Alexander the Great and Simeon the Just

Leviticus Rabbah 13:5

5th–7th Century

The hare: this refers to Greece; because it chews [lit., raises up] its cud (Leviticus 11:6): for it raises up righteous individuals. Alexander the Macedonian, when he saw Simeon the Just, rose up on his legs before him. They said to him, “Can you not see that it is a Jew? Do you stand before Jews?” [Alexander] said to them, “When I go out to battle, I see the likeness of this one, and I am victorious.”

Translated by Matthew Goldstone.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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This text gives some of the credit for Alexander the Great’s victories to the high priest Simeon the Just. The epithet Simeon the Just is used by Josephus for Simeon I and by Ben Sira for a later priest (most likely Simeon II), but according to Josephus, the high priest in Alexander’s time was Simeon I’s grandfather Jaddua.

This passage is part of a midrash on Leviticus 11 that interprets several of the animals considered unclean as allusions to kingdoms that conquered Israel.

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