Tanna whose name became very popular by reason of a single homiletic remark, as follows: "The Holy One�blessed be He!�desired to enlarge Israel's merits; therefore He multiplied for them Torah and commandments, as it is said [Isaiah 42:21, Hebr.], 'The Lord was pleased, in order to render him [Israel�read: ] righteous, to magnify the Law and to make it great'" (Mak. 3:16). This mishnah is usually subjoined to each chapter of the treatise Abot embodied in the rituals (see ABOT). One halakah also is ascribed to him (Tosef., She?. 3:18; anonymous in She?. 8:8). When he lived, and who his teachers were, can not be ascertained. He probably was a brother of the equally rarely cited Simon b. 'A?ashiah.