הרב נחמיה העמסוני

Nechemia HaAmsoni was a tanna, known above all for a single celebrated teaching that appears across the Talmud in tractates Bava Kamma, Kiddushin, and Pesachim. He would expound every occurrence of the word “et” (את) in the Torah, deriving an additional inclusion from each one.

The Gemara records that when he reached the verse “את ה’ אלהיך תירא” — “You shall fear Hashem your Hashem” (Devarim 6:13) — he stopped, unwilling to add anything alongside the reverence due to Hashem. When his students asked what would become of all the verses he had already expounded, he answered that just as he received reward for the expounding, so too he received reward for withdrawing from it. The Gemara adds that the method was later taken up by Rabbi Akiva, who expounded this “et” as well. The sources also note that his name is given in some versions as Shimon HaAmsoni.