Legend of the Ten Martyrs

Rabbi Ishmael purified himself through ritual immersion. He wrapped himself in his prayer shawl and in his phylacteries and distinctly pronounced the Ineffable Name of the Lord. Immediately, a wind bore him to the sixth heaven. There he met the angel Gabriel who said to him, “Are you Ishmael in whom your God prides Himself every day? Because He has a servant on earth who so resembles His own brilliant countenance!”

Ishmael replied, “I am that man.”

Gabriel questioned him, “Why have you ascended here?”

He answered, “Because the wicked kingdom has decreed that ten sages of Israel must die. I have therefore ascended to learn whether that decree has gone forth from the Holy One, blessed be He.” [ . . . ]

It was said about Rabbi Ishmael, the high priest, that he was one of the seven most handsome men in the world, and that his face resembled an angel’s. When Rabbi Yose, Rabbi Ishmael’s father, reached the last days of his life, his wife said to him, “My dear husband and master, why do I see that many people manage to have children, while we have not? For we have no heir, neither a son nor a daughter.”

Rabbi Yose replied, “The reason is this: When other men’s wives leave the ritual bathhouse, they watch themselves very closely. If anything unseemly happens to them, they return to the bathhouse and immerse a second time, and so they succeed in having children.”

His wife said, “If this is what has prevented me, then I promise to be very scrupulous in these matters.”

The next time she went to immerse herself, after she left the ritual bathhouse, a certain dog crossed her path. So she returned to the bathhouse, and reimmersed herself. [But when she left] the dog crossed her path again; she returned once more and reimmersed herself. Eight times this happened, until the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Gabriel, “How much trouble this righteous woman takes upon herself! Go and appear to her in the form of her husband.”

Gabriel immediately went and sat at the door of the ritual bathhouse, where he appeared to the woman in the form of her husband, Rabbi Yose. He took her [by the hand] and led her home. That same night she conceived Rabbi Ishmael, and he was as handsome as Gabriel himself.

For this reason, Gabriel encountered Rabbi Ishmael when he ascended to heaven. The angel said to him, “Ishmael, my son, I swear to you that I overheard from behind the heavenly partition that ten sages are to be handed over to the wicked kingdom to be executed.”

“For what cause?” Ishmael asked.

“[As atonement] for the transgression Joseph’s brothers committed when they sold him. [ . . . ]” [ . . . ]

The Roman emperor now entered, followed by all the noblemen of Rome. He addressed the sages, “Who shall be executed first?” [ . . . ]

The lot fell upon Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel. The emperor ordered his head cut off, and his servants decapitated Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel. Then, Rabbi Ishmael the high priest took the head, and, placing it between his thighs, he lamented with a bitter heart, “Where is Torah? Where is its reward? Here lies the tongue that once explained the Torah in seventy languages! And now it licks the dust!”

So Rabbi Ishmael mourned and wept over the body of Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel. The emperor said to him, “What is this? You, an old man, weeping over your fellow sage! You should be weeping over yourself!”

Rabbi Ishmael replied, “I am weeping over myself! For my fellow sage was greater than I in knowledge of Torah and wisdom. And now he has joined the heavenly academy before me. This is why I am weeping.”

While Rabbi Ishmael was still giving voice to his grief, weeping as he lamented, the daughter of the emperor looked out her window and saw how handsome Rabbi Ishmael the high priest was. Compassion for him seized her, and she sent to her father asking him to grant her one request. He sent back to her, “My daughter, whatever you ask I shall do—so long as it does not concern Rabbi Ishmael and his colleagues.” She sent back, “I request you to allow him to live.” The emperor replied, “I have already taken an oath.” She responded, “Let me then request that you order the skin stripped off his face, that I may have it to use instead of a mirror to look upon myself.”¹

The emperor immediately ordered his servants to strip the skin off Rabbi Ishmael’s face. When they reached the spot on his forehead where he used to place his phylacteries, Rabbi Ishmael groaned with such terrible bitterness that the heavens and the earth trembled. He groaned a second time, and the Throne of Glory trembled. The host of angels spoke before the Holy One, blessed be He, “A righteous man like this, to whom You have revealed all the mysteries of the upper world and the secrets of the lower one—shall this man be murdered cruelly by so wicked a man? This is Torah? This is its reward?”

The Holy One, blessed be He, answered, “Leave him to his fate. The merits of his deeds shall stand for the generations following him.” Then He added, “What can I do to help my children? The decree has gone forth, and there is no one to annul it.” [ . . . ]

Rabbi Ishmael replied [to the emperor—Ed.], “Not for my own soul am I crying out—but for [the privilege of observing] the precept of laying phylacteries [upon my forehead], which now is lost to me.”

“Yet you still trust in your God!” said the emperor.

“Let Him kill me if He will,” said Rabbi Ishmael. “I shall still hope in Him (Job 13:15).”

Thereupon, his soul departed from Rabbi Ishmael.