Okay, let's pretend there's a big crowd. Anyway, the topic tonight, it's self-understood, it's Lag BaOmer, but we already once had a shiur on Lag BaOmer to describe to explain the different reasons given why we celebrate Lag BaOmer, so therefore I will not repeat that. What I will do is just pick one like certain special lessons that we take from Lag BaOmer that's explained that based on the Rebbe's שיחות and just mention them, not to go into the general inyan of what Lag BaOmer is. Just maybe in short for just a minute or two, Lag BaOmer, the reason we celebrate Lag BaOmer is basically two reasons. One reason is because we know that during the weeks of Sefirah, 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva died, and on Lag BaOmer they stopped dying. And that's why it's a simcha, because the other days we have a certain amount of אבילות, mourning, because of what happened, and this is a simcha that they stopped dying. Then there is the other reason, that is it is the hilula of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, it is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai before he passed away, it says in the Zohar, he said that this is יום שמחתו, it's his simcha, day of his simcha, and he asked that everybody should be happy on the day of his joy, should participate in his simcha. And according to Kabbalah, Chassidus, this is the main reason why we celebrate Lag BaOmer. Now when we say that we celebrate Lag BaOmer because it's yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, it doesn't mean just to celebrate and be happy in his simcha, just to be happy, but it means that the happiness has to come along with us following the footsteps of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, in other words, to take a lesson from what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai did. So when we celebrate it, it means celebrate it in a way that it gets internalized because what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai stood for, we take to ourselves and we take a lesson for our own service of Hashem. So what we have to do is look into what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai represents, and then we'll be able to apply it to ourselves. But first, just like a little introduction, that the day of a yahrzeit of a tzadik, we know, is very special, not only because the yahrzeit of a tzadik in itself is special, but also because on that day whatever that tzadik did throughout his lifetime stands out much stronger than always. It says in Chassidus that the whole avodah that a person does, especially a tzadik does, throughout his lifetime gathers together and it all becomes one big light of all the things he did together on the day that he passes away. Now this we know every time a person does a mitzvah it brings a certain light into the world. Imagine every time a tzadik does a mitzvah, his mitzvah is very special, it brings a certain light. So every day there is a certain amount of light that a tzadik brings on into the world. But every day has its own light, so there is a certain amount of light that applies to that day. But the day that a tzadik passes away, which is a day that he finishes his work in this world, so then, it says, all the lights that came about throughout all the days of his lifetime, they all come back on that day and they shine. So you can imagine how much light shined on the day that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai passed away because all the things that he did throughout his whole lifetime gathered together, it says, gathered together and became one big light at that time. And when you have everything gathered together there's a lot of aspects to it. Number one, you have a lot. It's not one day's worth of light, it's worth of a certain the whole lifetime's light which is so strong. But besides that, it says that when you have a lot of details get together, then besides so many individual things you also have what's called the אור העולה על כולנה, you have a light that's beyond it all together. When you have one thing, it's one. When you have two, three, four and they all come together, then there is a new light. Besides the fact that there's so many together, there's a new light that comes. The example given always is from letters. You have a letter א, has a certain meaning, which in the level of sechel it's a certain light, a light of sechel. You have a ב, has a certain meaning. And you have another letter, each letter has its meaning. Then when you have different letters put together into one word, then besides that this has five letters, there is a new meaning that comes about because there is a word that came about here, and that brings a new light of sechel. And the same is with everything, that when you have the different things come together and combine So, besides having them all, you have the אור הכולל. Another example given is, every Yid has a neshamah. It's holy, kedushah. When you have two Yidden, you have two kedushot, two levels of Imagine, three Yidden, five Yidden. But when you get a minyan, it's not only that you have 10 neshamot together. The 10 neshamot together combined into one tzibbur, one minyan, brings about a new light which is beyond, much higher than the 10 individuals' neshamot, even the way they're put together. There's a אור הכולל, that's a light that comes at the top. So the same thing here is when you have all the days together and they're all combined into one time, at the time of the passing away, so the light, the Godly light that's there, the avodah, the spiritual avodah, the spiritual service of Hashem that this tzadik did, is so strong that it's unbelievable. Now, that happens the day the tzadik passes away, which means by Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, that happened on ל״ג BaOmer. On ל״ג BaOmer, all the avodah he did throughout his whole lifetime came together. But it didn't it doesn't only, or it didn't only happen once. We think at the time, actual that year when he passed away, this happened. But since, every year when that same day comes around, the same thing repeats itself. Like it says in the מגילה, הימים האלה נזכרים ונעשים, it says that these days of Purim, it speaks about Purim, is remembered and is done. What does that mean, it's remembered and is done? So the simple peshat is we remember the miracle of Purim and we do certain mitzvot that we were commanded to do in honor of that miracle. But the Arizal says a different peshat. The Arizal says נזכרים ונעשים. נעשים means that all the things that were done then happened again. That means that whatever light came down then happens every year. And the same applies actually to every Yom Tov. When the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, it was such a great Godly light that came into the world, and this is something that we don't even have to take from Kabbalah. In the Haggadah we say, נגלה עליהם מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא, השם revealed Himself, so you can imagine the revelation that took place that time! That year, the year 2448 when the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, the truth is it didn't happen only then. Every year when Pesach comes, that same light comes into the world. We don't see it, but it's there. Shavuos, Matan Torah, you can imagine what happened, the great spiritual revelation of Matan Torah. Every year on Shavuos that takes place again. Sukkos, every holiday. And the same thing with the yahrtzeit of a tzadik, and in our case the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, that whatever took place, the Godly light that was there, that all things he did throughout his whole lifetime came together and shined, happens every year. The truth is it happens by itself just because the day comes, but more than that, it happens if we celebrate it. That's why the Arizal says הימים האלה נזכרים ונעשים. When is the real naasim, when is it really done? When does it happen over again? If it's remembered. If no one would remember it and no one would do anything about it, to a certain degree it would happen anyway because the day itself is a יום סגולה, it's a special day, but it wouldn't be at all the same way as it is when we remember it. And therefore, when we talk about it and we remember it and we celebrate it, that itself, the naasim makes it happen. So the Rashbi, the Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's avodah throughout his whole lifetime shines today, tonight, tomorrow, throughout the 24 hours of Lag BaOmer shines his avodah. And therefore, when we say we celebrate his yahrtzeit, what it means is we have to look into his avodah, which is so strong, which is גובר today, and apply it to us. We should take a lesson from what he did, that we should do the same. That's the main reason why we have to celebrate it. Not just for his sake, kivayachol, so to speak, to participate with him, like when you come to someone's simcha, you come to someone's party, what's the reason you come? Because you want to participate, make the person feel good, make him So we're participating in Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's simcha. That's not the whole thing. It's true also, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai wants us to participate, but the main thing is that we take from that simcha to us, that we take a lesson to us, learn from what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai did.

