Also Known As
• Rav Shimon Ben Yokhai רַב שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן יוֹחַי , Rashbi רשב״י ; Rav: Rabi, Rabbi, Raban, Rabban; Shimon: Simeon, Simon; Bar Yochai בר יוחאי , Son of Yohai, Yoḥai.
• Pesakh פסח , Pesach, Pesah, Pesaḥ, Feast of Passover.
• Shavuot שבועות , Shavuos, Feast of Weeks.
• Lag Ba'Omer לַ״ג בָּעוֹמֶר , thirty-third day in the counting of the Omer, 33 in the Omer.
• Khoshen חֹשֶׁן , Choshen, Hoshen, Ḥoshen, chestpouch amulet, breastplate.
Here is the traditional song to celebrate the spiritual teacher, Rav Shimon Ben Yokhai.
The song describes the ancient spiritual teacher ascending the levels of reality, while becoming one with God. At the highest level, at the absolute unity with the infinity of God, the No-End אין סוף , Ben Yokhai wears the Khoshen amulet of the Kohen Ha'Mashiakh that features the twelve gem stones of the heavens and that carries the Urim and Tumim objects to divine the desire of God.
The twelve stones physicalize the infinite.
The kin of Yisrael sing the song especially during his Hilula, his memorial anniversary. It coincides with Lag Ba'Omer, the thirty-third day between the festivals of Pesakh and Shavuot.
Ben Yokhai arises a Tora teacher of the Land of Yisrael, during the Classical Age circa 100 to 160. He is a student of Rabi Akiva, knowing the catastrophe of the Bar Kokhba Revolt, when the Empire of Rome genocides the Yhudim in the region of Yhuda (Judea), especially its capital city, Yrushalayim. Yet Ben Yokhai transmits an undying spiritual heritage that transcends all. The books of Mishna, Talmud, and Midrash mention his sayings frequently.
Altho his own father Yokhai enjoys the favor of the court in Rome, Ben Yokhai criticizes the Roman tyranny. His own student informs the Roman governor, who then orders his execution. Shimon Ben Yokhai and his son Elazar Ben Shimon flee the Roman authorities. The two go into hiding, adapting a hermetic life in a cave in the region of Ha'Galil (Galilee), for thirteen years. They emerge after the Roman Emperor dies.
They spend their time in seclusion studying the Tora together.
They emerge with extraordinary insight. The merit of this doing Tora saves the future of the world.
A thousand years later during the Medieval Age, the book of the Zohar emerges into history. It reports the insights that Rav Shimon Ben Yokhai and his son Rav Elazar Ben Yokhai discover during their study.
In the Modern Age circa 1500s, Shimon Ibn Lavi, a refugee from the Expulsion from Spain, settles in Tunis. He composes the song.
The holy sage, Ben Yokhai, transcends each of the ten levels of reality, becoming one with God.
The level of escape reorients toward life in tune with spirituality.
Moshe sees the acacia tree revealing a blaze of divine light.
Up at the level of war, he battles his own selfish predatory impulse. The victory is reusing ones own selfish needs to remind oneself of the great needs that others also have, thus motivating oneself to passionately fulfill the desires of others. Loving them as one loves ones self.
At the highest level of this world, the lions visualize the majestic and supreme power of compassion חסד . These embody the compassionate reuse of the predatory impulse, conquering and transforming the limitations of selfishness into wise altruism. The male lion being the spiritual light of compassion, and the female lion being the physical compassionate actions, they become one, the leonine. Spirituality and physicality becoming the light of compassionate actions.
Beyond this world, exists the level of the world that is coming, where ones eternal consciousness נשמה transcends space and time.
Wisdom is the infinite light of God − that creates and fulfills infinite desire.
Infinite power conceals within the Tora scroll.
Notice. As Ben Yokhai peers over the edge of reality into infinite light beyond any, he wears the priestly crown of the Kohen Ha'Mashiakh.
And Ben Yokhai wears the Khoshen: this priestly Chestpouch amulet, features the twelve stones of the heavens.
These twelve gems that imprint the names of the twelve tribes of Yisrael, physicalize oneness with infinity.
