The Idra Rabba Cave

The cave owes its name to the fact that here Rashby gathered with his nine disciples to do very important work - to study the hidden part of the Torah.

It is believed that on Mount Sinai Moshe received from the Lord more than just the part of the teachings written in the Tanakh.

The Prophet also received the so-called Oral Torah.

For generations, the Oral Torah was passed down from teacher to student.

Apart from that, there was also the so-called hidden part, one that could not be passed down to the uninitiated.

This part is now commonly called the Kabbalah – the esoteric component of the Jewish teachings.

When, after the destruction of the Temple and the destruction of the Jewish kingdom, the great teachers of the Jewish religion decided to put the Oral Torah down in writing, they faced the question of which of the provisions of the hidden part could be included in the new texts of the Mishna and which could not.

A marble memorial plaque with the names of Rashbi and his great disciples marks the entrance to the Idra Rabba cave.

Because it was here that they discussed the oral Torah's secret provisions and determined which of them could be included in the Mishna, and for which the time had not yet come.

One of Rashbi's students, Rabbi Aba, kept notes during the meetings, and these later formed the bulk of the legendary Kabbalist book Zohar (which in Hebrew means "Shining").

Moreover, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai was one of the teachers of the great Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, who completed the Mishna. There is evidence that Rashbi personally prepared him for the work on Mishna and passed on to him, just a boy then, the hidden knowledge that helped Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi to create his celebrated work.