Now, the question that could be asked before we even go any further, how can we expect to learn from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai? Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is such a great tzadik. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was probably, we can look at it, I mean it's hard to say, to to measure and judge tzadikim, but he's probably the greatest tzadikim that ever lived in this world. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said on himself, and it wasn't gaavah obviously, that אם ראיתי בני עליה והם שנים, if there are two great people in the world, that's אני ובני, it's me and my son. If there is one great tzadik in the world, that's me. He was the צדיק יסוד עולם, he was the tzadik which on which the world was founded, he was the one tzaddik in his generation. So many great things says about Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai. It says that there was no why, one of the reasons we play with a bow and arrow is because in his lifetime there was no keshet, there was no rainbow, because the rainbow always reminds us of the מבול, that means Hashem, when He makes the rainbow, it's like a as if he's saying, \"You know, really deserve a מבול, but because I promised not to bring a flood, so I won't do it.\" So he brings the symbol of the flood, of the I'm sorry, not a flood, of the כריתת ברית, of the covenant he made never to bring a flood, which was the rainbow, that's what he shows. But in Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai's generation there was no rainbow. Why? Because his zechut was so strong that the generation did not deserve to be to have a flood. But that very few generations which we find, there are a few, but very few, he's one of the only ones. And Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai we know was the father of Kabbalah, he was the main one of Kabbalah who wrote the Zohar. I mean, he was so great that you can't imagine. So, how is it possible that we'll say, \"Well, how can we take a lesson from Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai? He's so great, what, we're going to follow his footsteps? Who are we to do what he did?\" Obviously, we're not talking about simple mitzvot that we don't have to take a lesson from Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, that we learned in the Torah. Obviously, it means some kind of more feeling and spiritual avodah, how can we expect to take a lesson from Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai? But the answer is, first of all, every tzaddik we can take a little bit, some connection we have so we can take a little bit, but by Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai it's more by other tzaddikim. Because Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, it says in many sefarim, was a ניצוץ of Moshe Rabbeinu, he was a spark of Moshe Rabbeinu. And by Moshe Rabbeinu it says in Tanya and in other sefarim too that every single Yid has a little bit of Moshe Rabbeinu within himself. It doesn't say every single Yid has a little bit of R'' Meir in himself, or other tzaddikim, of Moshe Rabbeinu it says every single Yid has. And in Tanya he proves it from the pasuk where it says Hashem says, \"מה השם אלוקיך שואל מעמך כי אם ליראה את השם אלוקיך\", what does Hashem want of you? Nothing, just to fear Hashem. And the Gemara asks, \"That's nothing? Just to have yirat shamayim, it's a small thing? וכי יראה מילתא זוטרתא היא?\" And the Gemara answers, \"Yes, for Moshe Rabbeinu it was a small thing.\" And in Tanya he asks, \"For Moshe Rabbeinu, true, but he wasn't talking just to Moshe Rabbeinu, he was talking to every single Jew.\" And in Tanya he answers what he means is not to Moshe Rabbeinu, to the Moshe Rabbeinu that every single Yid has. Every single Yid in himself, in his heart, in his neshama has a little bit of Moshe Rabbeinu. And whatever was easy for Moshe Rabbeinu is to a certain degree easy for us because of that little Moshe Rabbeinu that we have within us. Now, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was like Moshe Rabbeinu, he was a ניצוץ of Moshe Rabbeinu. So whatever we say by Moshe Rabbeinu, we say by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. So obviously every Yid has a little bit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in his heart, and therefore yes, we can learn from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. It's interesting, one of the reasons the Rebbe writes why we call today's holiday ל\"ג BaOmer, even though according to our nusach it should be called ל\"ג לעומר. See, there are different נוסחאות when we count Sefirah. Nusach Ashkenaz says היום יום this amount of days לעומר, בעומר. Nusach Sefard, Nusach HaAri we say this and this amount of days לעומר. So if we say לעומר, we should call it ל\"ג לעומר, not ל\"ג BaOmer. So the Rebbe writes that it says in ספרים that ל\"ג BaOmer with a ב' is the gematria Moshe. And that's why we say ל\"ג BaOmer. It's all because Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was a ניצוץ, a spark of Moshe Rabbeinu. To a certain degree, there were certain things that he had that we don't find by Moshe, even so to speak more than Moshe. For instance, just to give one example, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said, it says in Zohar, that by Moshe Rabbeinu it says \"ולא ידע משה כי קרן עור פניו\", Moshe Rabbeinu did not know that his face shined, \"ואנא ידענא דאנפין נהירין\", but I do know that my face shined. Moshe didn't know because his face shined, but he wasn't of the level of knowing it, but I do know. Now, it doesn't mean that he was completely greater than Moshe, it says no one's greater than Moshe, but it does show that he is like Moshe to certain things that was more revealed by him, not to go into the details of what it means, but generally speaking him and Moshe Rabbeinu are the same מדרגה. He's a ניצוץ of Moshe, and therefore just like by Moshe Rabbeinu we say we can learn a lesson from Moshe because we have Moshe within us, so same thing would be by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, in addition to the fact that from every tzaddik we can learn a lesson. So on Lag BaOmer, which is the day we celebrate his yahrzeit, which means that we connect ourselves to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and we participate in his simcha, that's the day that we have to look into what his avodah. So we have to listen and see what was the avodah of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai throughout his lifetime, and be able to apply it to us to see that on Lag BaOmer we take that lesson and then we would apply it to our lives for the next year, etc., etc.

