T126 PNC - Friends Praised R' Shimon — Woe When Spring Removed / Heart-Level Love for Teacher (2 segs)

In the Zohar, in several places, the friends and students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai praised him with enormous awe and reverence. The Zohar records the saying: 'Woe to the generation when the spring (source of Torah) is removed' — meaning when the great tzaddik who is the source of Torah wisdom for his generation departs, the entire generation suffers an immense loss. The 'spring' is the living teacher whose Torah flows endlessly and fresh; when that spring is removed, the people are left with the stored waters of books alone, which cannot match the living flow.

The friends, because of the immense pleasure and spiritual delight they received from Rabbi Shimon — from sitting in his presence, hearing his Torah, basking in his holy light — immediately upon thinking of his eventual departure, felt the pain of loss in advance. Just as when Shabbat departs, those who tasted its holiness immediately feel a longing for its return, so too the students of Rabbi Shimon: even while still in his presence, the very thought of his eventual removal caused them to begin to long. This teaches the depth of attachment that a student should cultivate toward his teacher: not merely intellectual respect but heart-level love, such that the thought of separation causes genuine pain.