Rome and Jerusalem: A Minority Culture Defines Its Space
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and the Cave | Mishael Zion | Bronfman Fellowships
In this baraita Rabbi Yehuda is described as head of the speakers in every place. The Gemara asks: And why did they call him head of the speakers in every place? The Gemara relates that this resulted due to an incident that took place when Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon were sitting, and Yehuda, son of converts,sat beside them. Rabbi Yehuda opened and said: How pleasant are the actions of this nation, the Romans, as they established marketplaces, established bridges, and established bathhouses. Rabbi Yosei was silent. Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai responded and said: Everything that they established, they established only for their own purposes. They established marketplaces, to place prostitutes in them; bathhouses, to pamper themselves; and bridges, to collect taxes from all who pass over them. Yehuda, son of converts, went and related their statements to his household, and those statements continued to spread until they were heard by the monarchy. They ruled and said: Yehuda, who elevated the Roman regime, shall be elevated and appointed as head of the Sages, the head of the speakers in every place. Yosei, who remained silent, shall be exiled from his home in Judea as punishment, and sent to the city of Tzippori in the Galilee. And Shimon, who denounced the government, shall be killed. Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai and his son, Rabbi Elazar, went and hid in the study hall. Every day Rabbi Shimon’s wife would bring them bread and a jug of water and they would eat. When the decree intensified, Rabbi Shimon said to his son: Women are easily impressionable and, therefore, there is room for concern lest the authorities torture her and she reveal our whereabouts. They went and they hid in a cave. A miracle occurred and a carob tree was created for them as well as a spring of water. They would remove their clothes and sit covered in sand up to their necks. They would study Torah all day in that manner. At the time of prayer, they would dress, cover themselves, and pray, and they would again remove their clothes afterward so that they would not become tattered. They sat in the cave for twelve years. Elijah the Prophet came and stood at the entrance to the cave and said: Who will inform bar Yoḥai that the emperor died and his decree has been abrogated? They emerged from the cave, and saw people who were plowing and sowing. Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai said: These people abandon eternal life of Torah study and engage in temporal life for their own sustenance. The Gemara relates that every place that Rabbi Shimon and his son Rabbi Elazar directed their eyes was immediately burned. A Divine Voice emerged and said to them: Did you emerge from the cave in order to destroy My world? Return to your cave. They again went and sat there for twelve months. They said: The judgment of the wicked in Gehenna lasts for twelve months. Surely their sin was atoned in that time. A Divine Voice emerged and said to them: Emerge from your cave. They emerged. Everywhere that Rabbi Elazar would strike, Rabbi Shimon would heal. Rabbi Shimon said to Rabbi Elazar: My son, you and I suffice for the entire world, as the two of us are engaged in the proper study of Torah. As the sun was setting on Shabbat eve, they saw an elderly man who was holding two bundles of myrtle branches and running at twilight. They said to him: Why do you have these? He said to them: In honor of Shabbat. They said to him: And let one suffice. He answered them: One is corresponding to: “Remember the Shabbat day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8), and one is corresponding to: “Observe the Shabbat day, to keep it holy” (Deuteronomy 5:12). Rabbi Shimon said to his son: See how beloved the mitzvot are to Israel. Their minds were put at ease and they were no longer as upset that people were not engaged in Torah study. Rabbi Pineḥas ben Ya’ir, Rabbi Shimon’s son-in-law, heard and went out to greet him. He brought him into the bathhouse and began tending to his flesh. He saw that Rabbi Shimon had cracks in the skin on his body. He was crying, and the tears fell from his eyes and caused Rabbi Shimon pain. Rabbi Pineḥas said to Rabbi Shimon, his father-in-law: Woe is me, that I have seen you like this. Rabbi Shimon said to him: Happy are you that you have seen me like this, as had you not seen me like this, you would not have found in me this prominence in Torah, as the Gemara relates: At first, when Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai would raise a difficulty, Rabbi Pineḥas ben Ya’ir would respond to his question with twelve answers. Ultimately, when Rabbi Pineḥas ben Ya’ir would raise a difficulty, Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai would respond with twenty-four answers. Rabbi Shimon said: Since a miracle transpired for me, I will go and repair something for the sake of others in gratitude for God’s kindness, as it is written: “And Jacob