The day that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai passed away, which was Lag BaOmer, It says in the Zohar, he spoke to his talmidim. And this is what he said: He quoted a pasuk from Shir HaShirim where it says אני לדודי ועלי תשוקתו, I am to my beloved and I have my desire to him. And he said like this: All the days of my life of my life בחד קטירא אתקטרנא ביה בקודשא בריך הוא. I was tied to Hashem with one knot. I was completely tied to Hashem. ביה אחידא ביה להיטא. I was united with him, and I had a flame. לוהט, like a flame fire when you have two fires they come together they become one, that's how I was with Hashem all my life. Now, when he said that about all his life, we could imagine how it was on Lag BaOmer. He said it on Lag BaOmer, considering all of his whole lifetime. But on Lag BaOmer, all the days when he had this feeling of being united with Hashem, being one with Hashem, all came together, so you can imagine how strong that was. And especially the last day of his life, when it all came to its climax, besides the fact that all the days came together, he reached the highest level of ביה אחידא ביה להיטא, that I am united with Hashem. So obviously, what it means to us is that we have to take a lesson that we have to be united with Hashem. And the Rebbe explains that this is the lesson that he means to say that we have to take. A person, you know, is born with his natural instincts, natural feelings, and what a person has to do is to choose to be educated, and then to choose to do the right thing, to learn Torah u'mitzvot. But even after a person learns Torah and does mitzvot, it is still very possible that the person who does it remains a separate entity from the Torah that he learns and the mitzvot that he does. There is the I, and the I, capital I, the I and the ego of the person remains, and I do a mitzvah. When you do a mitzvah, it's great. You learn Torah, it's great. And whatever you feel, it's great, still good. But there's a problem if you have the I, you feel yourself as a separate entity, which is being a נפרד, being separated from Hashem. And what Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai teaches us is that we have to realize that we have to reach a level to feel that we become united with Hashem, that we lose our ego when it comes to learning Torah and doing mitzvot. Which basically is explained in different places the difference between a ספר תורה that's written and the לוחות. The לוחות was the Torah, and a ספר תורה is Torah. The לוחות you have the words written on parchment, in the לוחות it was carved out. The difference is the words that are written on parchment or on paper are separate from the paper. They're very close, but they're still two entities. And you could scrape off the ink, and then you won't have the word anymore. Now it's written on it, but there's still ink on parchment. But when words are carved out in a stone, the words are the stone itself. There is nothing but the words. And that was the לוחות. So Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai lived a life constantly, always with this ביה אחידא that he was united with Hashem. Where do we see it the most in Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai's life? The Gemara says that there were certain people who fell under the category of תורתו אומנותו. תורתו אומנותו means his learning Torah was his occupation. Not only that he learned. There were many, many Tannaim and Amoraim who learned Torah, but the Gemara doesn't And they all learned Torah, I mean, Tannaim, Amoraim, the greatest tzaddikim, the greatest chachamim, but not to them all do we give this title of תורתו אומנותו, that his occupation is the Torah. Many tzaddikim, Tannaim, Amoraim had other jobs. Rabbi' Yochanan HaSandlar was a shoemaker, and other His but but some, some, few were תורתו אומנותו. The their Torah was their occupation. And who is the one that the Gemara mentions as an example is Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai. And the Gemara says he wasn't the only one, but how does the Gemara refer to it? Rabbi' שמעון בר יוחאי וחביריו, Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai and his friends. So he is the main one and they are called his friends, they are secondary to him. So Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai represents the epitome of תורתו אומנותו of a person that his whole occupation is Torah. And whole occupation means that this is in what he is involved. And that what we have to take from Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai, that we should do the same. Because normally, it's possible if a person learns Torah a little bit, so the other time when he doesn't learn Torah, he's not not united with Hashem. Even when you learn Torah, normally you know when a person learns Torah, it says in Tanya, your brain, your sechel, is united with the Torah that you learn, it becomes one, and the Torah that you learn is Hashem, so you become one with Hashem. But the other time that you're not learning, then it doesn't happen. And even while you're learning, not always is it that that becomes your occupation. Now, we're not talking here about changing, that stopping to work and sit and learn all day. That's a different story. That's not for everybody. We're talking here that a person, even while the person only learns a certain amount, this could become his occupation, that this is his whole being, he is united with the Torah that he learns. That is ביה חיותו, חיותו like Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai, I am connected to it, ביה לחיותו, I am, no, this is where I am. That's what Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai teaches us that we have to learn. And the same is with mitzvot, that when we do mitzvot, it shouldn't be that we do mitzvot. There is a mitzvah, and we, who we are, and I am who I am, and I do the mitzvah. It has to turn into that the mitzvah controls me completely, that while I'm doing the mitzvah, this is my whole being, I am united with the mitzvah. That's the level that Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai reached to the fullest degree, and we could take a little bit from it.

