Who was Rabbi Meir Baal Haness?

Who was Rabbi Meir Baal Haness?

We all are familiar of the Tana R.Meir. His original name was Meisha .

 They called him R. Mier because he lit up the eyes of the chachamim

in halacha. (Eruvin  13b).

R. Mier was niftar in Asia (Chutz Laaretz)  He asked that his body be

placed on the sea being E.Y. is surrounded by 7 seas. (Yerushalmi  Kelaim perek 9  hl.3)

According to the  Yerushalmi it is not clear if his body ever ended up  buried in E.Y.

One of the first sources  that mentions R. Mier’s  burial  place in E. Y. is in the

Sefer Gelilos Haaretz. He writes that R. Mier is buried in the city of Tveryah.

The Seder Hadoros  quotes the same  Sefer Gelilos Haaretz  who writes  R. Yitzchock

 from Gush Chalav and R. Mier Baal Haness are both buried in Gush Chalav. The

Seder Hadoros continues that he doesn’t know who they were. (Seder Hadoros  never

heard of  R. Mier  Bal Haness.)

Sefer Zichron Yackov  (vol 2 p 30) writes about the pushkas  that were  named

after  an ish  chasid  v’kadosh who lived in eretz hakodesh a few hundred years

ago. He was famous – and was called R. Mier Bal Haness.

Two of the greatest frum historians (R. Yechiel Heilprin, Seder Hadoros  & R. Yackov

Lipshutz ,Zichron Yackov ) both held , R. Mier Bal Haness  is not  the Tana R.Mier.

1)        R.M. is buried in Tveryah    RMBH is buried in Gush Chalav

       2)         Seder Hadoros doesn’t know who R.M.B.H. was

       3)         Zichron Yackov claims R.M.B.H. lived a few hundred years ago

            R.M. lived two thousand years ago.

               4)       To donate  L’iluy  nishmas a Tana  who was niftar 2,000 years ago

                           sounds  very strange and maybe even chutzpadik.

                           A neshama from 2000 years has reached it’s peak a long time ago.

5)        The term Baal Haness is not found in Shas.  In  Shas

                    we only find the melumad banisim.

There are thousands of yidden who go to the kever of the Chasam Sofer

and come back claiming they have been to the kevarim of the Chasam Sofer and

his father in law R. Akiva Eiger.

The truth is that the R. Akiva Eiger buried in Pressburg (next to the Ch S.) is not

the famous shver  Of the Ch. Sofer.  He is the grandfather of R. Akiva Eiger the shver .

He was Rov In Pressburg for 11 days, hence buried in Pressburg.

R. Akiva Eiger the shver is buried in Posen.