mentioned a name, that there was Yehuda ben, let's see the לשון here, תנו רבנן, רבי יהודה בן, רבי יהודה בן רבי אלעאי, ריש המדברים בכל מקום. Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Elai, he was the ריש המדברים. He was always the head, the first guy to speak. So the Gemara asks, אמאי קרו ליה ריש המדברים בכל מקום? Why do we call him the ריש המדברים? That's his title, he's like the יושב ראש. Every אסיפה, he was the, the יושב ראש. Over Rav Shimon. Over Rav Shimon. Yeah, so the Gemara explains why. דיתבי, because there was once a story that דייתבי רבי יהודה ורבי יוסי ורבי שמעון. The, the at the bottom here, why amai, a few lines from, from huh? Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Elai. Yeah, stam, yeah. So Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosi and Rav Shimon were sitting together ויתיב יהודה בן גרים גבייהו. And Yehuda ben Gerim sat amongst them. פתח רבי יהודה ואמר, so Rabbi Yehuda got up and he said, כמה נאים מעשיהם של אומה זו! Look how nice is the actions of this nation. Of the, of the Romans. תקנו שווקים, look what they did for the, for the community, for the ציבור! They made streets, תקנו גשרים, they made bridges, תקנו מרחצאות, they made bathhouses. They did things. רבי יוסי שתק, Rabbi Yosi was quiet. He didn't answer. נענה רב שמעון בן יוחאי ואמר, Rav Shimon got up and he said, כל מה שתקנו לא תקנו אלא לצורך עצמן. Whatever they did, they didn't mean anything. They meant it all for themselves. תקנו שווקים להושיב בהן זונות, to put זונות there. מרחצאות, they made bathhouses לעדן בהן עצמן, that they themselves should be able to, for themselves, they didn't care about others, just for themselves. גשרים ליטול בהן מכס, they made the bridges in order to take tolls, just to get money. It's all for the, it doesn't mean anything for the community.

הלך יהודה בן גרים וסיפר דבריהם. Now Yehuda ben Gerim went and repeated what they said. Now he didn't repeat it to the government, Rashi says, he repeated it to somebody else. And these things should stay inside things, so he went and told it over, Rashi says, either to his father and mother, his wife, I guess, you told her, and what happened? ונשמעו למלכות, finally, it got to the government. Wasn't lashon hara? Huh? Wasn't lashon hara to talk like this? He wasn't talking about a Jewish person. It was about the Romans. But how was it lashon hara? It depends who. Yeah. No, but it's about the Shimon ben Yochai's lashon hara that they that they repeated it. Okay? But you see what happened? אמרו, so the government said, יהודה שעילה יתעלה, יהודה who's who praised us, we're putting him the position he should become the ראש המדברים. We gave him the highest position. יוסי ששתק יגלה לציפורי. Rabbi Yosi who was quiet, so we're going to force him to go to exile to Tzipori. and שמעון שגינה, שמעון who insulted them, יהרג, has to get killed. Why was that exile, wasn't that where the Sanhedrin was? I guess he lived somewhere else. Oh, it was better. Huh? That was better. It's like, \"Better, why didn't you go yourself?\" Probably got a reason not to be there. אזל הוא, You might say where he lived was better. Oh, it must have been where he lived was better.

אזל הוא ובריה, so he and his son went, טשו בי מדרשא, they hid in the בית מדרש, the government shouldn't catch him. They ran away from home. כל יומא ויומא, everyday הוה מייתי להו דביתהו ריפתא וכוזא דמיא וכרכי. Everyday his wife would bring them a piece of bread, a drink of water, and they would eat. כי תקיף גזירתא, when the gzeira became stronger, which means they started searching for him more, I mean, they started tightening the noose around him, אמר ליה לבריה, so he said to his son, נשים דעתן קלה עליהן, women have their mind is not so strong, דילמא מצערי לה, they might torture her ומגליא לן, and she's going to tell them where we are. So אזלו, they went, טשו במערתא, they went and they hid in a cave. And tell his wife? Huh? And not to tell his wife? Maybe told her, but didn't tell her where. איתרחיש ניסא, a nes happened, איברי להו חרובא, a carob tree started growing there, ועינא דמיא, and a flow of water started going there. והוו משלחי מנייהו, and what they would do is they would take off their clothes, והוו יתבי עד צוארא בחלא, in other words, they they knew they were going to stay there for a long time, and the clothes are going to rot rot, so they took all their clothes, but in order to cover themselves, they would sit in sand. כולי יומא גרסי, davened all day.

