Daily dose of wisdom, Shabbat 33. Bar Yochai and what makes a man

Today the Talmud recounts the famous story of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

Our sages were discussing the infrastructure such as roads and aqueducts that the Romans had built in Israel.  Rabbi Yehuda praised the Romans for building markets, baths, and bridges.  Rabbi Yossi was silent.  Rabbi Shimon said that the Romans had built infrastructure for their own needs, to bring harlots, indulge themselves, impose taxes and fees, move their armies.

The Romans decreed death on Rabbi Shimon.  He eventually fled with his son and hid in a cave.  The stayed in the cave for 12 years, learning and discussing Wisdom.

When the Caesar died they emerged, and saw regular people working the fields, and wherever they looked there was destruction.  Their condemning gaze was bringing judgment on others who were not involved in Torah.  They went back into the cave for 12 months, and when they emerged Rabbi Shimon’s son Elazar still brought judgment, until they saw an old man running, bringing two myrtle branches in honor of the coming Sabbath.  Seeing the common man running to honor the Sabbath calmed their mind and they were able to return to society.

The Gemara relates:

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.

You see, it was the wounds and raw skin that made Rabbi Shimon who he was.  It was the long exile focused on learning wisdom in the cave, with zero attention paid to his comfort and body, that made Rabbi Shimon a spiritual powerhouse.

Gentlemen, it’s not the pleasures in life that define you, but the adversities, the scares, the wounds.  How you respond to suffering and grow from it makes you a man.  Be prepared to take the pain which is the price for personal growth. In this world, nothing truly valuable comes without cost.