg. 557).

This Midrash portrays Shimon Kepha as an agent of the Sages, who succeeded in separating the troublesome Notzrim from the Jewish people and changing their religion so it no longer resembled Judaism. This prevented the spread of the new religion among the Jews.

This source indicates that Shimon Kepha wasn’t executed by the Romans, but died a natural death in the tower. He was called Peter because he sat on a rock and served the G-d of his fathers in isolation in the tower.

Based on this Midrash, prayers such as Nishmas, Etein Tehillah, and Ahavah Rabah, which are ascribed to Shimon Kepha by luminaries such as Rabbeinu Tam, take on a whole new light. These prayers are a part of the liturgy throughout klal Yisrael, with the agreement of the Sages of Yisrael who knew the true mission of the first pope, and that he never lost his loyalty to the Jewish people and its Torah.

Resolution between Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam

Rabbi Yehudah HaChasid presents an original idea that partly resolves the argument between Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam about Shimon Kepha:

“A Jew who becomes an apostate is given a nickname of shame, as it is written: ‘Those that make [idols] shall become like them’ (Tehillim 145:18), i.e. the apostate should be named after the idols. For example, if his name was Avraham he should be named afram (their ashes), and the like. This rule applies even if he was a tzaddik but the people are in error about him, such as Shimon Kepha, who is called peter chamor (firstborn donkey) (Sefer Chasidim, siman 191).

This ruling shows how we can view Shimon Kepha as a tzaddik (as did Rabbeinu Tam) and still defame his name, as Rashi did in calling him Peter Chamor. This prevents the nation from erroneously following after him, and perhaps brings him atonement for his sin.

The New Testament

Rav Yitzchak Doran, however, brings a citation from the New Testament about Shimon Kepha which describes him as an am ha’aretz (ignoramus) who couldn’t readily quote a verse. This raises a serious question how he could be capable of writing a prayer such as Nishmas or a piyut about the service of Yom Kippur.4

Rav Doran’s citation seriously challenges the version that Shimon Kepha was talmid chacham, an agent of the Sages who composed Nishmas to show his sincerity. According to what he quoted, he was the first pope after oso ha’ish (this is what Rashi meant when he referred to him as the “error of Rome”) and was crucified by the Caesar’s decree, remaining an apostate to Judaism until his death.

The Fast of the Ninth of Teves

Another mystery involving Shimon Kepha is the reason for the fast of the ninth of Teves.

The Tur and the Shulchan Aruch mention the ninth of Teves in a list of all the fast days (Orech Chaim, siman 580). They note, however, that the chachamim didn’t write the reason for the fast. Obviously, there was a reason for making the fast day, but the chachamim didn’t reveal it.

The Baruch Tam, Rav Baruch Teomim of Leifnick, commented about this in his notes on the Shulchan Aruch: “I found in a manuscript that Shimon HaKalphus, who saved Yisrael from distress at the time of the pritzim (violators of the Torah), died on the ninth of Teves, and the day of the death was established as a fast day in Jerusalem.”

This is the first time one of our rabbanim mentioned the name Shimon HaKalphus. Who was he, and when did he live?

A small work entitled Megillas Nital provides a solution to these questions, in a footnote which discusses the history of Yeshu:

“At the time of Herod there was a strikingly beautiful woman named Miriam, the daughter of Kalphus and the sister of Shimon HaKalphus. She was a hairdresser from the tribe of Binyamin, and she married Papus ben Yehudah. Her husband would not let her go out alone, and when he left he locked her in so that no immoral ones would come near her.

“On Yom Kippur, a very handsome immoral lout, named Yosef Pandriah the Notzri, passed by her window. … When he saw there was no one home he cried out: ‘Miriam, how long will you sit imprisoned?’ and she answered: ‘Yosef, Yosef, save me!’ … She bore to him Yeshu the Notzri a year later. …

“On erev Pesach they took Yeshu ) … and executed him. … When the men of aiy (rubbish) heard that Yeshu had been killed they attacked the Jews and killed two thousand …The king and the chachamim sought advice from Yehudah and he told them that Yeshu’s uncle, Shimon HaKalphus, was a gifted sage. He advised that the chachamim should give him the sheim hamefurash and he would go to aiy… And Shimon went …

“Shimon performed miracles for them … he dictated to them the laws as he received from the king and the chachamim and changed their alphabet … he went to the immoral ones and convinced them to go to aiy … Shimon returned to Jerusalem and stayed in the king’s courtyard until his death … and they established the day of his death, the ninth of Teves, as a fast day” (“Customs of Nital,” footnote 14).