בעידן צלותא, when they wanted to daven, they learned all day, I mean, when they wanted to daven, לבשו מיכסו, and they took on put on their clothes, and they davened. והדר משלחי מנייהו, and then they took it off again, כי היכי דלא ליבלו, they they leave them in order it shouldn't get rotten, it shouldn't get ruined the clothes. Cuz the more you wear it, the more it gets ruined, so they only wore it a little bit to the davening. יתיבו תריסר שני במערתא, they sat they stayed in the cave for 12 years. אתא אליהו וקם אפיתחא דמערתא, so came אליהו and he stood on the door of the cave, אמר, and he said, מאן לודעיה לבר יוחי דמית קיסר? Who's going to tell Bar Yochai, R' Shimon ben Yochai, that the king died, Caesar died, ובטיל גזירתיה, and the gzeira is בטל. I don't know if officially they were מבטל the gzeira, or bichlal the laws were that when the king dies, the decrees go away. נפקו, so they obviously they heard it, so they realized that this is a siman to them that the gezeirah is over, now they don't have to hide anymore, they can go out. The Alter Rebbe says: what did he do in the cave for 12 years? What did he learn there? Nigleh. He said nigleh. And then he said why nigleh? Because to write the Zohar, for that you need 12 years? Three months you can do it. Three months? The Alter Rebbe knew, in three months you can write the Zohar. Anyway, okay, תר\"ס פרקים. נפקו, so they went out.

חזו דאינשי דקא כרבי וזרעי, they went out and they were so involved all these 12 years in learning they couldn't imagine there's somebody working and not learning Torah, bitul Torah. Came out and saw Yidden, plowing, planting. אמר, said, מניחין חיי עולם ועוסקין בחיי שעה, they're leaving eternal life, Torah, and they're involved in חיי שעה, in gashmiyusdike things. So they were makpid. כל מקום שנותנין עיניהן, so anybody they looked at, מיד נשרף, people got burnt. Yeah, both of them. R'' Shimon bar Yochai also they, because to them this was something, and they were makpid, so you imagine such tzadikim, especially after the cave, there was burnt. יצתה בת קול ואמרה, wait, that's later. No, right. That's why a בת קול came out ואמרה, the בת קול of ה', להחריב עולמי יצאתם? You came out to destroy My world? חיזרו למערתכם, go back to the cave! הדור אזול, they went back. יתיבו, they stayed there תריסר ירחי שתא, they stayed there for another 12 months. אמרי, and they said, משפט רשעים בגיהנם י\"ב חודש, even a רשע is only in גיהנם for 12 months, so we have 12 months is enough already for us to refine ourselves. יצתה בת קול ואמרה, so now a voice came out from heaven and it said, צאו ממערתכם, now you can go out of the cave. נפקו, they went out. Now, what happened was that R'' Elazar still wasn't that high madreigah, he still couldn't take it. So R'' Elazar still at this moment, the son, every place he looked, any person who was working, he looked, they got burnt. So כל היכא דהוה מחי ר' אלעזר הוה מסי ר' Shimon. Wherever Rabbi' Elazar looked and punished, punished means he destroyed it, so Rabbi' Shimon looked and got cured. So they were able they were to last. אמר ליה, yeah בפירוש מחיה מתים, yeah. אמר ליה and then only Rabbi' Shimon got to it. Only Rabbi' Shimon got to it. So אמר ליה and Rabbi' Shimon said to him, בני, my son, די לעולם אני ואתה. It's enough me and you for the world to be such a level of not having of being involved in גשמיות. Everybody can't take that, so ממילא slow down. Okay. בהדי פניא דמעלי שבתא, it was the night of Erev Shabbat, it was Erev Shabbat, yeah, evening before Shabbat. חזו, they saw, ההוא סבא, they saw this old man, דהוה נקיט תרי מדאני דאסא, he was

holding two leaves of הדסים. But, that's that's the source in our ליטא'ישע פאלק. Hungarians they do that. Took two things, and he was running, ורהיט, and was running בין השמשות. בין השמשות, right before שבת he was running with it. אמרו ליה, they stopped, they looked at him, הני למה לך? Why are you taking two things of of הדסים? אמר להו, so he said, לכבוד שבת! For שבת, לכבוד שבת, to have a good smell. So they asked him, ותסגי לך בחד? Why two? One would be enough. So he answered, חד כנגד זכור וחד כנגד שמור. Since by Shabbat it says: זכור את יום השבת and שמור את יום השבת, so one for זכור and one for שמור. This is the makor that by licht also we bench at least two licht, one for zachor, one for shamor. And this inyan of taking the hadasim, I mean, I know a lot of people do that. Not only Yemenites. Yemenites, other Sefardim, besides, I know of Chasidish people. That's a difference, someone. Some think so. Carrying, yeah, it's just like you buy, some people buy flowers ערב שבת, you know, to bring home. Yeah, but they used the הדסים דווקא. Hadasim have a good smell. אמר ליה לבריה, so ר' שמעון said to his son, חזי, look, כמה חביבין מצות על ישראל! Look how Yidden love mitzvot, that for Shabbos they're running to get this. יתיב דעתייהו, so that they calmed down. First they thought look at the people! People are involved in gashmiyus, it's terrible! Not so terrible, the Yidden are not so bad! Yidden are behaving properly, look how they love the mitzvot. שמע ר' פנחס, ר' פנחס בן יאיר, huh? No, that means it, but it means before sheki'ah, yeah.

שמע ר' פנחס בן יאיר חתניה ונפק לאפיה. ר' פנחס בן יאיר was the father-in-law of ר' שמעון בן יוחי. He heard that he's coming, so he went to greet him. עייליה לבי בני, they went into a bath house, הוה קאריך לבישריה, and he was trying to to straighten out his skin. חזא דהוה ביה פילי דגופיה, the father-in-law was trying to רב שמעון, trying to clean him because he sat, imagine, for 12 years, 13 years in sand, their body in sand without clothes. You can imagine what it did. So they saw פילי דגופיה, they saw all kinds of cracks in the skin of the body. הוה קא בכי, so רב פנחס בן יאיר was crying. קא נתרן דמעת עיניה, so when he cried, the tears came down, and he was standing next to רב שמעון, it came down on רב שמעון. So tears tears are salty, so it burned him, וקא מצוח ליה, so he started screaming, made him scream. אמר ליה, so רב פנחס בן יאיר said to his son-in-law, אוי לי שראיתיך בכך, אוי to me that this is how I see you. אמר ליה, so he said, אשריך שראיתני בכך, you should be happy that you see me this way. אלמלא לא ראיתני בכך, לא מצאת בי כך. If you wouldn't see me this, you wouldn't find me this way. In other words, if you wouldn't see me this way, I wouldn't have reached the high madregot that I reached, that I reached such high מדרגות דווקא through the cave. And the Gemara says what what what madregot did we see? Actually in נגלה, דמעיקרא, at first, before he went into the cave, since Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair was his father-in-law, he was a bigger talmid chacham than him. Who? Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair. דהוה מקשי רב שמעון בן יוחאי קושיא, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai would ask a קושיא, הוה מפרק ליה רב פנחס בן יאיר תריסר פירוקי, רב פנחס בן יאיר would give him 12 tirutzim. In other words, things that he didn't know, his father-in-law knew. לסוף, at the end, now, כדהוה מקשי רב פנחס בן יאיר, רב פנחס בן יאיר would ask him a קושיא, הוה מפרק ליה רב שמעון בן יוחאי כ״ד פירוקי, רב פנחס would ask, he'd give him 25, 24 tirutzim. And where did he get all this great למדות? In the cave. So he says, you should be happy that you saw me this way, because of this I I gained madregot. This is in learning, but you can imagine in ruchniyut, in in like the Frierdiker Rebbe said that being in jail, well, this is like like jail, the madregah that he reached says that he said he wouldn't sell one minute of being in jail for a million dollars. So someone asked him, would you go back if we give you a million dollars? So he said, I wouldn't go back for one minute for a million dollars, but I wouldn't sell a minute for Who was that, Alter Rebbe? Neyn, the Frierdiker, Frierdiker Rebbe. Is that if פנחס בן יאיר שהחמור שלו לא אכל Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a sort of a gam zu letovah outlook, you might say? Or, yeah. What? Gam zu So that the outlook comes the same. No, it's not gam zu letovah is before, you see even before, before you see anything bad, you say it'll be good. No, here he saw, actually, he saw I was there, and I was able to learn much better, and I reached high madregot in gashmiyut, in ruchniyut, and in learning. אמר, he said, הואיל ואיתרחיש ניסא, since a nes happened to me to be saved from this cave, איזיל איתקן מילתא, let me do something. The first thing I want to do is do something for people. The Rebbe always uses, every Lag BaOmer the Rebbe would speak about this Gemara. Like you see that when a person wants to thank der Eibershter, what do you What is the first thing to do? Do something for other Yidden, Ahavat Yisrael, like you say that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, I want to do something for other Yidden, so I want to do I want to fix something. דכתיב, where it says, he quoted the pasuk, it says, ויבא יעקב שלם, it says after Yaakov was by Lavan for all these years, 20 years, he left Lavan, he came complete. אמר רב, Rav said that means שלם בגופו, he came complete with his body even though he was limping for a while, Hashem cured it. שלם בממונו, that he was complete with his money even though he gave away a lot of money to Esav, the presents, Der Eibershter gave it back. שלם בתורתו, he came back complete with his Torah. And it says ויחן את פני העיר, and after it says he stayed, he lived in front of the city of Shechem, אמר רב, Rav said, what did he do? מטבע תיקן להם, he was metaken something for them, he was metaken a a coin that they should be able to use currency, a coin. שמואל אמר, Shmuel said, שווקים תיקן להם, he was metaken for them that they should make how to make roads, how to make stores, a place. ורבי יוחנן אמר מרחצאות תיקן להם, he made for them מרחצאות, bath houses. In other words, he did something for their benefit. So Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai did the same thing. I also came out complete, I'm learning more, so let me do something. So what did he So amar, so he said to the people, איכא מילתא דבעי לתקוני, is there anything here that need a tikun, that you guys need help to fix?

