Question: After a long stay in the cave, Rabbi Shimon’s body was covered with holes and sores. Rabbi Pinchas began to cry and said: “Woe that I have seen you so.” What do holes and sores mean?

Answer: Holes and sores symbolize rusted metal. Before that, Rabbi Shimon’s body was as if covered with an iron shell, meaning something very hard and reliable. And now this iron shell was struck by rust, and it began to crumble.

Therefore, Rabbi Shimon replied to Rabbi Pinchas: I would not have been rewarded with the revelations of the secrets of the Torah, for he was awarded all the great sublimity of his wisdom during those 13 years of hiding in the cave.

Question: And he also added: Happy I am that you have seen me so, for had you not seen me so, I would not be so. How should we understand this?

Answer: Rabbi Pinchas was a great Kabbalistic scholar. The fact that he saw Rabbi Shimon as if covered with rust suggests that Rabbi Shimon reformed while sitting in the cave, did everything he could for his people, and now he can safely leave the cave and teach.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” 12/24/23

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