הרב יהודה בן גרים

Rabbi Yehudah ben Gerim was a tanna who appears in the company of the great sages of his generation. He is brought together with Rabbi Yonatan ben Akmai (Asmai) as having learned the section of nedarim (vows) before Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a scene recorded both in Moed Katan (9a) and in the parallel account brought in the Zohar on Bereshit, where the two take leave of their teacher in the evening and return to take leave again in the morning.

He is best known from the account in Shabbat (33b), where he sat among Rabbi Yehudah, Rabbi Yosi, and Rabbi Shimon. When Rabbi Yehudah praised the works of the ruling nation — that they built markets, bridges, and bathhouses — and Rabbi Yosi was silent while Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai responded that all such works were made only for their own needs, it was Yehudah ben Gerim who was present and through whom these words became known. This incident illustrates the grave matter of guarding a fellow’s words, a theme drawn upon in later works such as Pele Yoetz regarding the care one must take not to reveal what is spoken among others.