Simeon ben Lakish of Tiberias

Shim‘on ben Lakish (Hebrew: שמעון בן לקיש‎‎; Aramaic: שמעון בר לקיש‎‎ Shim‘on bar Lakish or bar Lakisha), better known by his nickname Reish Lakish, was an amora who lived in the Roman province of Syria Palaestina in the third century. He was reputedly born in Bosra, east of the Jordan River, around 200 CE, but lived most of his life in Sepphoris. Nothing is known of his ancestry except his father's name.

He is something of an anomaly among the giants of Torah study as he was supposed to have been in his early youth a bandit and a gladiator. The early commentators speculate that he was a Torah scholar before his life of crime. Binyamin Lau notes that this is strictly a babylonian tradition as it is not found in any of the sources of the land of Israel; according to the Jerusalem Talmud Shimon spent his entire life immersed in the study of Torah from his earliest days to his last and his criminal past is completely absent.

Reish Lakish was regarded as one of the most prominent amoraim of the second generation, the other being his brother-in-law and halakhic opponent, Johanan bar Nappaha.

According to the Talmud, Reish Lakish, like Yochanan, ascribed his knowledge of the Torah to his good fortune in having been privileged to see the patriarch Judah the Prince. According to Halevy, he was a pupil of Judah II, grandson of Judah the Prince, in whose name he transmits many sayings. Bacher supposes that he was a pupil of Bar Kappara, since he often hands down sayings in his name ("Ag. Pal. Amor." i. 340). He appears also to have attended the seminary of Rabbi Hosheiah, whom he cites (Ḳid. 80a; Me'i. 7b; Bek. 13a), questions (Yeb. 57a), and calls the "father of the Mishnah" (Yer. B. Ḳ. 4c).

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