And the truth is, it goes on, not only when you learn Torah, not only when you do mitzvot, we go a step further. We know that besides the two, what else can there be? What else in serving Hashem can there be besides learning Torah and doing mitzvot? Everything would fall under the category of learning Torah and doing mitzvot. Doing tzedakah, it's all part of doing mitzvot. But there is another aspect in one's life, and that is כל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים, that when you're not learning Torah and you're not doing mitzvot, you're involved in your own personal matters, it should also become a way of serving Hashem. And in that, we know there are two levels. We find two statements, whether it's in a pasuk or in Chazal, concerning this idea. One is in Pirkei Avot, where it says, כל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים, whatever you do should be for the sake of Hashem. And then there's a pasuk that says, בכל דרכיך דעהו, in all your ways you shall know Him. And both of these things, both this pasuk and the Mishnah, is not talking about mitzvot, because let's look at the wording: כל מעשיך לשם שמים means all your ma'asim, all your deeds, yours. That's not mitzvot, because mitzvot are Hashem's ma'asim, we're doing Hashem's actions. When it says ma'asecha, yours, means our own thing. We're drinking water, we're eating cake, we're, whatever we're doing. And the same thing, בכל דרכיך דעהו, in all your ways you shall know Him, that doesn't mean mitzvot, because mitzvot are called דרכי השם, they're not your ways, your derachim, your paths, they're Hashem's paths. So when it says בכל דרכיך, your ways, it means our own. And דעהו, we should know Hashem. But between these two statements, there is a big difference. כל מעשיך לשם שמים means whatever you do, you shall do for the sake of Hashem. And בכל דרכיך דעהו doesn't mean you'll do it for the sake of Hashem, but in what you're doing itself, you see Hashem, you know Hashem. בכל דרכיך דעהו, you should know. כל מעשיך לשם שמים means, very simply, a person eats in order to have strength, to be healthy. Why should you be healthy? To be able to learn, to be able to daven, to be able to serve Hashem. So your eating is not really part of Hashem's service, it's an end, it's a means to an end. So that's what it means, you should eat with a kavanah that you're eating to be able to serve Hashem, so it is only l'shem shamayim, for the sake of Hashem. But בכל דרכיך דעהו means that in what you're doing, you see. So a person eats, and while he's eating, he feels that the reason the food gives him health is because Hashem's words are in that food. Like the pasuk says, לא על הלחם לבדו יחיה האדם, that a person doesn't live only on bread, כי על כל מוצא פי השם יחיה, השם, a person lives on the words of Hashem, which Chassidut explains means that how does food give us sustenance if we are higher than the food, the food is a lower level, food grows or it's an animal, we're higher, so how can we get, so it says, because there are Hashem's words that give life to the food, and when we eat food, it's Hashem's words that are put into us, and that gives us life. If a person eats and has that feeling, realizes that, then the eating itself to him is drawing Hashem within him. So it's not he's doing it only l'shem shamayim, for the sake of Hashem, now, it's not for Hashem, but it's going to be used for Hashem. This itself becomes a service, or even in a simpler case: sometimes a person could eat food not because he's hungry, and the reason he wants not to be hungry so to be able to serve Hashem, but he eats food because he wants to do a mitzvah. The best example is Shabbos, but Shabbos, you could say, is not really your own thing. The mitzvah to eat. But an example is another din in Shabbos. There's a din on Shabbos, every day you know we have to make a hundred berachot, and the Shulchan Aruch makes a whole cheshbon that if you say Shemoneh Esreh, daven three times a day, and you eat and you bentch, there are so many berachot, so many things, it adds up to a hundred berachot a day. Shabbos we don't have that because Shabbos Shemoneh Esreh of all three tefilot are much shorter. Every day we have 19 berachot in a Shemoneh Esreh, so when we have three Shemoneh Esrei a day, automatically we have three times 19 already, but Shabbos we only have seven berachot a Shemoneh Esreh. So it says a person should try on Shabbos to add berachot. Well, how could you add berachot? You're not allowed to just say berachot, you're not allowed to. So what do you do? It says if you eat an extra fruit in the middle of the day on Shabbos, you take fruit, you make an extra berachah, and you make a berachah acharonah, so that adds berachot. So you could have a person who's not hungry at all and he's not interested in eating, and he's just taking the fruit because he wants to fulfill the mitzvah of making a berachah. So here, he's eating, the eating itself, which is pure eating, turns into a mitzvah. It's not a mitzvah, you're not you're not obligated to do it, you're not obligated to eat, you could do other things, but it is you're only eating for one for one purpose of being able to make another berachah, so that is a בכל דרכיך, your דרכים, but in that גוף itself, דעהו you know. This just reminds me, I'm looking at the mashkeh, it just reminds me this is not even a ליובאוויטשער ווארט, but I think it's a קאצקער ווארט, that they once said, how come by chasidim they sit down like after davenen or something they say l'chaim, drink mashkeh? So someone said, you know why? Because they want to make a ברכה, שהכל נהיה בדברו, to make it. So the other guy asked, so why do you need mashkeh for that? They take water and say the same, do the same thing. Says, you don't understand, a איד that is at a level who realizes that he wants to make שהכל נהיה בדברו, he deserves a little bit of mashkeh. So the whole thing is because I want to thank Hashem. So you find an an an opportunity to thank Hashem. So that's the higher level, that's בכל דרכיך דעהו, and that's