Three Sages sat together — Rabbi Yehudah, Rabbi Yossi, and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai — and Rabbi Yehudah remarked how impressive the Romans were: they had built markets, bathhouses, bridges. Rabbi Yossi said nothing. But Rabbi Shimon spat back: "Everything they built, they built for themselves. Their markets feed licentiousness. Their bathhouses are for their own pleasure. Their bridges collect tolls."
A student named Yehudah ben Gerim overheard and carried the words to Roman ears. The Emperor's edict came swiftly. Rabbi Yehudah was promoted for his praise. Rabbi Yossi was banished to Sepphoris. Rabbi Shimon was sentenced to death.
The Cave at Peki'in
Rabbi Shimon and his son Elazar fled. First they hid in the study hall, where Shimon's wife brought them bread and water. But fearing she might crack under interrogation, they went deeper — into a cave. There the Holy One performed a miracle: a carob tree sprouted bearing fruit year-round, and a spring opened for their drinking.
To preserve their clothes they stripped them off, burying themselves in sand up to the neck, studying Torah twelve hours a day. Only for prayer did they dress. Twelve years passed this way.
The Prophet at the Mouth of the Cave
Then Elijah appeared at the entrance with news: the Emperor was dead. The decree was void. Father and son emerged — but their eyes had been rewired by the cave. When they saw farmers plowing and sowing, Rabbi Shimon exclaimed, "They neglect eternal things and busy themselves with the temporal!" Wherever they looked, fields burst into flame.
A Bat Kol — a heavenly voice — thundered: "Have you come out to destroy My world? Go back to your cave!"
They returned for twelve more months. When they finally pleaded to be released — noting that even the wicked in Gehinnom serve only twelve months — the Bat Kol called them out again. This time their eyes had softened. This time they could bear the sight of a world that was not made entirely of study.
The cave gave them Torah. The year after gave them mercy.