Ben Sira

Who is Ben Sira?

According to Jewish apocrypha, Ben Sira was the son of Yirmiyahu’s daughter who became pregnant in the bathhouse from her father Yirmiyahu’s seed. As such, Ben Sira is mentioned by Rishonim and Acharonim with regard to halakhic discussion of the possibility of becoming pregnant without intercourse. Questions remain: whether the sperm contributor is considered his father; whether the offspring of parents who are forbidden relations to each other but who are conceived without intercourse are considered mamzerim; and whether in-vitro fertilization is permissible. He is also of interest because he was the grandfather of Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira, the author of the Wisdom of Sirach and possibly the Alphabet of Sirach.

Record seekers have written that because he was born from the absorption of semen without intercourse he was called Ben-Zer`a, and when he grew up he was embarrassed by this name and changed it to Ben Sira, which is the gematria equivalent of Yirmiyahu.