The Lesson From Rabbi Shimoin Bar Yochai
By zevi770 · May 14, 2017
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai was once in the Beis Medrash – House of Learning, when one of the Rabbis praised the Roman Empire – “Look at the bridges, bathhouses etc. they have constructed” (the ruins of which we can still see) The second who had no praise for them but thought it prudent to remain silent said nothing – but Rabbi Shimoin Bar Yochai said “they constructed the bridges for collecting taxes, the bathhouses for their pleasure.”
It was this story that upon the Roman Emperor hearing it caused him to reward the first, exile the second and decree a death penalty on Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, for which he had to flee and lived in a cave for 12/13 year.
The moral of this story is very important.
We often confuse motive:
If you work for a company, do they like you or are they using you…
If you are in relationship, are you truly in love or is it simply in your interest…
Is your relationship with God altruistic