came whole to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and he graced the countenance of the city” (Genesis 33:18). Rav said, the meaning of: And Jacob came whole, is: Whole in his body, whole in his money, whole in his Torah. And what did he do? And he graced the countenance of the city; he performed gracious acts to benefit the city. Rav said: Jacob established a currency for them. And Shmuel said: He established marketplaces for them. And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: He established bathhouses for them. In any event, clearly one for whom a miracle transpires should perform an act of kindness for his neighbors as a sign of gratitude. He said: Is there something that needs repair? They said to him: There is a place where there is uncertainty with regard to ritual impurity and the priests are troubled by being forced to circumvent it, as it is prohibited for them to become ritually impure from contact with a corpse. There was suspicion, but no certainty, that a corpse was buried there. Therefore, they were unable to definitively determine its status. Rabbi Shimon said: Is there a person who knows that there was a presumption of ritual purity here? Is there anyone who remembers a time when this place was not considered ritually impure, or that at least part of it was considered to be ritually pure? An Elder said to him: Here ben Zakkai planted and cut the teruma of lupines. In this marketplace Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, who himself was a priest, once planted lupines that were given to him as teruma. On that basis, the conclusion can be drawn that it was definitely ritually pure. Rabbi Shimon, like Jacob, also did so and took steps to improve the city and examined the ground (Tosafot). Everywhere that the ground was hard, he pronounced it ritually pure as there was certainly no corpse there, and every place that the ground was soft, he marked it indicating that perhaps a corpse was buried there. In that way, he purified the marketplace so that even priests could walk through it. A certain Elder said in ridicule and surprise: Ben Yoḥai purified the cemetery. Rabbi Shimon got angry and said to him: Had you not been with us, and even had you been with us and were not counted with us in rendering this ruling, what you say is fine. You could have said that you were unaware of my intention or that you did not agree or participate in this decision. Now that you were with us and were counted with us in rendering this ruling, you will cause people to say that Sages are unwilling to cooperate with one another. They will say: If competing prostitutes still apply makeup to each other to help one another look beautiful, all the more so that Torah scholars should cooperate with each other. He directed his eyes toward him and the Elder died. Rabbi Shimon went out to the marketplace and he saw Yehuda, son of converts,who was the cause of this entire incident. Rabbi Shimon, said: This one still has a place in the world? He directed his eyes toward him and turned him into a pile of bones.
Questions to aid chevruta study
A. The three way conversation:
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Flesh out each position to a full blown position about the Romans. Can you make analogies to other imperial/colonial cultures?
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R. Yehuda: What could his interest to praise the Romans be? How far-reaching would you take his praise – is he praising the entire Roman Empire for all their actions? What is the "Jewish" word R. Yehuda uses to describe the Roman's actions? Why was this word chosen?
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Rabbi Yossi: How do you understand his silence? What is his inner monologue at the time of this conversation?
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Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai: What is the brunt of his criticism of the Romans? Is this such a terrible thing? What are the "values" of the Romans in the eyes of Rashbi? Would R. Yehuda agree?
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What could R. Yehuda have answered to Rashbi?
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How do you understand Yehuda ben Gerim? Is he innocent or malicious? Does this Yehuda remind you of another famous Yehuda that lived 100 years earlier?
B. In hiding
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What do the Beit Midrash and the Cave symbolize?
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Why does Rashbi take his son with him?
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How do you understand Rashbi's statement about his wife?
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What is the image created in the cave? Who replaces Rashbi's wife?
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Taking off the clothes – what does this remind you of?
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What is the significance of getting dressed to pray? Where is God in their learning?
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Ceaser dies – compare to the story of Moses, Exodus 2:16-3:10.