אמרו ליה, they said, yeah, איכא דוכתא, there's a place around here, דאית ביה ספק טומאה, that there is a safek if there's a met there, and where they buried a met, they don't know where exactly, so they couldn't be there, דאית ליה צערא לכהנים לאקופי, and the kohanim, in other words, there was one met, but they didn't know the whole area, so the kohanim couldn't go anywhere, so they have to go all around, so it makes it hard for them. So mimela, that needs a fixing. So okay, he said, I'll try to fix it. Amar, he said, איכא איניש דידע דאיתחזק הכא טהרה, he said, so he made an announcement, anyone here knows or would remember from years before which place is tahor, which place is tamei? אמר ליה ההוא סבא, so this old man said to him, yeah, כאן קיצץ בן זכאי תורמסי תרומה. He says, in one this place, that place, I remember ben Zakkai, who was a kohen, he was was used to plant terumah here and take out from here the terumah and use it. Obviously, if he did it, and this guy is a עד, testified he did it, we know it's tahor. עבד איהו נמי הכי. So he said, \"I'll try, I'll test it out also.\" So he planted the whole place with, I guess, with תרומה, וכל היכא דהוה קשיא טהריה, and he said like this, any place which the earth remained hard, he said that's tahor. וכל היכא דהוה רפי צייניה. Wherever it was soft, he made a siman that it's tamei. Why? Because what happened was wherever the met, if there was ever a dead, whichever place had a dead body, it started coming up, and it softened the ground. And wherever it didn't have... Oh before, yeah, but he didn't dig now. It was soft before, but he didn't, so he could have measured, could have walked around and felt it. Couldn't feel it, this was a nes. It says that the met came up and made the ground soft, u-memilla he knew which place is tamei and which place is tahor. Okay. So he was מתקן something. What? You know what, when it says he did this, I don't know if he did it with terumah, I said terumah, but it says he did תרומת תרומה, but Rashbi, could be he just planted. And that was a nes, he takeh didn't plant תרומה, סתם because of what you're saying. No. How would he know? In גשמיות, he plant, how do you know if it's a met there or not? No, became softer, but that came through a nes. The corpse, that the corpse came up. That the the met came up the ground and made the place soft. That was a Just yeah, and just because what the nes, because he wanted to help. HaAri, HaAri zal when he went to Tzefat He pointed out. He knew. buried there after after the earthquake. Yeah, yeah, and most of the קברים in Eretz Yisrael came from the HaAri zal. HaAri zal, so he said this is This is this is Rashbi So he cannot see it, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai cannot see it? I guess he didn't want to use the ruach hakodesh. I'll tell you, for טומאה וטהרה, הלכה, you can't use ruach hakodesh. What he did is for knowing which place is a holy place to daven, that you could use ruach hakodesh. With ruach hakodesh can't pasken that this place is tahor, because I have ruach hakodesh that that there's no met there. Cannot use No, תורה לא בשמים היא. You got to use, you know, Talmud. He also find the mikveh, HaAri zal, he say, \"Here, if you dig here...\" Yeah, dug, that's water, yeah. That's the HaAri zal's mikveh. Well, he didn't see the corpse, so he had to he had to assume that since the ground got softer, the corpse came up and moved. Right, right, yeah, yeah. No, but it felt it, apparently he felt that it's soft.

אמר ההוא סבא, so there was this old man there, he was actually part of the Beit Din that Rashbi made to פסקן that this is טהור, and he said, \"טיהר בן יוחאי בית הקברות!\" That בן יוחאי is מטהר בית הקברות, he criticized him. אמר ליה, so he said to him, \"אלמלא לא היית עמנו, had you not been with us when we dealt with this, ואפילו היית עמנו ולא נמנית עמנו, and even if you would be with us and you wouldn't have voted, you wouldn't be part of us to come to a conclusion that it's טהור, יפה אתה אומר. I can understand you come in to say, 'I disagree, I think you couldn't do it.' עכשיו שהיית עמנו, but now that you were with us, ונמנית עמנו, you were there in the Beit Din and you counted with us...\" Yeah. \"...so why did you do it? אלא מאי, what's going to happen here? You really voted with us and said it's טהור because you felt יצאת ידי חובת, you wanted to be יוצא for, you know, political, you wanted to be politically correct, but really you didn't mean it. יאמרו, people are going to say, זונות מפרכסות זו את זו, תלמידי חכמים לא כל שכן? You know the pshat here? The זונות מפרכסות, what a pshat! The זונות hate each other, because each one, you know, this is a כל אומן שונא בני אומנותו, every thing every person that does hates the one who does the same thing. Nevertheless, they help each other put on makeup and this kedei to show that that they're helping, but really they don't mean it. So the same thing they're going to say here also: really when you voted with us and you פסקנ'ד that it's good, it's not because you really meant it. You're saying now it's no good, you wanted it because you wanted to be יוצא. יהב ביה עיניה, ונח נפשיה.\" That's what people are going to say. יאמרו, you're making people say. זונות do it, and look, תלמידי חכמים do it even better. So יהב ביה עיניה, so Rashbi looked at him, ונח נפשיה, and he died. Is this the same one who spoke previously? Yeah. He was he told who? No, no, no, no. Yeah, this yeah, ההוא סבא, no, it's the same one. One, right? Who who died? The old man? The old man. I don't think it's the same one, but it doesn't say, unless mefarshim says it, it doesn't say. I don't know if the mefarshim So what what was he supposed to gain by by saying that he was...? He criticized him. He said you're wrong. Even though in the beginning he gave him an idea? Yeah.

