According to the Talmud, his father was a descendant of the Roman Emperor Nero who, it is said, escaped death at the time of his deposition and became subsequently a convert to Judaism.
His father-in-law, Hananiah ben Teradion, was killed in the Hadrianic persecutions, and his sister-in-law was taken to Rome and sold to a brothel.
During the Hadrianic persecutions Meir lived abroad, but he returned to Judea after the repeal of the oppressive edicts, and took part in the reestablishment of the Sanhedrin in the city of Usha.
Shortly afterward Simeon ben Gamaliel II was elected patriarch, and Meir became a hakham, in which office he was charged with the duty of preparing the subjects to be discussed in the Sanhedrin.
In the later part of Meir's life in one day he lost two sons, who died suddenly on a Sabbath while he was at the house of study.
He was induced to leave Judea because of the conflict that arose between him and the patriarch over the change introduced by Simeon in the ceremonial of the Sanhedrin.
Meir and Nathan (the judge) felt offended at this new arrangement and determined to show Simeon's unfitness for his office by puzzling him with difficult halakic questions which he would be unable to answer.
[18] The book also says that Yochanan Ben Zakai set up a bet midrash at Bror Hayil after he left Yavneh.
[6] This excess of dialectics is given in the Talmud as the only reason why his halakhot did not receive the force of law; the pros and cons offered by him were so nearly equal in strength that one never knew his real opinion on a subject.
[22] Other maxims of his, on study and the fear of the Lord, have been transmitted by Johanan: "Learn the ways of the Lord with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul"; "Watch at the gates of the Law"; "Keep the Law in thy heart"; "Let the fear of the Lord be always before thine eyes and keep thy tongue from evil words"; "Cleanse and make thyself pure that thou mayest stand without sin before the Lord, and He will be with thee" [28] Meir reproved those who run after riches: Meir's experience of the world was wide and varied, and the aggadah records several of his social maxims: Meir was fond of discoursing upon traveling: According to the Jerusalem Talmud, Meir died in Assos and asked that his tomb be placed on the seashore.
They are always gathering to pray there, and they say that it is the grave of a certain Rabbi Meir who vowed never to sit down until the Messiah arrives, and he is buried standing up.
"[36][37] The earliest known version of Yichus Avot, a 16th-century pilgrimage guide, says "Rabbi Jeremiah is buried standing up by the hot springs" (cf.
For those having this view, pilgrims visit his grave and recite Tehillim and a special prayer, especially on his yahrtzeit (anniversary of his death) the 14th of Iyar,[41] which is also Pesach Sheni.