From the Pentateuchal injunction (Deut. xxii. 5), "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment," he maintains that a woman must never handle arms or go to war, and that man must not use ornaments which women usually wear (Sifre, Deut. 226; Nazir 59a).
M. Friedmann was the first to maintain, in his introduction to the Mekilta of R. Ismael (pp. 54 et seq., Vienna, 1870), that, in addition to R. Ishmael's work, there was a halakic midrash to Exodus by R. Simeon, which was called the "Mekilta de-R. Shim'on," and that this Mekilta formed part of the Sifre mentioned in the Talmud Babli (Sanh. 86a; Ber. 47b; Meg. 28b; Ḳid. 49a; Sheb. 41b); Ḥag. 3a).
This omission has been supplied by S. Buber, in his very full edition of the Midrash Tehillim, by printing, under the superscription of the two psalms, collectanea from the Pesiḳta Rabbati, Sifre, Numbers Rabbah, and the Babylonian Talmud, so that the midrash in its present form covers the entire Book of Psalms.
To him were attributed the important legal homilies called Sifre and Mekhilta.
•
In addition, the important legal homilies called Sifre and Mekhilta are attributed to him.