I brought all this because, Besiyata Dishmaya, we will all celebrate the hilula of the holy Tanna, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and of course, we will all sing the piyyut written by Rabbi Shimon Lavi – בַּר יוֹחַאי. Rabbi Shimon Lavi was a Jew from the city of Fez in Morocco. On his way to Eretz Yisrael, he passed through Tripoli in Libya, where he decided to settle. The background for this, according to the words of the Chida (who described the histories of Chachmei Yisrael in his sefer Shem HaGedolim), was due to extraordinary circumstances related to the state of the Jewish community in Tripoli at the time. Upon arriving in Tripoli (en route to Eretz Yisrael), Rabbi Shimon Lavi saw that they did not know Halacha, Tefillah, or Brachot. He said in his heart that it was better for him to bring them closer to Torah, and to teach them Torah and to fear Hakadosh Baruch Hu, than to proceed to Eretz Yisrael. And so, he did. He spread Torah there, authoring several works on the Zohar, one of which is called Ketem Paz. What remains of his work today are only two volumes on Bereshit and Shemot. Additionally, he composed the well-known piyyut about Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
ָ ב ּ ַ ר י ו ֹ ח ָ א י , נ ִ מְ שׁ ַ חְ תּ ָ א ַ שׁ ְ רֶ י ך : בַּר יוֹחָאי, שׁ ֶמֶן ָ שׁ ֶמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶ יך מִשְׁחַת קֹדֶשׁ ֹ דֶ שׁ ֹ דֶ שׁ , נָ שָׂ אתָ צִ יץ נֵ זֶ ר הַ ק נִ מְ שׁ ַ חְ תּ ָ מִ מִּ דַּ ת הַ ק ח ָ ב ו ּ שׁ ע ַ ל ָ פּ א ֵ רֶ ך ָ ר ֹ א שׁ ך
Bar Yochai, you were anointed, fortunate are you, with the oil of gladness above your fellows. Bar Yochai, with the holy anointing oil, you were anointed from the attribute of holiness, you bore the headplate, the crown of holiness, adorned upon your head, your glory.
Rabbotai, where is it written and from where do we know that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was a Kohen Gadol?! This seems incredibly wrong! But it does not end there, later in the piyyut, he writes further:
ֳ דָ שׁ ִ י ם ב ּ ַ ר י ו ֹ ח ָ א י , ב ּ ק ֹ דֶ שׁ ה ַ ק קַו יָרוֹק מחַדֵּשׁ חֳדָשִׁים, שׁ ֶבַע שׁ ַבָּתוֹת סוֹד ח ֲ מִ שׁ ּ ִ י ם ק ָ שׁ ַ רְ תּ ָ קִ שׁ ְ רֵ י שׁ ִ י " ן ק שׁ ָ רֶ י ך;
Bar Yochai, in the Holy of Holies, a green line renewing months, seven Shabbatot, the secret of fifty, you tied the knots of the letter shin, your bonds.
Bar Yochai in the Kodesh Hakodashim? Also, what does “a green line” mean?! Perhaps even then there were Palestinians dwelling beyond the line, or maybe they just had American dollars! How do we explain this?
If we see that Parshat Emor, in most years, is close to Lag BaOmer – the day of the hilula of Rashb’i – I wanted to learn a bit about Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and how he is connected to the matter of the שׁ ֶ מ ֶ ן ה ַ מּ ִ שׁ ְ ח ָ ה and the Kohen Gadol.
The truth is that his connection to the Kohen Gadol is mentioned by most commentators, for every commentator you take on the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai will tell you that he is a נִיצוֹץ נִשׁ ְ מָ תוֹ – a spark of the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu (in the sphere of reincarnation). These words are brought in the words of the Rama MiPano, that a spark of the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu was transmitted to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and therefore on the seventh of Adar – the day of Moshe Rabbeinu’s passing – people customarily ascend to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
The Chida writes (Shem HaGedolim, 10): “And I heard from a scholar from the inner West, the sage Rabbi Masoud, who found that the Ari said, based on ע ָ ל ִ י ת ָ ל ַ מּ ָ ר ו ֹ ם שׁ ָ ב ִ י ת ָ שׁ ְ ב ִ י – You ascended on high, you took captives, that שׁ ְ ב ִ י is an acronym for שׁ ִ ' מְ עוֹ ן בּ ַ ' ר י' וֹחַ אי. And the aforementioned sage said that שׁ ְ ב ִ י in reverse is an acronym for י' ִצְ חָ ק בֶּ ' ן שׁ ְ ' לֹמֹה, which is the Arizal, zechuto yagen aleinu.”