what Rav Shimon bar Yochai's level was, that he was completely united with Hashem. There was nothing of his own. And the lesson that we take from here is that we also have to live a life, at least as much as possible, that we become one with the Torah, like Rav Shimon bar Yochai, תורתו אומנותו, we become one with the mitzvah. When we do a mitzvah, we should realize this is me. It's not me doing a mitzvah, the mitzvah is me, because that's the most important thing. And בכל דרכיך דעהו, to reach the level, the higher level, not only כל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים, but become one, that this is everything I do becomes only a service of Hashem. Now, there are a lot of levels in all of this, so we have to take each one a level that fits to him. We got to know, you got to put something, put on garments that fit to us. It shouldn't be too short, but it shouldn't be too long either. In other words, we shouldn't take things upon ourselves which are not, which are beyond us. For example, given is just like if you put on clothes that's too small, won't fit you, if you put on clothes that's too long, you'll trip over it, it's also no good. You got to fit. But at least we know what kind of clothes we're looking for, we're looking for getting to such a level, such an idea, at least each one in his level, at least something of what Rav Shimon bar Yochai was.

But this is all because we are connected to Rav Shimon bar Yochai. In other words, get back to the beginning, that Rav Shimon bar Yochai was very great, like you said, the greatest tzaddik that ever lived. At the same time, Rav Shimon bar Yochai asked that every single איד should celebrate this simchah, meaning that we should connect ourselves to him and take a lesson from him, because as great as Rav Shimon bar Yochai was, and maybe not only as great as he was, because he was so great, he was able to come down and connect himself to the lowest of the lowest, that's why even for us who are simple. If he's so great, we might feel what, what kind of connection do we have? But such a great tzaddik, because he's so great, is able to connect to us. And we see that by Rav Shimon bar Yochai more than by other tzaddikim, how great he was and he was able to, let's put these words, lower himself to us. For instance, it says that there was this talmid of the Arizal, that's a story that the Rabbi told many times, but it's taken from the Kitvei Arizal, his name was Rabbi Avraham Halevi. He cared so much about the Beis Hamikdash, the חורבן בית המקדש, it bothered him so much that he used to say נחם every single day. נחם that we say on Tisha B'Av once a year in Shemoneh Esrei by Mincha, he used to say it every day, that's how much he cared about the חורבן. It seems that he used to say on Shabbos also. Says in sefarim in other places that I think the Arizal maybe said on him that he's a gilgul of Yirmiyahu Hanavi. Yirmiyahu was the prophet of the חורבן, and that's why But what happened was Lag BaOmer he came to to Meron, where Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is. And he said נחם there, too. And when he said נחם, obviously he didn't say it just lip service, he felt it, so he felt bad about the חורבן בית המקדש. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai came to his dream and told him, \"Don't disturb my simcha! You're here by me and you disturb my simcha?\" And actually he punished him. Which means that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai felt even a person who the חורבן בית המקדש bothers him, not with me. My simcha is supposed to affect every single Jew no matter where you are. Because Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, being he's so great, was able to connect to that. To bring out more the greatness of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, in the Yerushalmi, it says in the Yerushalmi just a story it's not a star a story, just describe something, shows how great he was, says in the Yerushalmi that when Rabbi Meir, who was his Rabbi, came to seat all his students, Rabbi Akiva, not Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Akiva, who was his Rabbi, came to seat, and the way he used to seat them, in all the yeshivos in those times it used to be according to your level. First שורה, the first row, was for the greatest students and then further. So Rabbi Akiva said, \"Let Rabbi Meir sit first.\" So when he said let Rabbi Meir sit first, נתכרכמו פניו של רבי שמעון. Rabbi Shimon became white, because he felt he deserved to be first. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is so great, and Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Akiva noticed it. So Rabbi Akiva says to him, \"For you it's enough, שאני ובוראך מכירים כוחך. For you, it's just me and your Creator, which is Hashem, know your greatness. Other people don't know it. In other words, you are greater, but your greatness is not known by others. Therefore, I can't put you first. But in essence, you would deserve to be first, but it's not so known.\" Now we say that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai deserved to be first before who? Before Rabbi Meir. Let's see who was Rabbi Meir, and then we'll see if Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was greater than Rabbi Meir, you can imagine. It says Rabbi Meir was the greatest of his time. The Gemara says an interesting thing, when Rabbi Meir argues with other chachamim, we don't pasken like Rabbi Meir. Halacha is not like Rabbi Meir. So the Gemara says like this, everyone knew that in his generation, there was no one as great as Rabbi Meir. ולמה לא קבעו הלכה כמותו? So why don't we pasken like Rabbi Meir? מפני שלא ירדו חכמים לסוף דעתו. He was so deep that the chachamim couldn't understand him. So they couldn't accept his opinion. And when it comes to pasken a din, you can't pasken based on emunah that we know you're so great. Whoever pasken, that the chachamim pasken have to understand it. So, therefore, if they didn't understand it, they couldn't pasken. But they admitted that his thoughts are so deep that they couldn't understand what he says. His name was Rabbi Meir. Meir, why is it Meir? Meir means shining. His light was so great. That's Rabbi Meir. Here, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was greater than Rabbi Meir. He belonged to sit first, and no one could understand his greatness. That's By Rabbi Meir, at least they knew that he's the greatest, they just didn't enter the depth of his mind. By Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, at least at that time, they didn't even know. He was so deep that they couldn't even know that he was so great. And what did Rabbi Akiva say? \"I, who is the teacher, know you, and who else? Hashem. Hashem knows.