Introduction Shmuel Hakatan means “Little Samuel” (or “Little Sammy”). The Palestinian Talmud provides two reasons for such a strange nickname. The first is that he would belittle himself in front of others; in other words he was exceedingly humble. The second reason is that he was he was just a little below the level of Samuel from the Bible. Shmuel Hakatan was at Yavneh after the destruction and he conducted one of the benedictions in the Amidah, namely the benediction directed against heretics. Despite his nickname he was evidently held in great regard.
Shmuel Hakatan said: “If your enemy falls, do not exult; if he trips, let your heart not rejoice, lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and avert his wrath from you” (Proverbs 24:17). The most interesting thing about this saying is that it is only a verse from the book of Proverbs. Whereas in every other case in the Mishnah, there are words of the rabbis, this mishnah contains only a biblical verse. While there are some versions of this mishnah in which there appears a midrash, in which case Shmuel Hakatan does add his own words and does not merely quote a verse, these are probably later versions and do not reflect the original. The traditional explanation for this phenomenon is that Shmuel Hakatan regularly quoted this verse. The verse’s meaning is that one should not rejoice at the fall of one’s enemy and that if one does God’s wrath will be placed upon the one rejoicing.