Shimon Bar Yohai

Our Rabbis taught: And thou shalt gather in thy corn.6 What is to be learnt from these words? Since it says, This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth,8 I might think that this injunction is to be taken literally. Therefore it says, 'And thou shalt gather in thy corn', which implies that you are to combine the study of them9 with a worldly occupation. This is the view of R. Ishmael. R. Simeon b. Yohai says: Is that possible? If a man ploughs in the ploughing season, and sows in the sowing season, and reaps in the reaping season, and threshes in the threshing season, and winnows in the season of wind, what is to become of the Torah? No; but when Israel perform the will of the Omnipresent, their work is performed by others, as it says. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks. etc.,10 and when Israel do not perform the will of the Omnipresent their work is carried out by themselves, as it says, And thou shalt gather in thy corn.11 Nor is this all, but the work of others also is done by them, as it says. And thou shalt serve thine enemy etc.12 Said Abaye: Many have followed the advice of Ishmael, and it has worked well; others have followed R. Simeon b. Yohai and it has not been successful. ​

For R. Judah, R. Jose, and R. Simeon were sitting, and Judah, a son of proselytes, was sitting near them. R. Judah commenced [the discussion] by observing, 'How fine are the works of this people!They have made streets, they have built bridges, they have erected baths.' R. Jose was silent. R. Simeon b. Yohai answered and said, 'All that they made they made for themselves; they built market-places, to set harlots in them; baths, to rejuvenate themselves; bridges, to levy tolls for them.' Now, Judah the son of proselytes went and related their talk, which reached the government. They decreed: Judah, who exalted [us], shall be exalted, Jose, who was silent, shall be exiled to Sepphoris; Simeon, who censured, let him be executed. He and his son went and hid themselves in the Beth Hamidrash, [and] his wife brought him bread and a mug of water and they dined. [But] when the decree became more severe he said to his son, Women are of unstable temperament: she may be put to the torture and expose us.' So they went and hid in a cave. A miracle occurred and a carob-tree and a water well were created for them. They would strip their garments and sit up to their necks in sand. The whole day they studied; when it was time for prayers they robed, covered themselves, prayed, and then put off their garments again, so that they should not wear out. Thus they dwelt twelve years in the cave. Then Elijah came and stood at the entrance to the cave and exclaimed, Who will inform the son of Yohai that the emperor is dead and his decree annulled? So they emerged. Seeing a man ploughing and sowing, they exclaimed, 'They forsake life eternal and engage in life temporal!' Whatever they cast their eyes upon was immediately burnt up. Thereupon a Heavenly Echo came forth and cried out, 'Have ye emerged to destroy My world: Return to your cave!' So they returned and dwelt there twelve months, saying, 'The punishment of the wicked in Gehenna is [limited to] twelve months.' A Heavenly Echo then came forth and said, 'Go forth from your cave!' Thus.'; they issued: wherever R. Eleazar wounded, R. Simeon healed. Said he to him, 'My son! You and I are sufficient for the world.' On the eve of the Sabbath before sunset they saw an old man holding two bundles of myrtle and running at twilight. What are these for?' they asked him. 'They are in honour of the Sabbath,' he replied. 'But one should suffice you'? — One is for 'Remember-' and one for 'Observe.' Said he to his son, 'See how precious are the commandments to Israel.' Thereat their minds were tranquilized.

(7) Rabbi Shimon says: He who is walking on his way while repeating his studies, and interrupts his studies and says, 'How lovely is this tree! And how lovely is this newly plowed field!' is deemed by Scripture to be as if he was guilty [of an offense punishable by the forfeiture] of his life.

R. Eleazar, son of R. Simeon, once met an officer of the [Roman] Government who had been sent to arrest thieves, 'How can you detect them?' he said. 'Are they not compared to wild beasts, of whom it is written, Therein [in the darkness] all the beasts of the forest creep forth?' (Others say, he referred him to the verse, He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den.) 'Maybe,' [he continued,] 'you take the innocent and allow the guilty to escape?' The officer answered, 'What shall I do? It is the King's command.' Said the Rabbi, 'Let me tell you what to do. Go into a tavern at the fourth hour of the day. If you see a man dozing with a cup of wine in his hand, ask what he is. If he is a learned man, [you may assume that] he has risen early to pursue his studies; if he is a day labourer he must have been up early to do his work; if his work is of the kind that is done at night, he might have been rolling thin metal. If he is none of these, he is a thief; arrest him.' The report [of this conversation] was brought to the Court, and the order was given: 'Let the reader of the letter become the messenger.' R. Eleazar, son of R. Simeon, was accordingly sent for, and he proceeded to arrest the thieves. Thereupon R. Joshua, son of Karhah, sent word to him, 'Vinegar, son of wine! How long will you deliver up the people of our God for slaughter!' Back came the reply: 'I weed out thorns from the vineyard.' Whereupon R. Joshua retorted: 'Let the owner of the vineyard himself [God] come and weed out the thorns.'

Rabbi chanced to visit the town of R. Eleazar son of R. Simeon. 'Did that righteous man leave a son?' he inquired. 'Yes,' they replied; 'and every harlot whose hire is two [zuz], hires him for eight.' So he had him brought [before him], ordained him a Rabbi, and entrusted him to R. Simeon b. Issi b. Lakonia, his mother's brother [to be educated]. Every day he would say, 'I am going to my town; to which he [his instructor] replied, 'They have made you a Sage, spread over you a gold trimmed cloak [at the ceremony of ordination] and designated you "Rabbi", and yet you say, I am going back to my town!' Said he, 'I swear that this [my desire] has been abandoned.' When he became a great [scholar], he went and sat in Rabbi's academy. On hearing his voice, he [Rabbi] observed: 'This voice is similar to that of R. Eleazar son of R. Simeon.' 'He is his son,' they [his disciples] told him. Thereupon he applied to him the verse, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. [Thus:] 'The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life' — this refers to R. Jose, the son of R. Eleazar, the son of R. Simeon; 'And he that winneth souls is wise' — to R. Simeon b. Issi b. Lakonia. When he died, he was carried to his father's burial vault, which was encompassed by a snake. 'O snake, O snake,' they adjured it, 'open thy mouth and let the son enter to his father;' but it would not uncoil for them. Now, the people thought that one was greater than the other, but there issued a Heavenly Voice, proclaiming: 'It is not because one is greater than the other, but because one underwent the suffering of the cave, and the other did not.'