14. The Cave, the Fire, and the Cost of Truth | 8 minutes of Halacha and Pnimiyut

Why did Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai retreat to a cave, and what does that story demand of us today? In this 8-minute teaching, Rav Shlomo Katz unpacks the holy defiance of Rashbi: a man who refused to compromise, whose words scorched falsehood, and whose cave became a furnace of Torah. As Lag Ba’Omer approaches, we’re called to examine our own idols of comfort and political correctness—and to step, trembling yet whole, into the fire of truth.

What is Lag Ba'Omer: Shining the Light of Rashbi with Rav Shlomo Katz?

Rav Shlomo Katz brings Lag Ba'Omer to life with a soulful compilation of Torah teachings on Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi). Through niggunim and Chassidic wisdom, he explores Rashbi’s divine light, the joy of Torah revelation, and Am Yisrael’s unity. This series offers a transformative journey, celebrating Lag Ba'Omer’s bonfires and the eternal flame of Rashbi’s legacy.

ישר כח. ישר כח. בוקר טוב everyone, good morning. It should be a, in everyone's life, wherever they're holding, however they're holding, this light of פסח שני is a very, very strong light this year specifically because most of us when we were asked, how was פסח, the most of us didn't feel that there was פסח this year.

So, פסח שני, this this ענין that we have today is should be taken, בעזרת השם, each in your own way, the holiday of second chances. Doors opening again, we should go through them בשמחה, we should be fulfilled with good news בעזרת השם. Just saying, we're going to be having a מצה feast in this in the שיעור this morning, just putting it out there.So, we're having one more day right now of going deep with רבי שמעון בר יוחאי. And everyone knows the famous story of him ending up for all those years with his son רבי אלעזר in the cave and eating carobs.

But when we speak about how he ended up getting there, we'll understand a very important תכונה about who רבי שמעון בר יוחאי was and how he differed from other רבנים of the time, other תנאים of the time. We have a concept that always, it's called להתפלל לשלומה של מלכות. That means to דאווען for the peace of the current of the government that wherever we were in גלות and wherever even in ארץ ישראל, in that situation with the Romans, to דאווען for their מלכות, even if we can't say they always loved יידן, because they barely ever loved יידן. Even when they loved יידן, it was always an ulterior motive for it.

But the story, the famous story in מסכת שבת illustrates for us how רב שמעון ended up in that cave, and I think it's very important for us, especially today, to point out that the last thing you could say about רבי שמעון בר יוחאי is that he was politically correct. If anything, רבי שמעון בר יוחאי was probably the most politically incorrect תנא that ever lived. Based on what? So the גמרא in מסכת שבת דף לג says that once upon a time, a few תנאים, they were sitting around discussing the מלכות of Rome that was reigning over them at the time. And רבי יהודה opened up by saying what people naturally normally stated was that look at Rome, look at everything they built, look at look at their מלכות in the world.

Yes, it's not, you know, perfect, but there's so many great things that they did, and he wanted to point it out. And he was speaking loud, out loud about good things that the מלכות of Rome was doing in ארץ ישראל at the time and in the world. רבי יוסי, the גמרא says, שתק. He didn't say anything.

רבי שמעון בר יוחאי hears this and he says, you know, in his heart of hearts, you would like to say he thought, oh boy, I can't hold back, but I'm going to get in trouble right now. רבי שמעון בר יוחאי starts saying to רבי יוסי and to רבי יהודה, you know that that's ממש garbage. Everything that they did was just for themselves. The bridges they built for us to better our transportation was just in order to collect taxes.

All those other places and and buildings they built was for bad things going on there without getting too much into details. וכולי וכולי. I'm not going to start to לייפות, I'm not going to start to beautify and talk politically correct about the current מלכות. Word gets out that this happens.

And the דין was obvious from the Romans. They said רבי יהודה, he spoke so beautifully about the מלכות of Rome. What was his thing? יתעלה. We're going to they praised him.

Go up in status. רבי יוסי that didn't say anything, he was שתק, they said, okay, you're not going to get killed, but you got to be, you got to be exiled. ישלח לגלות. רבי שמעון בר יוחאי, the גזר דין was, death.

