The Torah Atlas

person · P0115

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai רבי שמעון בר יוחאי

Student of Rabbi Akiva, halakhist and mystic. Condemned by Rome for criticizing its rule, he hid with his son in a cave for thirteen years. Later tradition attributes the Zohar to him.

I. Who

Hebrew
רבי שמעון בר יוחאי
Also known as
Rashbi
Era
tannaim
Generation
T4
Received the mesorah from
Rabbi Akiva
Transmitted the mesorah to
Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon
Teachers
Rabbi Akiva
Students
Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon
Colleagues
Rabbi Yehudah bar Ilai, Rabbi Yose ben Chalafta
Children
Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon

II. When

Traditional
c. 3870–3930 AM
Academic
c. 110–170 CE
Lifespan (traditional)
≈60 years
Precision
approximate

V. How do we know

ClaimEvidenceConfidenceSources
Fled a Roman death sentence and hid with his son Rabbi Elazar in a cave for twelve years (thirteen including their return), sustained by a carob tree and a spring.
Aggadic narrative.
 rabbinic ★★★☆☆
Named among the five later students of Rabbi Akiva who revived Torah in the south. rabbinic ★★★★☆
Authorship of the Zohar is traditionally attributed to him; modern scholarship dates the Zohar's composition to medieval Spain (13th century, circle of Moshe de León).
Confidence rating is for the traditional attribution as history; the disagreement between tradition and scholarship is itself the point this entry records.
tradition reconstruction ★☆☆☆☆
Roman authorities sentenced him to death after his criticism of Roman marketplaces, bathhouses, and bridges was reported to the government.
The emperor and date are not named.
 rabbinic tradition ★★★★☆
He and his son initially hid in a study hall, where his unnamed wife brought them bread and water, and moved to the cave only when the decree intensified.
The location of the cave is not specified by the Bavli.
 rabbinic tradition ★★★★☆
After he emerged, Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair saw that Rabbi Shimon's skin was deeply fissured from the years buried in sand inside the cave, and wept over him.
The precise family relationship expressed by the Aramaic term chatanei (Pinchas ben Yair as his son-in-law or father-in-law) is ambiguous.
rabbinic tradition ★★★★☆
Was among the five elders ordained by Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava between Usha and Shefaram in defiance of the Roman decree that "anyone who ordains will be killed and anyone ordained will be killed," and escaped when the soldiers arrived — one of the sages through whom classical semicha survived the Hadrianic persecution.
Named explicitly ("Rabbi Shimon") in the sugya's list of five.
 rabbinic ★★★★★