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What kind of ideal of Torah learning does this story promote? What is the correct relationship between Life and torah, Gentiles and Torah, women and Torah according to this story?
C. Coming out of the cave – Take one:
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Is Rashbi's critique of the farmer similar to his critique of the Romans (or his suspicion of is wife)? What is the development here?
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Eternal Life vs. Temporal life – do you agree with this hierarchy? Compare to the prayer of R. Nehunya ben haQana that is to be said when leaving the Beit Midrash (below).
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Burning with their eyes: how do you understand this? What gave them the power to burn with their eyes?
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What is God’s point of view on Bar Yochai’s revolutionary actions?
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Why were Rashbi and son sent back to the cave?
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The cave has changed it's "analogy" a few times throughout the story. Can you identify the various images it is analogized to? Compare it also to other "famous caves" of western tradition.
D. The Second Coming:
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What saves the "lay people" in the eyes of the scorching intellectuals? What is so soothing about the Old Man's actions?
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Why are "you and me" enough for the world? How does this relax Rashbi ans son? What are the lessons Rasbi learned in the cave – the first time, the second time?
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This story has a great spatial scheme. Notice the various spaces (for example – where do you imagine the first conversation taking place?). Notice the move between spaces and compare them. What does each space represent?
E. R. Pinchas
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Where does R. Pinchas take Rashbi to? What is the significance of this?
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Notice their dialogue: Has Rabbi Shimon mellowed? Has he repented for the crime that God exiled him back to the cave for?
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How does each character relate to the human body?
F. Tikkun Olam
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What is the ethical norm that Rashbi cites at the beginning of this section? Does this fit with what we've thought about Rashbi until now?
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Yaakov – look up the original context of the verse, then look up the Hebrew words SHALEM and VAYEEKHAN (the roots ח-ו-ן and ח-נ-ה), in a dictionary to understand the midrashic pun.
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Who in our story is Yaakov now compared to?
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Doubtful Impurity – what is the problem Rashbi is asked to deal with? Is there a symbolic meaning to this problem?
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What is the criticism of Rashbi offered by the Old man here? What is Rashbi's response?
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Yehuda Ben Gerim – did Rashbi learn his lesson?
And there already was an incident in which Rabbi Tarfon and the Elders were reclining in the loft of the house of Nit’za in Lod, when this question was asked of them: Is study greater or is action greater? Rabbi Tarfon answered and said: Action is greater. Rabbi Akiva answered and said: Study is greater. Everyone answered and said: Study is greater, but not as an independent value; rather, it is greater as study leads to action.
A part of Tiberias of doubtful impurity:
Based on parallel Rabbinic sources, scholars assume that this refers to the city of Tiberias, founded during the reign of Emperor Tiberius circa 20 ce., on the remains of a graveyard, thus making it burdensome for the priests to live in for purity issues.
Josephus also mentions a legend of purification of graves in the city, mentioning it as an ongoing debate in the city, saying that Herod Antipas gave incentives to the Jews to live in Tiberias because he know it was problematic for them halakhically. Following the Bar Kochva revolt and the move of Jewish life to the Galilee, Tiberias eventually became one of the largest centers of Jewish life, hosting the academy of Rabbi Yochanan (3rd C), the center of learning of the Palestinian Talmud.
See Israel L Levine, רשב"י, עצמות מתים וטיהורה של טבריה – היסטוריה ומסורת, קתדרה 2
Plato’s Myth of the Cave | The Republic, BOOK VII
I said, `liken our nature in its education and want of education to a condition which I may thus describe. Picture men in an underground cave-dwelling, with a long entrance reaching up towards the light along the whole width of the cave; in this they lie from their childhood, their legs and necks in chains, so that they stay where they are and look only in front of them, as the chain prevents their turning their heads round. Some way off, and higher up, a fire is burning behind them, and between the fire and, the prisoners is a road on higher ground. Imagine a wall built along this road, like the screen which showmen have in front of the audience, over which they show the puppets.'
