"I acquit the entire world from judgment from the day I was born until today"
(Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 45b)

1) Context and biographical profile

• Time and training. Rashbí was a tanna galileo in the II century d. C., a leading disciple of Rabbi Akiva. His name appears extensively in the literature tanaítica and amoraica, where there is often quoted as simply “Rabbi Shimon”.
• Conflict with Rome and the “cave”. The famous narrative talmudic (Shabbat 33b) says that, after criticizing the roman power, Rashbí had to hide with his son in a cave for twelve years devoted to the study; and when they emerge, their stern look on the “world of work” generates another withdrawal until they learn to “repair” instead of “consume” the world. It is a key text for understanding his ideal of total dedication to the Torah.
• Activity in Galilee. Sources encyclopedic put his life and teaching on cities galileans as Tiberias, with a tradition places his death and the tomb in Meron.

2) a Work attributed and textual corpus

• Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon bar Yojái (Mekhilta de-RSBY). This midrash halachic on Exodus is linked with the school of Akiva; a large part is reconstructed from the Guenizá of Cairo and dating medieval (editions of J. N. Epstein and E. Z. Melamed; trad./modern studies of W. D. Nelson).
• Presence on the Mishnah and baraitot. It is one of the voices most cited; when the Talmud says, “Rabbi Shimon” without specifying, many times referred to him (observation of the academic tradition, summarized in compendiums modern).

3) main Teachings

3.1 Halachah (law jewish)

• Primacy of the study of Torah. Sources paint Rashbí as a paradigm of the wise man totally dedicated to the study; there are passages where it is inferred that that level of dedication relieve it even of interrupt to the Shema (traditions collected in compendiums of reference).
• Ethics of the table and sacralization of everyday life. Your maximum Pirké Avot 3:3: “Three who eat at one table and do not speak words of Torah... it is as if they had eaten of the sacrifices to the dead; but if they say words of Torah, it is as if they ate from the table of God”. This teaching became the food in a religious act-educational.
• Trend legal-interpretive. Tradition places it in the line hermeneutics of Akiva (readings minute of the biblical text, using rules exegetical) underlying their Mekhilta and decisions on matters such as muktzé, intent on Shabbat, etc, such as studied in the literature of commentary.

3.2 Aggadá (narrative and theology)

• The “cave” as a theology of withdrawal and return. Shabbat 33b operates as a metaphor: the zeal for the Torah without the mediation of social reality can “burn”; the maturity consists in transforming the world. This dialectic has marked the spiritual reading of your figure.
• Emphasis on Providence and the divine presence in the material. The tradition that associates its name to mystical teachings underlines the nitzotz (spark) divine in the created and the possibility to elevate the material by the Torah (synthesis popular reception kabbalistic).

4) Rashbí and mysticism: the Zohar and the academic debate

• Attribution traditional. Since the Middle Ages, the kabbalistic tradition attributed to Rashbí the Zohar, a masterpiece of the jewish mystic.
• Evaluation modern. The consensus historiography places the writing of the Zohar in the Castile in the THIRTEENTH century (often linked to Moses de León), not in the second century; that is to say, its attribution to Rashbí is traditional and theological, not historical in academic terms.
• Religious Debate-apologetic. There is religious literature that defends the authorship of Rashbí and refutes objections philological, geographical and historical; its interest lies in how different communities negotiate authority textual and tradition.

5) Ditas, maximum and lines of thought highlights

• Sacralize the table and the word (Avot 3:3): already quoted.
• Criticism of the roman power and the ethics of work/study (Shabbat 33b): your tension with Rome and the famous phrase about “eternal life (Torah) vs. temporary life (livelihood)” appear as the axis of his spiritual profile.
• Ideal of totality in the study (a tradition of their school and compendiums): the continuous study as supreme vocation which, however, must return to “fix” the world.

6) Practices and cultural legacy-devotional

• Tomb and pilgrimage in Meron. Tradition locates his tomb (and that of his son, Rabbi Elazar) in Meron, Galilee. From the late Middle Ages the site is the destination of pilgrimages, especially in Lag B'omer (18 iyar), with ignition of fires and massive celebrations; the place is one of the most visited in the jewish world.
• Meron today. April 30, 2021 occurred an avalanche human during the celebration of Lag b'omer in Meron with 45 deaths, a fact that prompted a security review at the site.
• Songs, and popular culture. The figure of Rashbí inspiring hymns (Bar Yojái), practices of charity and specific studies on the calendar kabbalistic; all this reinforces his place as a symbol of “Torah " hidden” and devekut (adherence to the divine).

7) Valuation historiographical

• What is “historic” and “traditional”. Sources encyclopedic secular (Britannica, the Jewish Encyclopedia) distinguish clearly between:
  (a) Rashbí historic: tanna galileo circle of Akiva, as cited in Mishnah/baraitot, associated with the school exegetical akiviana and to the narrative of the cave; and
  (b) Rashbí mystical: author traditional of the Zohar and a benchmark of popular devotions, in Meron and Lag b'omer.
• Consensus current academic: the Zohar is medieval; the attribution to Rashbí reflects a chain of spiritual authoritymore than authorship of the literary direct. This consensus exists with attribution religious communities that value mesorá (received tradition).

The conclusion of his legacy

Rabbi Shimon bar Yojái emerges as a figure axial in three planes: (1) tannaita and halachicheir of Akiva, with emphasis on the study as a vocation in total and the sacralization of everyday life (Avot 3:3); (2) aggádico-spiritual, whose account of the cave outlines a theology of withdrawal and return (Shabbat 33b); and (3) symbolic-mysticalaround the attribution traditional Zohar and its centrality in the popular piety (Meron/Lag b'omer), even when the modern research places the composition of the Zohar in the Castile in the THIRTEENTH century. These layers —historical, literary and devotional— explain why Rashbí occupies a unique place in the memory of jewish-master of law, archetype of delivery to the Torah and the emblem of the mystic received.