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Arzei Levanon & Eileh Ezkerah
An elegy in the Tishah B’Av liturgy commemorates ten rabbinic martyrs, great in stature as the cedars of Lebanon, who continued teaching the Torah in defiance of the Roman edicts. The Yom Kippur service has a more elaborate elegy and there are several other versions deriving from midrashic sources.The story of the Asarah Harugei Malchut, “The Ten Slain by the Government”, was a widespread concern of medieval Jewish authors, in tribute to the martyrs themselves and as an encouragement to Jews to stand by their tradition despite the Crusaders and the missionaries.
All versions of the poem have their difficulties. This note addresses only the Tishah B’Av and Yom Kippur renderings because they are the best known.
The Tishah B’Av Version – Arzei Levanon
Only eight of the ten rabbis are listed:
1. Rabban Shim’on (ben Gamli’el II)
2. A kohen (Rabbi Yishma’el the High Priest)
3. Rabbi Akiva
4. Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava
5. Rabbi Chanina (Chananyah) ben Teradyon
6. Rabbi Yeshevav the Scribe
7. Rabbi Chutzpit
8. Rabbi Elazar ben Shammu’a
Where are the other two? It is possible, since the alphabetical acrostic of the poem goes only up to resh, that there were originally two more lines beginning respectively shin and tav, and these named the ninth and tenth martyrs.
The author may be Me’ir ben Yechi’el of the 12th century CE, though Zunz disputes this. The poet has bound his story together with intricate skill, but though all his eight rabbis were certainly martyred by the Romans, they did not all live, or die, at the same period.
MARTYRS, THE TEN:
Table of Contents
Their Names. This midrash differs from the older sources in regard also to the accusation upon which they were condemned. It says that when a certain Roman emperor who had been instructed in the Law came to the Biblical passage, "And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death" (Ex. xxi. 16), he conceived the following mischievous device: He summoned Ishmael ben Elisha (perhaps the propounder of the "Thirteen Rules"; see Ab. R. N., ed. Schechter, p. 54b; comp. Ned. ix. 10), Simeon (certainly not Simeon ben Gamaliel II; see Ta'an. 29b), Ishmael, Akiba ben Joseph, Hananiah ben Teradion, Ḥuẓpit (the interpreter ["meturgeman"] of the Sanhedrin of Jamnia), Yeshebab (the secretary of the Sanhedrin), Eliezer ben Shammua' (in Midr. R. l.c. "R. Eliezer Ḥersanah," or "R. Tryphon"), Hananiah ben Ḥakinai (in Midr. R. l.c. "Judah ha-Neḥetam"),and Judah ben Baba, and demanded of them what was the punishment prescribed by the Law for stealing a man. They answered, "Death"; whereupon the emperor said, "Then prepare to die, for your ancestors [alluding to the history of Joseph and his brethren] committed such a crime, and you, as the representatives of the Jewish nation, must answer for it." The rabbis asked for a delay of three days that they might ascertain, by invoking the Ineffable Name, whether the punishment pronounced against them was ordained by Heaven. Ishmael ben Elisha, in his capacity as high priest, or as the son of a high priest, was chosen to make the inquiry, and after having ascertained that it was decreed by Heaven, the rabbis submitted to their fate.
Ishmael and Simeon were the first to be taken to the place of execution, where a dispute arose between them as to which should be executed first, each desiring to precede the other in order that he should be spared the sight of the martyrdom of his colleague. Thereupon the emperor ordered lots to be cast, and the lot fell on Simeon, whose head was stricken from his body with a sword. Ishmael was flayed; he suffered with great fortitude, and began to weep only when his executioners reached the place of the phylacteries. The third victim was Akiba, whose flesh was torn off with a carding-implement. While undergoing the torture he recited the Shema' with a peaceful smile on his face. Astonished at his extraordinary courage, his executioner asked him if he was a sorcerer that he could so easily overcome the pain he was suffering, to which Akiba replied, "I am no sorcerer, but I rejoice that I am permitted to love God with my life." He died at the last words of the Shema'—"God is One." The fourth martyr was Hananiah ben Teradion, who was wrapped in a scroll of the Law and placed on a pyre of green brushwood; to prolong his agony wet wool was placed on his chest. "Wo is me," cried his daughter, "that I should see thee under such terrible circumstances!" "I should indeed despair," replied the martyr, "were I alone burned; but since the scroll of the Torah is burning with me the Power that will avenge the offense against the Law will avenge me also." His disciples then asked: "Master, what seest thou?" He answered: "I see the parchment burning while the letters of the Law soar upward." His disciples then advised him to open his mouth that the fire might enter and the sooner put an end to his sufferings; but he refused to do so, saying, "It is best that He who hath given the soul should also take it away: no man may hasten his death." Thereupon the executioner removed the wool, fanned the flame, thus accelerating the end, and then himself plunged into the fire.
Ishmael and Simeon were the first to be taken to the place of execution, where a dispute arose between them as to which should be executed first, each desiring to precede the other in order that he should be spared the sight of the martyrdom of his colleague. Thereupon the emperor ordered lots to be cast, and the lot fell on Simeon, whose head was stricken from his body with a sword. Ishmael was flayed; he suffered with great fortitude, and began to weep only when his executioners reached the place of the phylacteries. The third victim was Akiba, whose flesh was torn off with a carding-implement. While undergoing the torture he recited the Shema' with a peaceful smile on his face. Astonished at his extraordinary courage, his executioner asked him if he was a sorcerer that he could so easily overcome the pain he was suffering, to which Akiba replied, "I am no sorcerer, but I rejoice that I am permitted to love God with my life." He died at the last words of the Shema'—"God is One." The fourth martyr was Hananiah ben Teradion, who was wrapped in a scroll of the Law and placed on a pyre of green brushwood; to prolong his agony wet wool was placed on his chest. "Wo is me," cried his daughter, "that I should see thee under such terrible circumstances!" "I should indeed despair," replied the martyr, "were I alone burned; but since the scroll of the Torah is burning with me the Power that will avenge the offense against the Law will avenge me also." His disciples then asked: "Master, what seest thou?" He answered: "I see the parchment burning while the letters of the Law soar upward." His disciples then advised him to open his mouth that the fire might enter and the sooner put an end to his sufferings; but he refused to do so, saying, "It is best that He who hath given the soul should also take it away: no man may hasten his death." Thereupon the executioner removed the wool, fanned the flame, thus accelerating the end, and then himself plunged into the fire.
The martyrdom of the remaining rabbis is noted without details, with the exception of Judah ben Baba, who is said to have been pierced by lances. He was the last of the martyrs; according to the Talmud (Sanh. 14a), he was surprised by the Romans in the valley between Usha and Shefar'am, where he was secretly investing the seven remaining pupils of Akiba with the authority to continue the teaching of the Law. The martyrdom of the "Ten Teachers" is commemorated in a seliḥah recited in the Musaf service of the Day of Atonement. It is entitled "Eleh Ezkerah," and is based upon the account given in the Midrash 'Asarah Haruge Malkut. With some difference in names it is treated also in the dirge for the Ninth of Ab entitled "Arze ha-Lebanon."
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