What was he going to gain, from who? I mean what how was he going to gain standing? status? Trying to act like he was smart? His rav, I guess so. Cool. Wait, so who said that? He said he compared it to זנות, right? No, R'' Shimon ben Yochai compared it to זנות. R'' Shimon ben Yochai compared it to זנות. Yeah. In the end, you see that, look, people were saying that just like זונות do this, we're also doing it, and really, you don't mean that. So, they're little like if you're having another conversation like theirs, do they start talking about ex- like זנות and stuff like that? Like in that era? And I'm wondering, like it's interesting. Why they use this this לשון? No, like why they're talking about that trade? Why didn't they say like a jewelry business or something? Because I guess there's no מפרכסות. In a jewelry business, one doesn't help the other. In this case, they're together, one helped the other. In a jewelry business, they glue each one separate. This is a case where they help each other. It's the only case. Besides that, to give a good example people should understand. As they say, Alter Moshe, Alter Moshe he was א גרויסער חסיד, and he was went to the Lubavitcher Rebbe he was he was his mashpia. אז Alter Moshe, when he farbrenged, he used to say such nivul peh, he used to speak terrible nivul peh to the he used to say, \"You're a this, you're a that, ah?\" Itski, Itski was his name, right? Alter Moshe he was called right along. Itski. Right, Itski. So, someone once asked him, gerade when he was not shikor, Itski, when when he was not shikor, he was very eidel. Didn't I heard my father told me once that he was there, and he went sitting with this in the living room or something with a friend, and his little girl was walking around and he heard him say to the guy, \"אה, יענער איז א שוואנץ.\" So, his little girl took, \"טאטע, דו פארברענגסט?\" But anyway, so they once asked him, \"Why do you speak such שפראך?\" \"What should I tell you? The nefesh habahamis doesn't understand anything else. The nefesh habahamis

only understands when you the היגע שפראך, this is it.\" Anyway, so this guy died. נפק לשוקא... It's an insult to everybody who's listening. Okay. נפק לשוקא, so he went Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai went out on the street, חזייה ליהודה בן גרים. He met Yehuda ben Gerim. This Yehuda ben Gerim that he was the cause! אמר, \"עדיין יש לזה בעולם?\" This guy's still alive? נתן בו עיניו, he looked at him and נעשה גל של עצמות, he made him into a pile of bones. Yehuda ben Gerim was what, a תנא? No. Who's that guy? He's not called רבי יהודה, Yehuda. At least that story ends on the the right way. That that would always end on the right way. The bad guy got his... ער איז געווען, ער איז געווען א גלגול פון משה רבינו. Huh? He was a גלגול of Moshe? Moshe Rabbeinu... Moshe Rabbeinu said, \"I don't, I didn't know that my face is shining.\" Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai said, \"ואנא ידענא דאפי נהירין, I know of my, on my own face.\" Yeah? Why it has such a warm spot for him. You have a, yeah? Yeah. Go bring that Zohar. The whole, the whole...