Editing Shimon Bar Yochai (section)

== His Hiding in the Cave ==
At a gathering of several sages with Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosi, and Yehuda ben Gerim, they discussed the actions of the Roman government: "Rabbi Yehuda began and said: How fine are the deeds of this nation—they established marketplaces, they built bridges, they constructed bathhouses. Rabbi Yosi remained silent. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai responded and said: All that they established, they established only for their own needs—they established marketplaces to place prostitutes in them, bathhouses to pamper themselves, bridges to collect tolls from them." When the authorities heard of this, they sentenced Rashbi to death.

Rashbi fled with his son Rabbi Elazar and they hid in the study hall, and afterward moved to hide in a cave, fearing that they would torture his wife until she revealed his hiding place. Miraculously, a carob tree grew at the entrance of the cave and a spring of water emerged for their sustenance. Rashbi and his son hid in the cave for twelve years, until Elijah the Prophet informed them of the emperor's death, and they emerged from the cave. Upon their exit, when they saw people engaged in working the land instead of studying Torah, they became angry and said: "They abandon eternal life and engage in temporary life?" From their displeasure, the people they encountered were burned. A heavenly voice returned them to the cave. After an additional year, the 13th, a heavenly voice called for them to leave the cave. Rabbi Elazar continued to strike people with his displeasure, and his father Rashbi healed them and prevented his son from doing so. When they saw a Jew beautifying the mitzvah by purchasing two bundles of myrtle for Shabbat, Rabbi Elazar's mind was put at ease.

After leaving the cave, Rashbi sought to fix something in the world. He arrived in Tiberias, and since the city was built on a cemetery and the priests did not know where they were permitted to walk, he purified the city from the bones of the dead by digging throughout the city to search for the dead.