Wikipedia's first sentence called it “babylonian jew considered a great scholar of the talmud”. Today it says “babylonian jew considered a great early scholar in jewish law”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “1st century CE Babylonian Jew and religious scholar”. It now reads “1st-century CE Babylonian Jew and religious scholar”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Shmuel Hakatan (literally Shmuel the Small) was a Babylonian Jew considered a great scholar of the Talmud , Jewish law and custom.1He was one of the second generation of Tannaim , who served under the patriarch Gamaliel II of Yavneh , during the last two decades of the first century C.E..2He is known for his great work on the Hebrew calendar in exilic times, which brought an end to the practice of witnesses testifying to the new moon. and in establishing some texts of the Jewish prayer book, the Siddur . Particularly, he wrote a specific blessing in the silent prayer said thrice daily, the Amidah .3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17065512.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Shmuel Hakatan (literally Shmuel the Small) was a Babylonian Jew considered a great scholar of the Talmud , Jewish law and custom . He was one of the second generation of Tannaim , who served under the patriarch Gamliel II of Yavneh , during the last two decades of the first century CE. He is known for his great work on the Hebrew calendar in exilic times, which brought an end to the practice of witnesses testifying to the new moon. and in establishing some texts of the Jewish prayer book, the Siddur . Particularly, he wrote the Birkat HaMinim benediction, the 19 blessing in the silent prayer said thrice daily, the Amidah .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 324701715.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Shmuel Hakatan (literally Shmuel the Small) was a Babylonian Jew considered a great scholar of the Talmud , Jewish law and custom . He was one of the second generation of Tannaim , who served under the patriarch Gamliel II of Yavneh , during the last two decades of the 1st century CE. He is known for his great work on the Hebrew calendar in exilic times, which brought an end to the practice of witnesses testifying to the new moon, and in establishing some texts of the Jewish prayer book, the Siddur . Particularly, he wrote the Birkat HaMinim benediction, the 19th blessing in the silent prayer said thrice daily, the Amidah .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 584040648.
The opening as it stood in 2020 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Shmuel ha-Katan (literally Samuel the Small , or Samuel the Lesser ) was a Babylonian Jew considered a great early religious scholar . He was one of the second generation of Tannaim , who served under the patriarch Gamliel II of Yavneh , during the last two decades of the 1st century CE. He is supposed to have established some of the standard prayers of the Jewish liturgy, the Siddur .Particularly, he wrote the Birkat HaMinim benediction, the 19th blessing in the silent prayer said three times daily, the Amidah .This prayer condemns heretics, most likely the Jewish Christians .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 933657022.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
1st century CE Babylonian Jew and religious scholar Shmuel ha-Katan (literally Samuel the Small , or Samuel the Lesser ) was a Babylonian Jew considered a great early religious scholar . He was one of the second generation of Tannaim , who served under the patriarch Gamliel II of Yavneh , during the last two decades of the 1st century CE. He is supposed to have established some of the standard prayers of the Jewish liturgy, the Siddur . Particularly, he wrote the Birkat HaMinim benediction, the 19th blessing in the silent prayer said three times daily, the Amidah . This prayer condemns heretics, most likely the Jewish Christians . He is said to have said "do not rejoice when your enemy falls".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1157649211.
The opening as it stood in 2025
1st-century CE Babylonian Jew and religious scholar Shmuel ha-Katan (literally Samuel the Small , or Samuel the Lesser ) was a Babylonian Jew considered a great early Jewish law . He was one of the second generation of Tannaim who served under the patriarch Gamliel II of Yavneh during the last two decades of the 1st century CE. He is supposed to have established some of the standard prayers of the Jewish liturgy, the ''siddur'' . He wrote the Birkat HaMinim benediction, the 19th blessing in the silent prayer said three times daily, the Amidah . This prayer condemns heretics, most likely the Jewish Christians . He is said to have said, "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1289784747. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “babylonian jew considered a great scholar of the talmud”. Today it says “babylonian jew considered a great early scholar in jewish law”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “1st century CE Babylonian Jew and religious scholar”. It now reads “1st-century CE Babylonian Jew and religious scholar”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
babylonian jew considered a great scholar of the talmud
Now
babylonian jew considered a great early scholar in jewish law
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