\" And Rabbi Akiva, interesting, Rabbi Akiva says Hashem and me, it's interesting because Rav Akiva is compared to Hashem. Rav Akiva was one of the עשרה הרוגי מלכות. He was one of the ten that were killed, ten martyrs that were killed by the government. So it says the ten, why were they עשרה הרוגי מלכות? Because the ten brothers, the the brothers sold Yosef. And it says because they sold Yosef, later on these tzadikim were punished. Now if we look at the story of Yosef, there were only nine, nine brothers. Reuven wasn't there, Binyamin wasn't there, and Yosef himself was the one that was sold. So how many sold him? Nine sold him. So why were there ten הרוגי מלכות? Why were there ten? So it says because really when they sold Yosef, there were ten. Nine brothers and Hashem was the tenth. It says they made a whole cherem that no one should tell and they needed a minyan. They had a minyan because they were מצרף, they counted Hashem into their minyan, so He was part of it. So there were ten. That's why there were ten tzadikim killed. So it says in sefarim, each one of these ten tzadikim Who does he represent, which one of the ten? So Rabbi' Akiva, it says he represents Hashem. That's so Rabbi' Akiva said to Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai, \"It's me and your Creator, which means Hashem, I who for some reason have some special connection to Hashem, we recognize your greatness.\" So this shows how great Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai is. At the same time, Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai, as we said before, said, \"I want everybody to participate in my simcha. No matter who he is, I want everybody to be part of me, because I'm connected, he connected himself to everybody.\" Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai said, in Gemara it says, that you know, \"I am able to patur, to how would I say, כל העולם כולו מן הדין, to get rid of any judgment and get any Yid in my generation or even later on, my zechut is so great.\" Now, he didn't mean ga'avah, but he meant that, \"I will use my zechut to help any Yid in the generation.\" Now, any yid means people who need zechusim, people who are low, people who might be punished. That's what he said, \"I will save the punishment.\" So he used his zechusim to save Yidden, because it means he connected, he lowered himself, as we would call it, descended from his high level and brought down his high level to every single yid, that we are able to connect ourselves and take a lesson from him. We find this combination of the two ends, the two extremes in Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai's life or Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai's personality in other halachos that he said. We find this halachah, Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai said like this. We find in the Gemara, we learned it actually in Ein Yaakov, the argument between Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai and and Rabbi' Yishmael. The pasuk says that a person, \"לא ימוש ספר התורה הזה מפיך, that the Torah should never stop from your mouth, you should always learn.\" So Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai said, \"In that case, because of that, no one should work.\" So they asked him, \"What's going to happen with the work?\" \"Others will do the work for you, but you have to learn constantly.\" And it says Rabbi' Yishmael said, \"No, אדם חורש, אדם זורע, a person should plow and plant and work, learn a little bit.\" And the Gemara says, \"הרבה עשו כרבי שמעון בן יוחאי ולא עלתה בידן, many tried like Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai, it didn't work. People tried like Rabbi' Yishmael and it did work.\" But basically we see that Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai's opinion that a person should learn all day, should learn all day, and he shouldn't even work. At the same time, we find an opposite opinion of Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai. Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai says in Gemara, there's an argument, where it says in pasuk, \"והגית בו יומם ולילה, you have to learn Torah day and night.\" So there's an argument. One person says you have to learn all day and night. Rabbi' Shimon bar Yochai says, if a person just said שמע in the morning and שמע at night, he has fulfilled the mitzvah of והגית בו יומם ולילה. And saying Shema according to one opinion means just the first pasuk. So here we see two extremes in Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai. On one hand Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai says you got to learn all day, and here he says even if you learned one pasuk in the morning, one pasuk at night, you fulfilled the mitzvah. Because on one hand he was so great, but he was able to understand and relate to people who don't have the time. Obviously we're not talking about people who have the time and don't learn, but a person doesn't have the time, to say that you learn morning and night one, that's that's good enough. Especially this happened after Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai left the cave. Then this happened even more, because we know the story of Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai in the cave, that when he was in the cave for 12 years, he ran away from the government, so he was in the cave. Hashem made a miracle that water, a spring of water was there, and a באקסער tree grew, and they had what to eat, and they sat and learned. That's all him and his son, Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai and Rabbi' Elazar his son, they learned constantly. After 12 years, they decided time to go out, and he assumed that the danger is over. There was a danger because the government was looking for him, there was a warrant out for his arrest, that's really what it was, so he hid in the cave. Now with time, so he went out. Imagine after 12 years not being out in the world, he goes out, and they're both looking around. And imagine, they were so involved in learning, there's nothing else but learning. They see a Yid walking, planting, plowing. They looked at the guy, \"What kind of what is what you're doing?