Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and the Demon Ben Tamalyon
Sent to Rome to annul decrees against Shabbos and milah, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai accepts a demon’s help, and the decrees are destroyed.
The Romans decreed that the Jewish nation was forbidden to observe Shabbos, milah (circumcision), and the laws of family purity. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was chosen as an emissary to convince the Roman government to annul the decrees. Rebbe Elazar bar Rebbe Yosi was chosen to be his companion for the trip. They approached the city where the Roman government was based and they encountered a demon named Ben Tamalyon. (The Ramchal writes that a demon is a cross between a spiritual being and a physical one.) The demon offered to assist them in their mission.
It seems that Hashem was indicating that a demon would help them and not an angel. Rabbi Shimon wept that the slave of the Patriarch was privileged to meet three angels while he was not privileged to meet even one. “Let the miracle come from any source,” he exclaimed and accepted the demon’s offer. The strategy was for the demon to precede Rabbi Shimon’s arrival in Rome and enter into the body of the Roman emperor’s daughter. She would subsequently go mad and cry for the help of Rabbi Shimon, whose whispered command to the demon would cause him to depart. The princess would then regain her senses. The plan worked perfectly and the grateful emperor rewarded the sage by allowing him to enter the royal vaults and take whatever he wished. Rabbi Shimon thus succeeded in finding the document containing those awful decrees and destroying it.