...A tradition of Rabbi Simon ben Yochai, which is preserved
within the Treatise Sheviith of the "Talmud Yerushalmi."...
Is it not said in the Sanhedrin that there are four classes
who do not enter into the presence of the Holy One?--blessed
be He!--and among these four are scorners reckoned....
Concerning Rabbi Simon ben Yochai many marvelous things are narrated,
both in that Talmud which is of Babylon and in that which is of
Jerusalem. And of these things none are more wonderful than the
tradition regarding the fashion after which he was wont to rebuke the
impudence of mockers.
It was this same Rabbi Simon ben Yochai, who was persecuted by the
Romans, because he had made little of their mighty works, saying that
they had constructed roads only to move their wicked armies more
rapidly, that they had builded bridges only to collect tolls, that
they had erected aqueducts and baths for their own pleasure only,
and had established markets for no other end than the sustenance of
iniquity. For these words Rabbi Simon was condemned to die; wherefore
he, together with his holy son, fled away, and they hid themselves in a
cave. Therein they dwelt for twelve long years, so that their garments
would have crumbled into dust had they not laid them aside saving
only at the time of prayer; and they buried themselves up to their
necks in the sand during their hours of slumber and of meditation. But
within the cave the Lord created for them a heavenly carob-tree, which
daily bore fruit for their nourishment; and the Holy One--blessed be
He!--also created unending summer within the cave, lest they should be
afflicted by cold. So they remained until the Prophet Elijah descended
from heaven to tell them that the Emperor of the Romans had died the
death of the idolatrous, and that there remained for them no peril in
the world. But during those many years of meditation, the holiness
of the Rabbi and of his son had become as the holiness of those who
stand with faces wing-veiled about the throne of God; and the world
had become unfitted for their sojourn. Coming forth from the cave,
therefore, a fierce anger filled them at the sight of men ploughing and
reaping in the fields; and they cried out against them, saying: "Lo!
these people think only of the things of earth, and neglect the things
of eternity."
Then were the lands and the people toiling thereupon utterly consumed
by the fire of their eyes, even as Sodom and Gomorrah were blasted
from the face of the earth. But the Bath-Kol--the Voice of the Holy
One--rebuked them from heaven, saying: "What! have ye come forth
only to destroy this world which I have made? Get ye back within
the cavern!" And they returned into the cave for another twelve
months--making in all thirteen years of sojourn therein--until the
Bath-Kol spake again, and uttered their pardon, and bade them return
into the world. All of which is written in the Treatise Shabbath of
Seder Moed of the Talmud Babli.
Now in the Talmud Yerushalmi we are told that after Rabbi Simon ben
Yochai had departed from the cave, he resolved to purify all the land
of Tiberias. For while within the cave, his body had become sore
smitten with ulcers, and the waters of Tiberias had healed them. Even
as he had found purification in Tiberias, so also, he declared, should
Tiberias find in him purification. And these things he said within
the hearing of mockers, who feared his eyes, yet who among themselves
laughed him to scorn.
But Rabbi Simon sat down before the city of Tiberias, and he took
lupines, and cut up the lupines into atoms, and uttered over them words
whereof no living man save himself knew the interpretation. (For the
meaning of such words is seldom known by men, seeing that but few are
known even by the Angels and the Demons.) Having done these things,
the Rabbi arose and walked over the land, scattering the lupines about
him as a sower scatters seed. And wherever the lupines fell, the bones
of the dead arose from below and came to the surface of the ground, so
that the people could take them away and bury them in a proper place.
Thus was the ground purified, not only of the bones of the idolaters
and the giants who erst dwelt in the place of promise, but likewise of
the bones of all animals and living beings which had there died since
the coming of Israel.
Now there was a certain wicked doubter, a Samaritan, who, desiring to
bring confusion to Rabbi Simon ben Yochai, secretly buried an unclean
corpse in a place already purified. And the Samaritan came cunningly
to Rabbi Simon, saying "Me-thought thou didst purify such a spot in my
field; yet is there an unclean body there--the body of a man. Surely
thy wisdom hath failed thee, or may-hap thy magic hath some defect in
it? Come thou with me!" So he took with him Rabbi Simon, and dug up the
ground, and showed to him the unclean corpse, and laughed in his beard.
But Rabbi Simon, knowing by divine inspiration what had been done,
fixed his eyes upon the wicked face of the man, and said: "Verily,
such a one as thou deserveth not to dwell among the living, but rather
to exchange places with the dead!" And no sooner had the words been
uttered than the body of the dead man arose, and his flesh became pure,
and the life returned to his eyes and his heart; while the wicked
Samaritan became a filthy corpse, so that the worms came from his
nostrils and his ears.
Yet, as he went upon his way, Rabbi Simon passed an inhabited tower
without the city; and a voice from the upper chamber of the tower
mocked him, crying aloud: "Hither cometh that Bar-Yochai, who thinketh
himself able to purify Tiberias!" Now the mocker was himself a most
learned man.
"I swear unto thee," answered Rabbi Simon--"I swear unto thee that
Tiberias shall be made pure in spite of such as thou, and their
mockings."
And even as the holy Rabbi spoke, the mocker who stood within the
chamber of the tower utterly crumbled into a heap of bones; and from
the bones a writhing smoke ascended--the smoke of the wrath of the
Lord, as it is written: "The anger of the Lord shall smoke!"...