\" And they looked with such a way that actually the person got burnt up. So Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai says, \"Listen, this this is not for us. The world can't take this. Let's go back.\" They went into the cave again, and they stayed for another year. After the 13th year they went out, and the same thing happened. They saw, so Rabbi' Elazar looked around and still, so he saw a Yid doing things which are not learning Torah, and by looking at him, he got burnt. So Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai looked at him and it cured him and healed him. Wherever Rabbi' Elazar, it says, punished, Gemara calls it punished, Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai healed. So Rabbi' Shimon ben Yochai at that time was even more, we would say, be able to relate and lower himself to Yidden. Yidden who are not at all at his level and able to help them, too. And the Gemara says, and the Rebbe always brought this, usually on ל״ג בעומר we bring this Gemara, that after he went out of the cave and he came back amongst the Chachamim, the first thing he asked was, is there anything I can do to help? Is anything that needs tikkun, anything needs to be helped? And they told him, yes, there is a place here which is a safek, maybe there's a grave there, and we don't know. So Kohanim have a big problem walking there, and they have to go around, and they're not even sure that they'll have to, so you know how bad you feel, maybe I was able to go. So he did everything in his power to fix it up and make sure to find out where the grave is and where it's not, to help. And this is not helping ברוחניות, not helping him learn Torah. Physically, they shouldn't have a shortcut, they shouldn't have to walk too much. So he went to do that because Rav Shimon ben Yochai was that person that was able to lower himself to all the way low, which means because, even though as a high, or because he was so great, he was able to do it. And that the lesson that we take from Shimon bar Yochai, that both things, first of all we have to try to behave like Rav Shimon bar Yochai in our level, at least, and also to remember that as high as whatever we have which is greater than somebody else, we have to try to help others and relate to others. And we know that Rav Shimon bar Yochais derech is the basis of the דרך החסידות. Rav Shimon bar Yochai derech is the basis for Chassidus. Rav Shimon bar Yochai is the source of Kabbalah, which if you go later on, that turns into the the Ari z"l, then it goes the Baal Shem Tov, and that's how it went on. It's all one big long line. The דרך החסידות is based on the דרך רב שמעון בן יוחאי. I always told the story when the Frierdiker Rebbe went to Eretz Yisrael, he didn't visit too many of the מקומות הקדושים. He went only to a few. He went to, obviously, to Meron, to Rav Shimon bar Yochai, and he went to Tzfat to Rav Meir. You know, sorry, I mean, yeah. He went to Rav Meir, and he went to the Kotel, he went. So this was in in 1939. Later, when someone asked him how it was, I don't exactly, so he said like this, Bei Rav Meir iz geven moradik. By Rav Meir, it was awesome. Bei Rav Shimon bar Yochai iz geven heimish. By Rav Shimon bar Yochai, I felt at home. Rav Meir is itself, you know, the great, was heimish, because Rav Shimon bar Yochai is the first father, actually, of what later on, hundreds of thousands of years later, turned into Chassidus. And the דרך החסידות is based on the same thing as Rav Shimon bar Yochai. The idea of, on one hand, having the greatest levels in trying to in Kabbalah, Chassidus looking in, and the same time to bring it down that it should affect us in our daily life, and affect us in our יצר הרע, and to work with us. And by the Rebbe, we see even more to affect us that we should be able to lower ourselves to simple Yidden who are not even frum. And by the Rebbe, we saw this the most, that on one hand he would speak מאמרים and Chassidus and the deepest ענינים that we can think, he's the biggest מקובל that's involved only in holy matters, and that's it. And then the next minute, he would say you have to go out to the street to put on tefillin with a מחלל שבת, and try to make him become a שומר שבת, and this lower himself, because that's the whole idea, to take the highest and bring it down to the lowest, which is basically founded in Torah, but the stress was from Rav Shimon bar Yochai, and the stress is in דרך החסידות. So on Lag BaOmer, Lag BaOmer, which is a special Yom Tov for everybody, but by Chassidim it was always even a more special Yom Tov, because Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is the source of Chassidut, source of So by Chassidim this was a very special basically חסידישע יום טוב. You know there are many חסידישע ימים טובים, י״ט כסלו and י״א ניסן and Lag BaOmer seems to be a universal Yom Tov, but by Chassidim it's extra especially. Some place it says that you know what Lag BaOmer is? The Matan Torah of פנימיות התורה, the Matan Torah of the inner part of Torah, the Matan Torah, because that's the day it was really given, because Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai spoke a lot of secrets on the day he passed away. He gave out the secrets of the Torah more than other other times. So it's like a Matan Torah of פנימיות התורה. So that's why it's a special Yom Tov, so on that Yom Tov we have to take our lesson to behave the way Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai wanted and by participating in this simcha, and bringing it down into our daily life, and not only for us, but helping others also. And when you do that, then Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai'ss promise that he said, דלא עמי. He said like this, \"I am able to פוטר all from the din.