10) Mount Meron, Rashbi's grave and Safed (Tsfat)

     Mt Meron, second highest mountain in Israel after Mt Hermon - no, it's not this small! The snow blocked the road up. So we went on to Rashbi's Tomb.

Mt Meron: 3,963 ft/1208m

Mt Hermon:  9,232 ft/2814 m

    Erez (our local guide) makes mush of those snowballs.

                   RASHBI'S TOMB 

RASHBI - Simon Bar Yochai, 80 - 160 CE was a Kabbalah sage who was attributed with authorship of the Zohar (see below).

We say and sing Kaddish. I say Kaddish for Mum and Dad and reflect on how they both loved Israel and adored coming here. I often sense their presence with me while I'm here.

- the womens' section

            

      RASHBI'S TOMB where you can go into the wrought iron enclosure and pray

"Simeon bar Yochai, (Aramaic: רבן שמעון בר יוחאי, Rabban Shimon bar Yochai), also known by his acronym Rashbi,^[1] was a 2nd-century tannaitic sage in ancient Israel, said to be active after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. He was one of the most eminent disciples of Rabbi Akiva, and is pseudepigraphically attributed by many Orthodox Jews with the authorship of the Zohar, the chief work of Kabbalah.

In addition, important legal homilies called Sifreand Mekhilta are attributed to him (not to be confused with the Mekhilta d'Rabbi Ishmael, of which much of the text is the same). In the Mishnah, in which he is the fourth-most mentioned sage, he is often referred to as simply "Rabbi Shimon." ^[2]

According to popular legend, he and his son, Rabbi Eleazar b. Simeon were noted Kabbalists.^[3] Both figures are held in unique reverence by kabbalistic tradition. They were buried in the same tomb in Meron, Israel, which is visited by thousands year round. 

According to a legend in the Babylonian Talmud, Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai criticized the Roman government and was forced to go into hiding with his son for thirteen years. They sheltered in a cave (which local tradition places in Peki'in). Next to the mouth of the cave a carob tree sprang up and a spring of fresh water gushed forth. Provided against hunger and thirst they cast off their clothing except during prayers to keep them from wearing out, embedded themselves in the sand up to their necks, and studied the Torah all day long. He and his son left the cave when they received a bat qol saying that the Roman Emperor had died and consequently all his decrees were abolished.^[4]

      I love the presence of the books.

         RASHBI'S son's tomb where we say the Shema

According to rabbinic sources, he acquired a reputation as a worker of miracles, and on this ground was sent to Rome as an envoy, where, according to legend, he exorcised from the emperor's daughter a demon who had obligingly entered the lady to enable Rabbi Shimon to effect his miracle.

His legal decisions also carried much weight in rabbinic literature.

The fullest account of Rabbi Shimon's teachings is to be found in W Bacher's Agada der Tannaiten, ii. pp. 70–149. When the Talmud attributes a teaching to Rabbi Shimon without specifying which Rabbi Shimon is meant, it means Shimon bar Yochai.

There is a mid-eighth century, Jewish, apocalypse attributed to the Rabbi; see The Secrets of Rabbi Simon ben Yohai.

While he is attributed authorship of the Zoharby many kabbalists, the authenticity of this claim has been challenged by both secular^[5]and religious scholars.^[6][7] who point to Moses de León as the author who published the Zohar in the 13th century."

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