Biography
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi) is one of the most frequently cited Tannaim in the aggadic and midrashic literature represented in our library. His teachings appear throughout the Midrash Tanchuma across nearly every weekly portion — including Shemot, Vaera, Ki Tisa, Tetzaveh, Vayakhel, and the Genesis portions Toldot, Vayetzei, Vayeshev, Chayei Sara, and Miketz — as well as in Eichah Rabbah, where his words are transmitted in the name of Rabbi Yochanan. There is a tradition that states the Rash”bi was one of, if the not the, author of the Zohar.
The most famous story about the Rashbi is that he went to go live in a cave to escape Roman persecution of Torah Scholars (Rabbi Akiva, for example, did not go to hide and was executed for the transgression of studying Torah). He lived in the cave (at least part of the time with his son, Rabbi Elazar bar Shimson) for 13 years. The Talmud refers to this period in the cave and when he eventually left it, to learn about his sharp Torah skills.
Today, hundreds of thousands of Torah students go to Har Meron in Israel, on Lag Baomer, and his Yahrzeit to celebrate his life and Torah.
רבי שמעון בר יוחאי היה תנא בן הדור הרביעי שפעל במאה ה-2, תלמידו של רבי עקיבא. הלכות רבות מובאות בשמו במשנה, שם הוא מכונה 'רבי שמעון' ללא ציון שם אביו. החיבור המדרשי-הלכתי "ספרי" מיוחס בתלמוד לבית מדרשו של רשב"י.
Shimon bar Yochai or Shimon ben Yochai, also known by the acronym Rashbi, was a 2nd-century tanna or sage of the land of Israel. He was one of the most eminent disciples of Rabbi Akiva. The Zohar, a 13th-century foundational work of Kabbalah, is ascribed to him by Kabbalistic tradition, but this claim is universally rejected by modern scholars.
On Wikipedia: עברית · English — summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA