Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the Talmud

FOR LAG B'OMER: Lag b’Omer: celebrating Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Long before the advent of modern-day celebrations of Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim one date pierced the gloom of the Omer period –Lag b’Omer. (YOSSI AARON, The Australian Jewish News).

But leaving aside mystical actions and teachings attributed to Rashbi in the Zohar, what do we know of him from sources such as the Talmud? We all know that he spent a total of 13 years hiding in a cave. But why?

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