(En.) Rabbi Eleazar ben Shimeon, who was appointed an official of the government, was accustomed to catch thieves in a very clever way when he found them drinking very heavily in the drinking booths. The men who looked tired had either passed the night in study or they had been in mischief, and so he caught all the latter. He was rebuked by Rabbi Joshua ben Quorha, who cried out at him:" Vinegar son of wine, why do thou deliver up thy people?" And he replied:" I am only weeding the vineyard." Rabbi Joshua said:" Let the Master of the vineyard look after the thorns that grow in it Himself." Once Eleazar caught a man who spoke to him with levity. He arrested him but afterwards reproached himself for delivering up what might have been an innocent man. At the execution however, the man confessed that he had committed a heinous crime. Eleazar was exceedingly stout and a very giant. He was once rebuked by the prophet Elijah who said to him:" Thy father fled to Asia and thou shalt flee to Laodicaea." [After the narration of this there follows in the text a long descriptiuon of his enormous strength and of the patience with which he used to suffer pains which came and went.] After his death he was hidden by his wife in the lot. He had promised her that his body should remain uncorrupted and litigants used to appear before his house to invoke his decisions and a voice used to come out of the loft deciding the cases.The sages, being so advised in a dream, went to fetch the body away in order to inter it, but the people of the place would not allow them to take it, because as long as the body was there no wild beasts came near.They obtained possession of the body however by a ruse, and brought it to the place whre his father was buried. A snake was found around it, so they said:" Snake, let the son come to the father!" And the snake uncolled himself and let the people lay son and father beside each other. After his death Rabbi Jehudah wanted to marry Eleazar’s widow, but she refused, saying that her husband had been superior to him both in scholarship and actions, ever bearing suffering and pain without a murmur. Eleazar, for God, invited pain, but Rabbi Jehudah suffered them as punishment, because once a calf, led to slaughter,sought refuge in his bosom, and he had refused to shelter it, saying,:" For this wert thou created" and because he had not, on one occasion, prevented his servant from turning a litter of kittens`out of the house. The son of Rabbi Eleazar, named Joseph was taken by his mother’s brother Rabbi Shimeon ben Jose ben Laqonia who educated him and made him a great scholar. (Gaster, pp 76-77)

(Fr.) Rabbi Eleazar ben Schimon fut appointé par le gouvernement à la capture des voleurs, car il avait sa méthode personnelle. Si le matin il voyait dans les tavernes des gens fatigués, ils étaient soit des sages qui avaient étudié toute la nuit; soit des malfaiteurs. Il se fit détester par beaucoup et on le traita de " vinaigre, fils de vin" en référence à son père Schimon bar Yohai qui était un grand sage. Un jour, un homme lui répondit insolemment et il le fit arrêter. Tourmenté par le remord, il tenta de le faire libérer, mais il était trop tard. Au moment de l’exécution, l’homme confessa qu’il avait commis un crime atroce. Suit une longue description de la force de Rabbi Eléazar et de sa tendance à appeler sur lui les souffrances pour l’amour de Dieu, à tel point que sa femme le quitta jusqu’à ce qu’il guérisse) Après sa mort, sa femme cacha son corps dans le grenier, et le miracle était qu’il ne pourrissait pas. Les villageois venaient poser des questions et une voix sortait du grenier en donnant les réponses. Les sages, informés dans un rêve par Rabbi Schimon bar Yohai son père de la situation, voulurent l’enterrer. Mais les villageois s’y opposèrent, parce qu’il éloignait d’eux les bêtes sauvages. A la fin, usant de ruse, les sages réussirent à s’emparer de son corps et l’emmenèrent dans la caverne où était enterré son père. Ils trouvèrent un serpent qui montait la garde, mais ils lui dirent :" Serpent, laisse le fils venir au père !" et le serpent les laissa entrer. Après la mort de Rabbi Eleazar, Rabbi Yehudah voulut épouser sa veuve, mais celle-ci refusa en lui démontrant qu’il était bien inférieur à Eléazar. Le fils de Rabbi Eléazar, prénommé Joseph, devint lui aussi un grand sage.