353. Before the friends went out from the Idra [Rashbi’s cave], Rabbi Yosi Ben Yaakov, Rabbi Hizkiya, and Rabbi Yisa died. The friends saw that the holy angels were carrying them in the Parsa, and Rabbi Shimon said a word and the friends calmed down. He cried out and said, “Perhaps a decree has been made on us to be punished, since what was revealed by us, has never been revealed since the day when Moses stood on Mount Sinai, as it is written, “And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights.” What am I here if this is why they were punished?”
354. He heard a voice: “Happy are you Rabbi Shimon, and happy is your portion and the portion of the friends who live with you, for what was revealed to you was not revealed to all the hosts above.” However, it is written, “Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates.” It is even more so with the friends, who, with a great and courageous desire adhered their souls at that time when they were taken by the angels. Happy are they, for they departed out of the wholeness.
Jericho is the posterior of Malchut, where there is the curse. Joshua cursed that anyone who builds her posterior, all his sons will die. And if the one who builds and completes the posterior of Malchut is like that, that he must give up all his sons for her, it is much more so with the friends, who, with a great and courageous desire, adhered their souls, completing the construction of the anterior of Malchut, where there is the blessing; their reward is certainly great indeed. And if they departed, then all the wholeness has come to them with the departure. Happy are they that they have departed because of the wholeness.
The reason for their departure is that at the end of the Idra, they reached the degree of the end of correction, at which time the Parsa is canceled, and the whole difference between from-the-Chazeh-and-below to from-the-Chazeh-and-above is canceled. Therefore, these three friends, whose souls were from the Chazeh and below, were canceled and rose to a higher degree, becoming as the degree of above the Chazeh. And since the general has not achieved this correction, they had to depart from this world and rise up.
The friends saw that the holy angels were carrying them in the Parsa, that they had departed because of the cancelation of the Parsa, which is considered that angels took them in the Parsa that has departed. Happy are they, for they had departed because of the wholeness, since the wholeness with which they were rewarded, the canceling of the Parsa, with which others will be rewarded only at the end of correction, this is what caused their departure.
355. While the matters were being revealed, upper ones and lower ones were excited, and a voice awakened and declared in 250 worlds that ancient matters have been revealed below. And while these were perfuming their souls with these words, their soul went out with a kiss and connected to the Parsa, and the upper angels took them and raised them up.
From the Chazeh of ZA and below, it is regarded as 250 worlds: NH is two hundred, and half of Tifferet is fifty. The reason for their passing is because the part from the Chazeh and below received its full correction with the completion of the Idra and the Parsa had been canceled. Upper ones and lower ones were excited that the revealing of the secrets corrected the entire Partzuf, both from the Chazeh and above, and from the Chazeh and below. Also, a voice awakened and declared in 250 worlds, from the Chazeh and below, that ancient matters have been revealed below, that all the corrections that pertain to from-the-Chazeh-and-below are revealed.
These three friends were from the phase of from-the-Chazeh-and-below. Hence, while they were perfuming their souls with these matters, as the corrections of their souls were being completed, their soul went out with a kiss, and was tied to the Parsa. Because their souls were from the phase of the Parsa, after the 250 worlds were completed and the Parsa was canceled, their souls rose along with the Parsa.
356. Rabbi Shimon said, “How happy is the portion of those three, and how happy is our potion for the next world thanks to this.” A second voice came out and said, “And you who adhere to the Lord your God, are alive every one of you this day.” They arose and went. Wherever they looked, scents came up. Rabbi Shimon said, “This means that the world is blessed thanks to us.” The faces of all of them were shining, and the people of the world could not look at them.
357. Ten went into the Idra, and seven came out of it. Rabbi Shimon was happy, and Rabbi Aba was sad. One day, Rabbi Shimon was sitting, and Rabbi Aba was with him. Rabbi Shimon said a word, and they saw those three friends, that high angels were bringing them and showing them treasures and chambers of above, because of their glory, and were admitting them into the mountains of the pure persimmon. Rabbi Aba’s mind was calmed.
358. Since that day, the friends did not move from the house of Rabbi Shimon. When he would reveal secrets, only they were there. Rabbi Shimon would call them, “We are seven eyes of the Lord,” as it is written, “These seven are the eyes of the Lord,” which is written about us. Rabbi Aba said, “We are six candles that shine from a seventh, from Bina. You are the seventh of everyone, since there is no existence to the six, HGT NHY, unless from the seventh, Bina, for everything depends on the seventh.”
Rabbi Yehuda would call him Shabbat, from which all six days are blessed, as it is written, “Sabbath to the Lord, dedicated [holy] to the Lord.” Just as Shabbat [Sabbath] is dedicated to the Lord, so Rabbi Shimon is Shabbat, dedicated to the Lord.