When Rabbi Shimon Fell Ill

794. When Rabbi Shimon fell ill, Rabbi Pinhas, Rabbi Hiya, and Rabbi Abaho came in to him. They told him, “He who is the pillar of the world is lying down.” He said to them, “It is not the courthouse of above that is delving over my sentence, for I see that I am not given to an angel and a judge of above, for I am not as the rest of the people.

795. “Rather, this sentence of mine, the Creator sentences it and not His courthouse. It is as David said in his prayer, ‘Judge me, O God, and plead my cause.’ And Solomon also said, ‘that He may maintain the cause of His servant,’ He alone, and none other.”

796. When a person lies down, the courthouse of above examines his sentence. Some of them lean toward the side of merit, showing a person’s merit, and some of them lean to the side of fault, showing the person’s sins, and the man exits from the sentence as he should.

797. However, he whom the High King judges, who rules over everything, it is good, and a person cannot be in that judgment, but only good, since the qualities of the High King always lean toward merit, and He is entirely mercy, and can forgive sins and iniquities, as it is written, “for with You is forgiveness,” and not with another.

798. Because of this, I asked Him to judge my sentence, and I let in thirteen qualities of mercy through the doors of the next world, as only the patriarchs let them through there, and there was no one to detain me for I did not ask them for permission.

799. Rabbi Shimon said a word, and they saw his bed, that Rabbi Shimon was not there. They wondered, and none of them could speak with his mouth because of the great fear that fell upon them. As they were sitting, scents of many perfumes came up to them, and the strength of each of them grew until they saw Rabbi Shimon. He was saying words to someone, but they could not see anyone but him.

800. After some time, Rabbi Shimon said, “Did you see something?” Rabbi Pinhas said, “No. however, we are all perplexed over not seeing you in your bed for a long time, and when we saw you, scents of perfumes of the Garden of Eden came up to you, and we heard your voice speaking, but did not know who was speaking with you.”

801. He told him, “And you did not hear other words besides my own?” They said, “No.” He told them, “You are not worthy of seeing the sight of Atik Yomin.

802. “I am surprised at Rabbi Pinhas that he did not see, for I see him now in that world, below the place of Rabbi Elazar my son.

803. “And now I was sent for from above, and they showed me the place of the righteous in the next world, and my place did not sit straight in my heart, except than with Ahiyah the Shilonite, so I researched into my place and came. With me came three hundred souls of the righteous, and above them was Adam HaRishon, who was sitting with me and speaking with me. He asked for his sin not to be revealed to the whole world except for what the Torah said about him, and he was covered in that tree in the Garden of Eden, which the world does not know what it is.

804. “I told him, ‘But the friends revealed his sin.’ He said, ‘It is just fine that the friends revealed among themselves, but as for the rest of the people of the world, it is not.’ He feared for his honor and did not want to reveal his iniquity to all, except in that tree which he said he had eaten from.

805. “The Creator revealed to me in the holy spirit, and to the friends, that they may speak among themselves, but not to reveal to the little ones among the friends, and to those who will come to the world, since this is a matter that not all people understand and they are mistaken in it. This is why his sin must not be revealed: not because the sin he sinned is great, but because of the honor of the upper name, with which people are not careful. But it is written, ‘This is My name forever,’ meaning to conceal it, since they will come to ask what they should not.

806. “It is written, ‘lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and its rav [teacher] will perish.’ What is ‘and its rav will perish’? So I decreed: This friend, who teaches the holy name to all, falls and is caught in that iniquity more than them, as it is written, ‘and its rav will perish.’ The rav falls and is caught in that iniquity.”

807. Rabbi Elazar his son approached him and said to him, “My father, what am I there?” He told him, “Happy are you, my son. For a long time, you will not be buried with me. But in that world, I checked my place and yours. Happy are the righteous, who are destined to praise the Master of the world, like those angels who serve before Him, as it is written, ‘Surely righteous will give thanks to Your name; the upright will dwell in Your presence.’”