רבי שמעון בר יוחאי goes and he hides in his house for a while, while his wife was providing them with tremendous מסירות נפש with basics just in order for to survive, didn't leave the house. But since the Romans knew that after the previous מרד by בר כוכבא and others that that caused these rebellions, caused such a פגם in their כבוד, anyone that spoke a little bit ill about about Rome, they would was hunted down, ממש without רחמים. So they were going and searching and they could feel the heat in the בר יוחאי household so much so that it was very clear that if they continue staying there, it's a matter of minutes until they're caught and they're found. That's how they went and ended up in the cave for 12 years, being sustained by the famous עץ חרוב, the carob tree, and a מעין that came out before them.

And then you know the story, that after 12 years they come out, the level they were on is that they were burning people up, that they couldn't connect to anyone that was קשורות לעולם הזה, which also has to do with the first story that we mentioned. Everything, we see a lot of other places in in the שס that רבי שמעון בר יוחאי is non-compromising. For instance, there's a מחלוקת between רבי שמעון בר יוחאי and חכמים that speak about if a person should indulge at all with any עבודה בעולם הזה or should he just sit and learn תורה. And the חכמים end up saying a person should sit and learn at least a few opinions, but one says two hours a day, one says he should work two hours a day, but there's always this combination.

רבי שמעון בר יוחאי comes and says סליחה. When a person is busy doing what he's supposed to be doing and being עבד השם in this world, that תורתו אומנותו, that he says learning is my life, עבודת השם is my life, מלאכתו נעשית על ידי אחרים. Then everything that he needs in this world and worldly matters is done by other people. The חכמים don't agree with him.

They say what do you mean, you have to be involved in this. רבי שמעון בר יוחאי is connected, he's in the world of מעבר. He's in the world of the אמת לאמיתו. He's in that world of the truth of all truth, non-compromising truth.

So much so like we described yesterday, I think it was, that why couldn't the תלמידים get too close to him while he was dying giving over the secrets of the תורה? Because he was surrounded by אש. He was coming from a completely, I don't want to say a different, it is a different world. He was coming from the most realist world of אמת that exists.As we're preparing ourselves towards the light of רבי שמעון בר יוחאי, this לג בעומר, got to look deep down, I'm thinking to myself, I got to look deep down and realize in my own life where am I, where am I serving the idol of עבודה זרה of PC? Where is it in my life that I'm still trying to always make things beautiful and and and make every, make sure that, you know, everything, everything's working out good, and on the meantime, I'm suffering and I'm compromising and the truth of my truth is getting blemished by trying to make things look look pretty on the outside. The זכות of the light of the fire of רבי שמעון בר יוחאי, you can do it and you can go to the אמת לאמיתו and be be as real as possible without causing חס ושלום any מחלוקת that don't need to be good.

But however, there's something each of us said right now in the morning in דאווענען, אין מה לעשות. When you find a new path of truth, we say every single morning, עושה חדשות. What are the next two words? בעל מלחמות. When you have something new that you have to tune into, אין מה לעשות, the way of this world is עושה חדשות בעל מלחמות.

People are not always going to be so easy with you when you have something new to share with the world. Don't worry, it's a סימן that בעזרת השם דאווען strongly your מחלוקת should be לשם שמים, סופה להתקיים. Don't get too startled if something new that is erupting within you causes a little bit of a stir, as long as you realize throughout the whole time it's only coming out of אהבת תורה, אהבת השם and אהבת ישראל. We should be זוכה for this because we need a big facelift.

We need not just facelifts, we need we need a lot of heart trans, we need a lot, a lot of renewal going on. There's a שליף that's still happening with the כלל, with the עם. And I personally am feeling it directly affecting me very, very much. And this, that's why I'm like with fear and trepidation marching towards the light of רבי שמעון בר יוחאי that it should all be לשם שמים and it should be connected obviously to פנימיות התורה, to the secrets of the תורה, to the deeper layers of the תורה, through חסידות, through קבלה, through through פנימיות, through הרב קוק, through הגרא, through all the צדיקים that were always were always connected to the world מעבר, what's in front of you, just not looking at face value, what you see is what you get.

Well, maybe it's time to like look a little bit deeper at things and at people, and בעזרת השם the light of רבי שמעון בר יוחאי will burn within us stronger than ever.ישר כח. גוט יום טוב.