And we have all gone to the village of Peki'in… which is surely the land of Israel like Zefat or Tiberias, and there is a cave there, where Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is buried, may he rest in peace, and the carob of which he would make a living, and we have sanctified ourselves there and studied for 2 months, Sivan and Tamuz, under all the conditions of the Midrash.
The holy or hachaim
On route to Meron
We make a stop at the Cave of Rabbi Shimon in Peki'in
Did you know?
The cave in which Rabbi Shimon hid together with his son for 13 years, where he sanctified and wrote the book of Zohar is on the way to Meron, in the old city of Peki'in.
Just 20 minutes from Meron, in the old city of Peki'in, is the cave where Rabbi Shimon hid from the Romans for 13 years and wrote the book of Zohar. There you will be able to light candles and pray, sit under the grand carob tree which stands erect next to the cave, and should you go down to the market of Old Peki'in, you will see the fountain from which Rabbi Shimon himself drank.
Rabbi Shimon was worried that the Romans may torture his wife and she will reveal where they were hiding, so he went and hid in a cave. A miracle happened and a carob tree rose from the ground and a fountain of water too, and Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Elazar would satisfy their hunger with carobs and their thirst with water. During the day, they would cover themselves with sand and study the Torah. When the time for prayer came, they would shake off the sand, put on their clothes and pray. And why is that so? So their clothes will not tatter.
אזלו טשו במערתא איתרחיש ניסא איברי להו חרובא ועינא דמיא והוו משלחי מנייהו והוו יתבי עד צוארייהו בחלא כולי יומא גרסי בעידן צלויי לבשו מיכסו ומצלו והדר משלחי מנייהו כי היכי דלא ליבלו
(Shabbat Tractate 33b)
"Know this, that there is no doubt that there are places in the world that are most unique for the word of divine holiness, especially the cave in which the holy Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is buried and worthy of it, and there is no doubt that Elijah came to the holy Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai several times in the cave and there was a sighting of Elijah there before. Now too Elijah is sighted there." (Netzach Israel, Chapter 28)
The Maharal
I was so moved by the holiness of Rabbi Shimon it was worth coming from all over the world to be here even for half a minute.
We hurried to pray the Morning Prayer at the entrance to the cave in which the teacher Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his son Elazar were buried for thirteen years. The carob tree stands there even before the cave's entrance. We prayed there in public under the carob tree's shade, we spoke the Zohar by the entrance of the cave, but we did not enter. We even took carob leaves in to our sack as much as we could carry, as it is well known and famous for its most wonderful and precious virtue for everything, and even to keep at home. But of the carob fruit we were commanded not to take, as he who takes them will not be purged and it remain in his spirit. And he showed us how much wood is placed there from the branches of this carob, which the gentile cut down and placed on the roofs of their homes, and all who entered those homes were poisoned and bitter like death, until they demolished it to the ground and brought the wood back to the entrance of the cave, where they still lie.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Merabin
יצירת קשר
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