Ari Lesser - Lag BaOmer - Shimon Bar Yochai

Shimon Bar Yochai Lyrics by Ari Lesser It’s Lag BaOmer, so leave your home Like Rebbi Shimon on Mount Meron Don’t stay and hide in your cave, go play With your friends outside it’s a beautiful day Shoot your bow and arrow up in the sky Get high on Torah like Bar Yochai Light your bonfire, pull an all-nighter On the Yartzeit of the Zohar writer Shimon bar Yochai was a holy guy Who was so much wiser than you and I He was a true believer, an overachiever From the yeshiva of Rebbi Akiva The Roman’s came they banned Torah teaching But Rebbi Akiva kept on preaching In prison he still taught students until The Roman’s had him tortured and killed And it was after this that Rebbi Shimon Yehuda, and Yossi were discussing Rome Yehudah said the Romans were sweet For building bathhouses, bridges, and streets Yossi sat silently, he heard Everything that was said but he spoke no word And Shimon answered and said, “All this That they made was just for their own interest They built market places with all those stores So they could fill them with harlots and whores Bathhouses just for themselves to wash And bridges to tax all those who cross When the Romans heard what the sages debated They praised Yehudah, had him elevated They exiled Yossi for just sitting still And declared that Shimon would have to be killed So he and his son went to hide away They stayed in the Beis Midrash each day His wife would bring them some water and bread But he feared they would torture her so they fled It’s Lag BaOmer, so leave your home Like Rebbi Shimon on Mount Meron Don’t stay and hide in your cave, go play With your friends outside it’s a beautiful day Shoot your bow and arrow up in the sky Get high on Torah like Bar Yochai Light your bonfire, pull an all-nighter On the Yartzeit of the Zohar writer Shimon and his son had to hide in a cave Only by a miracle were they saved A carob tree and a well were created For them to eat and drink while they waited They sat naked with the sand up to their necks To protect their garments from getting wrecked Only put on clothes when it was time to pray While they stayed in the cave and studied all day Twelve years they lived there on their own And secrets were shown to Rebbi Shimon The concealed was revealed to Bar Yochai As clear as that day at Har Sinai Finally Elijah appeared and said “The decree is cancelled, the Ceaser’s dead.” But when they emerged they saw there a man Plowing and planting seeds in the land Surprised they cried, “How could he forsake Eternal life, for this life that’s fake.” And every place to which they turned Their eyes, went up in flames and burned But then a voice from heaven cried “Have you emerged and come outside To destroy my world, you can’t behave Like this, now go back to your cave” So they returned there, forced to dwell Twelve month like the wicked stay in hell Until the voice from heaven said “Leave your cave.” And so they did It’s Lag BaOmer, so leave your home Like Rebbi Shimon on Mount Meron Don’t stay and hide in your cave, go play With your friends outside it’s a beautiful day Shoot your bow and arrow up in the sky Get high on Torah like Bar Yochai Light your bonfire, pull an all-nighter On the Yartzeit of the Zohar writer Many years went by and Bar Yochai Was laying in bed about to die It was Lag BaOmer, the thirty third day And when the sun set he would pass away He knew it was his last chance to give Over all his wisdom while he still lived And so he began to reveal many more Secrets of Torah than ever before His students gathered around his bed Rebbi Abba wrote every word he said He was goingg fast if a thing was lost Future generations would pay the cost Trying to fit all he had to say To his students into that single day Rebbi Abba was writing but the sunlight Was sinking and there was too much to write But he kept on teaching and teaching and yet The sun stood still and refused to set A burning fire surrounded the house None could enter none could go out And when he finished speaking at last The house was lit by a brilliant flash As Rebbi Shimon returned his soul To its Maker, pure, righteous, and whole And to this day the whole Jewish nation Is still being nourished by his revelation Bar Yochai gave us the Zohar On the eighteenth day in the month of Iyar It’s Lag BaOmer, so leave your home Like Rebbi Shimon on Mount Meron Don’t stay and hide in your cave, go play With your friends outside it’s a beautiful day Shoot your bow and arrow up in the sky Get high on Torah like Bar Yochai Light your bonfire, pull an all-nighter On the Yartzeit of the Zohar writer