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| Rabbi Akiva |
On Yom Kippur, Jews recall ten rabbis martyred by Rome.
Rabbi Akiva was arrested and tried for teaching Torah. The Romans tortured him to death by flaying his skin. He spent his final moments reciting the Shema. As he recited, “the Lord is one,” his soul left him.
Rabbis Yishmael and Shimon were imprisoned together. Before the execution, each begged to be killed first so that he wouldn't have to witness the torture and death of his friend.
Rabbi Yishmael’s last words were, “I will trust in You even though You slay me.”
The Gates of Repentance, describing the deaths of these martyrs, says of Rabbi Yehuda:
The Romans had forbidden the ordination of rabbis, decreeing death to ordainer and those ordained, and destruction for any city in which ordination would take place. Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava ordained five in the pass between two cities, Shefaram and Usha. When the enemy soldiers were upon them, Rabbi Yehuda told his disciples to flee. ‘What will become of you?’ they cried. He answered: ‘I shall place myself before them as an immovable rock.’ So he did—and the Roman lances struck him down. But the disciples escaped.The memory of their lives is a blessing.
We don't ask you to worship them. We do not claim they died for you.
