Bar Yochai (song)

Incorporating expressions from the Tanakh, rabbinical commentaries, and the Zohar, the hymn displays its author's own mastery of Torah and kabbalah.

[1] "Bar Yochai" was written by Shimon Lavi (1486–1585), a Sephardi Hakham, kabbalist, physician, astronomer, and poet.

[4] He authored the kabbalistic commentary Ketem Paz on the Zohar and a number of other piyyutim which were published together with this work.

[2] "Bar Yochai" is a prominent and popular kabbalistic piyyut, being sung by Jewish communities around the world.

[2][5][6] It is not known how it was conveyed from Tripoli to Safed, Israel, but in the latter city it was adopted by the disciples of the Arizal, who added it to their Kabbalat Shabbat Friday-evening synagogue service.

[2] Referencing the Ten Sephirot, the stanzas describe how Simeon bar Yochai mastered each sephirah until he ascended to the "supreme mystery".

[7][8] The initial letters of the first nine stanzas (after the words Bar Yochai) spell out the Hebrew name of the poet, Shimon Lavi.

Bar Yochai, and to the apple orchard You went, to glean fragrances, The secret teaching in blossoms and almonds.

Bar Yochai, to the place of marble stones, You came against the lion, And earned your laurels against the bear, When you come, who can ambush you?

Both Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews sing the hymn on Lag BaOmer, the Yom Hillula (anniversary of death) of bar Yochai.

[2] In the northern Israeli town of Meron, site of the tomb of bar Yochai, the hymn is "heard around the clock" at the massive celebrations that take place there on Lag BaOmer.