196. Rabbi Aba said, “Rabbi Shimon did not finish saying ‘life’ before his words subsided. And I wrote, and thought to write some more, but I did not hear. I did not raise my head for the light was great and I could not look. In the meanwhile, I was startled; I heard a voice calling and saying, ‘longevity and years of life.’ Afterwards, I heard another voice, ‘He asked You for life.’”
197. Throughout that day, the fire did not stop from the house. But there was no one to get to him because they could not, since the light and the fire surrounded him. Throughout that day, I fell on the ground and wailed. After the fire went away, I saw Rabbi Shimon, the Holy of Holies who has departed from the world, wrapped and lying on his right side, and his face laughing.
198. Rabbi Elazar his son arose, took his hands, and kissed them, and I licked the ground under his feet. The friends wanted to cry but they could not speak. The friends started weeping, and Rabbi Elazar his son fell three times and could not open his mouth. Afterwards he opened and said, “My father, my father, they were three and returned to remain one.” There were three great ones in the earth: Rabbi Elazar, his father Rabbi Shimon, and his father-in-law Pinhas Ben Yair. Now, Rabbi Elazar remained orphaned from his father-in-law and from Rabbi Shimon his father, and remained one in the world.
Now that that great tree has departed, under which the animals of the field would stroll and in whose branches the bird of the sky would dwell, and which had food for all, now the animals wander and the bird of the sky that sat on its branches settled in the holes of the great sea, and the friends, instead of the food they had received from it, will drink blood.
199. Rabbi Hiya arose to his feet and said, “Until now, Rabbi Shimon was watching over us. Now is the time to exert in his honor. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Aba took him from his place on the bed that is made like a ladder in order to raise him on his bed. Who saw the confusion of the friends? The whole house was filled with fragrances. They lifted him to his bed, and only Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Aba served him.
200. Strikers and people with shields came from the village of Tzipori, wanting that he would be buried in their place. They came to take him by force and by war. The people of Meron drove them away and yelled at them in droves, for they did not want him to be buried there, but to be buried in their place. After the bed left the house, it rose in the air, and fire was blazing before it. They heard a voice: “Come in and come and gather for the celebration of Rabbi Shimon, “will come in peace, rest in their beds.”
201. When he entered the cave, they heard a voice inside the cave. That man is startling the earth, vexing kingdoms, many slanderers in the firmament are quieted on this day for you. This is Rabbi Shimon, by whom his Master is praised each day. Happy is he above and below. Many high treasures are kept for him. It is written about him, “And you, go to the end and rest, and rise to your lot at the end of days.”