מערת רשב"י בפקיעין: ממצאים ומשמעות היסטורית

Throughout the generations, legends have been told about the “cave of Rabbi Shimonbar Yochai” (“Rashbi”) in Peqiʿin and the tree and spring beside it (as well as the entire Galilean village), based on a tradition that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son hid therefrom the Romans for 13 years. The cave is currently shaded by a large carob tree, but it is no more than a small void. Its size does not match the ancient traditions; however, a geophysical survey found that the cave used to be larger but collapsed. In the summer of 2021, a cleaning was carried out in the Rashbi Cave in order to examine the physical background of these traditions – whether there is anything in the cave that might support the traditions, and especially whether the cave used to be larger. The paper presents both the traditions and the findings of the examination. The latter include pottery shards that might be dated to the Hellenistic, Roman or Byzantine periods, but most of the remains belong to the last 200 years.