Megillas Nital identifies Shimon HaKalphus as Yeshu’s uncle, Miriam’s brother. The Gemara also mentions that Yeshu’s mother was Miriam, the hairdresser. The rest of the details resemble the Midrash about Shimon Kepha.

Two Shimons

After examining carefully the history of Yeshu from many historical documents, which clearly indicate that Peter acted during the lifetime of Yeshu, we wish to cautiously advance the theory that perhaps there were two men who worked to establish Christianity as a separate religion, both of them named Shimon.

One was Shimon ben Yona, Yeshu’s chosen apostle, who became the first pope. He was known as Saint Peter, and Rashi called him the revolting peter chamor.

The second, Shimon Kepha or Shimon HaKalphus, was a Jewish chacham who sought to separate the Notzrim from the Jewish people only after the death of Yeshu, as an agent of chachmei Yisrael.

This theory solves many contradictions in the rabbinic writings concerning Shimon Kepha on the one hand and Peter on the other.

It also explains why Rabbeinu Tam never mentioned Rashi’s opinion, which describes Shimon/Peter as revolting and ruled it was impossible to ascribe Nishmas to such a person. They weren’t speaking about the same man! Rashi was denigrating the Shimon who became Peter, Yeshu’s apostle, and Rabbeinu Tam was speaking about Shimon Kepha, the agent of Yisrael.

We can now understand why the fast of the ninth of Teves was established for Shimon Kepha, and it removes the opposition of those who wrote, for various reasons, that the fast day couldn’t have been established for Peter.

This theory should be considered with great caution, even though it appears correct from a historical perspective and from Jewish manuscripts.

Questions Remain

We’ve trekked along the foggy paths of historical research and haven’t seen a clear conclusion; the mystery remains shrouded in the past.

There is no clear conclusion concerning what our attitude should be towards Shimon Kepha. Is he Saint Peter, and if so, what was his true goal? Why was he named after a rock? Was he Shimon HaKalphus? Who wrote Nishmas and why is there a fast on the ninth of Teves? There are many theories, each one touching on the other, and the mystery defies a clear solution.

The clear facts are that the Christians recognize a personage by the name of Shimon ben Yona. Yeshu changed his name to Shimon Kepha/Peter, and he was appointed to be the first pope, known as Saint Peter. One midrashic source claims his actions were for the sake of Heaven; he received permission from the chachamim to impersonate a Notzri and uproot the Notzrim from the Jewish people. The Talmud provides no support for this midrash, but none of the Rishonim refute it.

A number of Rishonim wrote that he was the author of Nishmas, and some add the piyut of Yom Kippur, but Rashi vehemently objects to this, because it would be prohibited to include liturgy from apostates. Also, the ignorant fisherman Shimon Kepha, as described in Christian literature, does not seem capable of writing a lofty prayer such as Nishmas.

We advanced the theory of two Shimons, one became Saint Peter and the other fought to separate the Notzrim from the Jewish people.

The mystery remains to be solved.

Footnotes:

1. As we will see, the Baruch Tam referred to him by this name, according to a manuscript in his possession. Many of the gedolei ha’achronim equate these two names as the same person.
2. The publisher, Rav Moshe Hershler, adds: “This is brought in the Tihingan Siddur as well. See Machzor Yashan, Zoltzbach Publishers: ‘I found that R. Shimon Kepha was the author [of Ahavah Rabah], one hundred words corresponding to one hundred blessings’ (pg. 89).”
3. Machzor Vitri, by Rabbeinu Simchah, a student of Rashi, siman 325.
4. Rav Yitzchak Doran, known as the Ephodi, after the sefer he wrote on grammar called Ma’aseh Ephod, was considered an expert on the history of Christianity and is quoted by the Shlah HaKodesh and the Rivash. He discusses the New Testament in Klimas HaGoyim.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha)