Current sectionJewish WorldTradition hails Shimon Bar Yohai as the author of 'The Book of Splendor,' the 'mystical novel' with commentary on the Torah. But he can't have beenShare to FacebookShare to XArticle printing is available to subscribers onlyPrint in a simple, ad-free formatSubscribeComments: Zen reading is available to subscribers onlyAd-free and in a comfortable reading formatSubscribe02:58 AM • August 31 2026 IDTOnce a year, the crowds climb the hill at Mount Meron, in the Galilee, to the tomb of Shimon bar Yohai. They come for the man himself: a sage of the second century, a rabbi of the generation recorded in the Mishnah, the early rabbinic law code and, above all, the supposed voice behind the Zohar, the central book of Jewish mysticism.In the NewsLet Our People Choose: Israel Must Legalize Same-sex MarriageIran's IRGC Vows to Respond to U.S. Strike, State Broadcaster ReportedCasualties Reported by Iranian State Media in U.S. Strike in Strait of HormuzHaaretz CartoonParents to Suspend Classes at Tel Aviv School Over Admission of Migrant ChildrenRemembering and rebuilding two years laterICYMIHasan Piker Talks Hamas, anti-Zionism and Why Americans Are Fed Up With Israel'Israel Is Sending Militias to Commit War Crimes – and I Have to Protect Them'Israeli Court Acquits Man of Assaulting Nun in Jerusalem's Old CityPoll: Likud Sinks to 19 Seats as New Right-wing Party Falls Below ThresholdJewish Space Lasers? Israel Wants 'Rods From God'Ben-Gvir's Ambush Shook Netanyahu – and Unleashed a War for Right-wing Votes