\" So he'll keep his promise. Certainly if we show that we care for him, he'll care for us. And there's a לשון הגמרא, so an expression in the Gemara, nothing to do with this, but it says when there's an argument between Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and others in halacha, so the Gemara says, כדאי הוא רבי שמעון לסמוך עליו בשעת הדחק. That when there's a time when you have no choice, we could rely on the opinion of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. B'sha'at hadechak means at a time of when where we're it's a time of of special need, we can rely on his opinion, even though you might not pasken like him, but to rely. So the Rebbe used this expression that b'sha'at hadechak, at a time when there's great need, and that's for us, we could rely on Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai who said that I'm going to get rid of din from the whole world, and by doing that, hopefully if he does that, this Lag BaOmer we should be zochah to the coming of משיח במהרה בימינו אמן. Yeah. I never heard. Maybe there's a place, but I'm not familiar with it. Elazar, yeah. Elazar ben Rav Shimon, that's his name. A lot of times among the תנאים who said different things, we find also Elazar ben Rav Shimon. Yeah. He's quoted, yeah, yeah, he's quoted. But not like Rav Shimon. Rav Shimon is quoted, you know how many times, I don't know the amount, but it says that there's not one, almost not one פרק in the whole ש״ס that doesn't have Rav Shimon ben Yochai's name. But Elazar ben Rav Shimon is also mentioned many times, like other תנאים, not in every... yeah. Look, the Mitteler Rebbe's הסתלקות is very similar to Rav Shimon ben Yochai. The way he passed away was like Rav Shimon ben Yochai. Rav Shimon ben Yochai, it says when when he when he was speaking, in the middle of speaking, that's when he he passed away, and the last word he said was the word Chaim, life. And the Mitteler Rebbe, exactly the same thing. He said a פסוק, and he said the word Chaim, and in the לשון הזוהר, he didn't manage to finish the word Chaim and his נשמה went out. So it says בכלל a lot of similarity between the Mitteler Rebbe and and Rav Shimon ben Yochai. Huh? Was a figure? The Tzemach Tzedek said that he said it like, no figure come from Rav Shimon ben Yochai till the Mitteler Rebbe. But there is something similar. But, like this, by other צדיקים we don't find that they said to be happy. למשל, Moshe Rabbeinu, ז׳ Adar is a fast day, rather than a happy day. Says not everyone fasts, but it says in Shulchan Aruch it's one of the ימי תענית, תענית צדיקים. Because Moshe Rabbeinu was not happy to to go. Rav Shimon ben Yochai was happy. So so there is special, I mean it doesn't mean we don't take a lesson, but every צדיק has his ענינים and his But the Rebbe we, I mean, didn't say anything and we don't know what to do and so we just we rely on everyone in his הרגשים. But here, Rav Shimon ben Yochai said he wants that people to be happy. Yes. Rav Shimon ben Yochai wrote the Zohar. The HaAri z"l, everything is a פירוש. Whatever the HaAri z"l said is all based on the Zohar. He was a hundred, not 100, 1500 years later or something like that. Yeah, but it's all, the concepts of Kabbalah are all in the Zohar. They're not all revealed. It's all based on the Zohar. The Zohar is the base of Kabbalah. Yeah. That's when it was found. Yeah, it was בעל פה, and it was written down very few had it. There was a person, a מקובל, his name was Rav Moshe di Leon. Di Leon, I don't know if it's his name or the name of a city. And this Rav Moshe was the one, huh? Di Leon. He was the one that came out with the Zohar. That was, he said that he found the manuscript. Found the manuscript, this is the Zohar from Rav Shimon ben Yochai, and that's when it spread. So there were people who claimed that he didn't say the truth, he wrote it himself, and I mean it's a chas v'shalom to say that. There are still critics nowadays that will say it, and they have certain proofs. There are there are names of chachamim mentioned in the Zohar which lived after Rav Shimon ben Yochai. So they claim, how could Rav Shimon ben Yochai have written it? So the answer is two answers. One is, Rav Shimon ben Yochai wrote what's going to be in future, and he wrote, like למשל, Rav Yitzchak, I think is one of the examples. Rav Yitzchak lived later. So he was able to write what Rav Yitzchak said later. But there's another answer, there was a different Rav Yitzchak! Not a problem! But anyway, it was accepted by all the מקובלים, all the HaAri z"l and as far as we're concerned, what the HaAri z"l says is is as good as Moshe Rabbeinu said. And the the Zohar is from Rav Shimon ben Yochai, absolutely. No, like even before, yeah. And before, not from the HaAri z"l. I'm saying, but to us, the HaAri z"l is probably more authoritative than the ones before him, because the HaAri z"l is the HaAri z"l. But sure, there were some that said not. You know, there were some that said not. Even gedolim, yeah, in the earlier years, even gedolim that In that time there was a whole discussion whether it is or it isn't. And then it came to a decision that it is, and they refuted them all. Now there might be some people nowadays, I guess, the I think it is Graetz or something writes that it wasn't from R'' Shimon bar Yochai. Who cares what they write, I mean. But it's definitely, but to me as far, there's no question that it's R'' Shimon bar Yochai. Okay.