Ben Yokhai Translated by Stein Atle Vere. ©2011. brakha.blogspot.com. | בר יוחאי Shimon Ibn Lavi. Modern Age circa 1500s, today Tunisia. |
Ben Yokhai, you were anointed. Fortunate ‹are› you! The oil of joy ‹is› from your companions. | בַּר יוֹחַאי נִמְשַׁחְתָּ אַשְׁרֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai, ‹by› the oil of the anointing of holiness, You were anointed, from the measure of the holiness. You carried ‹up› the bud ‹of the inscription› of the ‹priestly› diadem of the holiness. Your adornment ‹is› donned on your head. | בַּר יוֹחַאי שֶׁמֶן מִשְׁחַת קֹדֶשׁ נִמְשַׁחְתָּ מִמִּדַּת הַקֹּדֶשׁ נָשָׂאתָ צִיץ נֵזֶר הַקֹּדֶשׁ חָבוּשׁ עַל רֹאשְׁךָ פְּאֵרֶךָ |
Ben Yokhai ... | בַּר יוֹחַאי נִמְשַׁחְתָּ אַשְׁרֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai, you inhabited a good inhabitance. A day you fled ‹is› a day that you escaped. In the cave of cliffrocks, that there you stood, You acquired your glory and your opulence. | בַּר יוֹחַאי מוֹשַׁב טוֹב יָשַׁבְתָּ יוֹם נַסְתָּ יוֹם אֲשֶׁר בָּרַחְתָּ בִּמְעָרַת צוּרִים שֶׁעָמַדְתָּ שָׁם קָנִיתָ הוֹדְךָ וַהֲדָרֶךָ |
Ben Yokhai ... | בַּר יוֹחַאי נִמְשַׁחְתָּ אַשְׁרֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai, the woods of acacias stand. They are studying the teachings of God. The light made wondrous ‹is› the light of the blaze. They are blazing. Is it not, your instructors will instruct you? | בַּר יוֹחַאי עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים עוֹמְדִים לִמּוּדֵי יְיָ הֵם לוֹמְדִים אוֹר מֻפְלֶא אוֹר הַיְקוֹד הֵם יוֹקְדִים הֲלֹא הֵמָּה יוֹרוּךָ מוֹרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai ... | בַּר יוֹחַאי נִמְשַׁחְתָּ אַשְׁרֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai, and you went up the field of apples To glean from the balms in it. The mystery of Tora ‹is› as buds and flowers. “We will do Humanity”, was said in your behalf. | בַּר יוֹחַאי וְלִשְׂדֵה תַפּוּחִים עָלִיתָ לִלְקוֹט בּוֹ מֶרְקָחִים סוֹד תּוֹרָה כְּצִיצִים וּפְרָחִים נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם נֶאֱמַר בַּעֲבוּרֶךָ |
Ben Yokhai ... | בַּר יוֹחַאי נִמְשַׁחְתָּ אַשְׁרֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai, you were strapped in ‹the belt of› overpowering. And in the war of fire of rite, toward the gate. And you brought out a sword from its scabbard. You brandished ‹it› counter to your distressors. | בַּר יוֹחַאי נֶאֱזַרְתָּ בִּגְבוּרָה וּבְמִלְחֶמֶת אֵשׁ דַּת הַשַּׁעְרָה וְחֶרֶב הוֹצֵאתָ מִתַּעְרָהּ שָׁלַפְתָּ נֶגֶד צוֹרְרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai ... | בַּר יוֹחַאי נִמְשַׁחְתָּ אַשְׁרֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai, to the place of the stones of calcite ‹of pure white marble›, You arrived before a lion of leonine, Also, the knob of the crowning on a she-lion. You will watch me. And who will watch you? | בַּר יוֹחַאי לִמְקוֹם אַבְנֵי שַׁיִשׁ הִגַּעְתָּ לִפְנֵי אַרְיֵה לַיִשׁ גַּם גֻּלַּת כּוֹתֶרֶת עַל עַיִשׁ תָּשׁוּרִי וּמִי יְשׁוּרֶךָ |
Ben Yokhai ... | בַּר יוֹחַאי נִמְשַׁחְתָּ אַשְׁרֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai, in the Holiness of the Holinesses, The line of green makes months new. Seven Shabatot ‹are› the mystery of the Fifty. You connected the connections of ‹the letter› Shin ‹as› your connections. | בַּר יוֹחַאי בְּקֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים קַו יָרוֹק מְחַדֵּשׁ חֳדָשִׁים שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת סוֹד חֲמִשִּׁים קָשַׁרְתָּ קִשְׁרֵי שִׁי"ן קְשָׁרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai ... | בַּר יוֹחַאי נִמְשַׁחְתָּ אַשְׁרֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai, ‹the letter› Yod ‹is› primal Wisdom. You peered into its interior honor. ‹The heart is› 32 paths of the Firstpart of donation. You ‹Wisdom› are the ‹angelic› Kruv of the anointing place. Refulgence ‹is› your light. | בַּר יוֹחַאי יוּ"ד חָכְמָה קְדוּמָה הִשְׁקַפְתָּ לִכְבוֹדוֹ פְּנִימָה לֵב (שְׁלשִׁים וּשְׁתַּיִם) נְתִיבוֹת רֵאשִׁית תְּרוּמָה אַתְּ כְּרוּב מִמְשַׁח זִיו אוֹרֶךָ |
Ben Yokhai ... | בַּר יוֹחַאי נִמְשַׁחְתָּ אַשְׁרֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai, the light made wonderous ‹is in› loftiness above. You dreaded from ‹going› to look, as ‹reason that› massive Concealed ‹mystery› ‹belongs› to it. And ‹Wisdom is› calling ‹the name› for it, No-Thing. You made oracle: “Eye will not watch you”. | בַּר יוֹחַאי אוֹר מֻפְלֶא רוּם מַעְלָה יָרֵאתָ מִלְהַבִּיט כִּי רַב לָהּ תַּעֲלוּמָה וְאַיִן קוֹרָא לָהּ נַמְתָּ עַיִן לֹא תְשׁוּרֶךָ |
Ben Yokhai ... | בַּר יוֹחַאי נִמְשַׁחְתָּ אַשְׁרֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai, fortunate ‹is› the one birthing you! Fortunate ‹are› the kin! They are your studying ones. And fortunate ‹are› the ones standing on your mystery, Clothed ‹in› the Khoshen of your Tumim and your Urim. | בַּר יוֹחַאי אַשְׁרֵי יוֹלַדְתֶּךָ אַשְׁרֵי הָעָם הֵם לוֹמְדֶךָ וְאַשְׁרֵי הָעוֹמְדִים עַל סוֹדֶךָ לְבוּשֵׁי חשֶׁן תֻּמֶּיךָ וְאוּרֶיךָ |
Ben Yokhai ... | בַּר יוֹחַאי נִמְשַׁחְתָּ אַשְׁרֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ |
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• (Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. “Woods of Acacias Are Studying”. brakha.blogspot.com. Source of derivation: freeisraelphoto.com. Creative commons 2011. Site: http://www.freeisraelphotos.com/index.html, 2011. Image: http://www.freeisraelphotos.com/photo/83. - check out this amazing site!)