`Then picture also men carrying along this wall all kinds of articles which overtop it, statues of men and other creatures in stone and wood and other materials; naturally some of the carriers are speaking, others are silent.'
`A strange image and strange prisoners,' he said. `They are like ourselves,' I answered. `For in the first place do you think that such men would have seen anything of themselves or of each other except the shadows thrown by the fire on the wall of the cave opposite to them?'...
`But,' I said, if someone were to drag one out up the steep and rugged ascent, and did not let go till he had been dragged up to the light of the sun, would not his forced journey be one of pain and annoyance; and when he came to the light, would not his eyes be so full of the glare that he would not be able to see a single one of the objects we now call true?'...... `Then, last of all, I fancy he would be able to look at the sun and observe its nature, not its appearances in water or on alien material, but the very sun itself in its own place? And that done, he would then come to infer concerning it that it is the sun which produces the seasons and years, and controls everything in the sphere of the visible, and is in a manner the author of all those things which he and his fellow-prisoners used to see?'...
`Well, then, if he is reminded of his original abode and its wisdom, and those who were then his fellow-prisoners, do you not think he will pity them and count himself happy in the change?'
[…] We must not allow them (the philosophers) the liberty which they now enjoy?’
`The liberty,' I said, ‘of staying there, and refusing to descend again to the prisoners and to share with them in toils and honors, whether they be mean or exalted.' `What!' he said; `are we to do them an injustice, and force on them a worse life when a better is possible for them?'
`You have forgotten again, my friend,' I said, `that it is not the law's concern that any one class in a state should live surpassingly well. Rather it contrives a good life for the whole state, harmonizing the citizens by persuasion and compulsion, and making them share with one another the advantage which each class can con-tribute to the community. It is the law which produces such men in the city; not in order to leave each man free to turn where he will, but that it may itself use them to bind the city together.'
ואמר חזקיה א"ר ירמיה משום רשב"י יכול אני לפטור את כל העולם כולו מן הדין מיום שנבראתי עד עתה ואילמלי אליעזר בני עמי מיום שנברא העולם ועד עכשיו ואילמלי יותם בן עוזיהו עמנו מיום שנברא העולם עד סופו ואמר חזקיה א"ר ירמיה משום רשב"י ראיתי בני עלייה והן מועטין אם אלף הן אני ובני מהן אם מאה הם אני ובני מהן אם שנים הן אני ובני הן
And Ḥizkiya said that Rabbi Yirmeya said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai: I am able to absolve the entire world from judgment for sins committed from the day I was created until now. The merit that he accrued through his righteousness and the suffering that he endured atone for the sins of the entire world. And were the merit accrued by Eliezer, my son, calculated along with my own, we would absolve the world from judgment for sins committed from the day that the world was created until now. And were the merit accrued by the righteous king, Jotham ben Uzziah, calculated with our own, we would absolve the world from judgment for sins committed from the day that the world was created until its end. The righteousness of these three serves as a counterbalance to all the evil deeds committed throughout the generations, and it validates the ongoing existence of the world. And Ḥizkiya said that Rabbi Yirmeya said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai: I have seen members of the caste of the spiritually prominent, who are truly righteous, and they are few. If they number one thousand, I and my son are among them. If they number one hundred, I and my son are among them; and if they number two, I and my son are they.
MISHNA: In addition to the halakhot relating to the fixed prayers, the Gemara relates: Rabbi Neḥunya ben Hakana would recite a brief prayer upon his entrance into the study hall and upon his exit. They said to him: The study hall is not a dangerous place that would warrant a prayer when entering and exiting, so what room is there for this prayer? He said to them: Upon my entrance, I pray that no mishap will transpire caused by me in the study hall. And upon my exit, I give thanks for my portion.
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
Robert Kennedy, speech to National Union of South African Students’ Day of Affirmation, Cape Town June 7, 1966.
When God created the world, God provided an opportunity for the work of God’s hands – man – to participate in God’s creation. The Creator, as it were, impaired reality in order that mortal man could repair its flaws and perfect it.
Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik , Halachic Man, p. 10