The Ten Martyrs: Understanding the Asara Harugei
The Ten Martyrs: Understanding the Asara Harugei Malchus and Their Eternal Legacy
The ten martyrs, the Asara Harugei Malchus, represent one of the most devastating chapters in our history, and one of the most sacred. These ten sages are remembered in the piyut (liturgical poem) Eileh Ezkerah as towering figures of mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice) during the Roman persecutions, and their memory echoes through the centuries each time that piyut is recited. Their deaths were deliberate torturous attempts to sever the chain of our mesorah (tradition), and they failed.
Understanding the Asara Harugei Malchus matters not only as history but as a foundation for how we approach emunah (faith) and perseverance today. Their martyrdom became not only a memory of suffering, but a lasting testimony that the covenant between Hashem, His Torah, and His people cannot be broken by force.
Among the generation shaped by this era of Roman persecution of Jews was Rabbi Meir Baal Haness himself, a talmid (student) of Rabbi Akiva, who carried his teacher’s Torah forward into the future. Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities, founded in 1799, continues the mission, supporting Torah scholars, widows, and orphans in Eretz Yisroel so that the mesorah these martyrs died to preserve remains alive and vibrant.
Who Were the Asara Harugei Malchus?
The Asara Harugei Malchus were ten great Mishnaic-era sages executed by the Roman government during the periods surrounding the destruction of the second Beis HaMikdash and the failed Bar Kochba revolt. One commonly cited version of the Eileh Ezkerah martyrology includes Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha (the Kohein Gadol), Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon, Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava, Rabbi Chutzpit HaMeturgeman, Rabbi Yeshevav HaSofer, Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua, Rabbi Chanina ben Chachinai, and Rabbi Yehudah ben Dama.
It is important to note that these ten sages were not all exact contemporaries, yet the martyrology presents them together for spiritual and liturgical purposes. According to historians and many mefarshim, some, like Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, perished during the Great Revolt against Rome (66–74 CE), while others, including Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon, were killed during the Hadrianic persecutions following the Bar Kochba Revolt (132–136 CE). The Midrash does not present a strict historical chronology for each martyr, but rather draws them together as a collective group whose deaths formed a single spiritual reckoning. Because Eileh Ezkerah is primarily a midrashic and liturgical work rather than a chronological historical record, its purpose is to convey the spiritual magnitude of their collective sacrifice.
The broader Roman era Judaism world was deeply shaped by Roman persecution, and these martyrs came to embody the meaning of kiddush Hashem (sanctification of Hashem’s Name) for future generations. Every one of these sages chose death over abandoning the Torah, a choice that would serve as paradigms of the ultimate kiddush Hashem (sanctification of Hashem’s Name) for all future generations.
The Roman Decree and Its Origins
According to the Midrash Eileh Ezkerah, the Roman ruler, identified in different versions as Turnus Rufus or the Emperor Hadrian, summoned the greatest sages of Yisroel and presented them with a charge rooted in Torah law itself. He cited the posuk (verse) in Shemos 21:16: “וְגֹנֵב אִישׁ וּמְכָרוֹ… מוֹת יוּמָת”, “He who kidnaps a man and sells him shall surely be put to death.” In the Midrashic account, the Roman ruler argues that the sin of the brothers selling Yosef into slavery had never been fully atoned for, and that these ten sages were chosen to bear its consequence.
Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha ascended to the heavens using the Shem HaMeforash (the Divine Name), and there the angel Gavriel confirmed that a heavenly decree had been sealed, these ten righteous souls were to serve as a kapparah (atonement) for the sale of Yosef.
The Connection to Mechiras Yosef
The connection to Mechiras Yosef (the sale of Yosef) reveals a profound dimension of middah k’neged middah (measure for measure) in how HaKadosh Baruch Hu governs the world. Yosef was sold by ten brothers, and ten sages of Yisroel bore the ultimate consequence centuries later. The Midrash presents the sale of Yosef as a transgression whose consequence reverberated across generations until it was addressed through the suffering of these ten righteous sages.
We must approach this teaching with humility. The depth of the gezeiras Shamayim (heavenly decree) behind the Asara Harugei Malchus is something we can only partially grasp. What we do know is that these sages accepted the decree with complete emunah, transforming an act of Roman cruelty into an eternal act of kiddush Hashem.
The Ten Kedoshim and How They Were Killed
The Midrash Eileh Ezkerah records the manner of each sage’s death with harrowing detail, and these accounts form the basis of the Yom Kippur piyut. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel was beheaded. Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha, the Kohein Gadol, was also beheaded, and the Midrash records his anguished cry as the executioner began. Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava was pierced with three hundred iron spears by Roman soldiers after he secretly ordained five talmidim in the hills between Usha and Shefaram, ensuring the chain of semicha (ordination) would not be broken.
Other executions were equally devastating. Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua, Rabbi Chutzpit HaMeturgeman, Rabbi Yeshevav HaSofer, Rabbi Chanina ben Chachinai, and Rabbi Yehudah ben Dama each endured their own form of torture. The details preserved in the Midrash are not recorded for their graphic nature, but to impress upon us the magnitude of what these kedoshim (holy ones) endured for the sake of Torah.
Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Chananya ben Teradyon
Two of the ten martyrs stand out for the specific details the Gemara itself preserves. The Gemara in Brachos 61b records that Rabbi Akiva was executed by the Romans who raked his flesh with iron combs. Even as he suffered, he recited Krias Shema with joy, telling his talmidim: “כָּל יָמַי הָיִיתִי מִצְטַעֵר עַל פָּסוּק זֶה, בְּכָל נַפְשְׁךָ, אֲפִילוּ נוֹטֵל אֶת נִשְׁמָתְךָ”, “All my days I was troubled by this verse, ‘with all your soul’, even if He takes your neshamah.” He prolonged the word “Echad” until his neshamah departed.
Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon was wrapped in a Sefer Torah and burned alive, as recorded in Avodah Zarah 18a. When his talmidim asked what he saw, he answered: “גְּוִילִין נִשְׂרָפִין וְאוֹתִיּוֹת פּוֹרְחוֹת”, “The parchment is burning, but the letters are flying upward.” This image, that the physical Torah may be destroyed but its letters ascend to Shamayim, has become one of the most powerful expressions of our emunah in the eternity of Torah. His death is also directly connected to the broader era of Torah study under persecution, when learning Torah carried a death sentence.
Rabbi Meir Baal Haness and His Place Among the Martyrs’ Era
Rabbi Meir Baal Haness lived in the very heart of their era. He was a primary talmid of Rabbi Akiva, and the Gemara in Sanhedrin 86a teaches: “סְתַם מַתְנִיתִין רַבִּי מֵאִיר”, “An anonymous Mishnah is Rabbi Meir.” This means that the vast body of Torah teaching recorded in the Mishnah without attribution reflects Rabbi Meir’s formulations, Torah he received from Rabbi Akiva, who died al kiddush Hashem.
Rabbi Meir witnessed the devastation of the Hadrianic decrees firsthand. His father-in-law, Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon, one of the ten martyrs, was burned alive wrapped in a Torah scroll. The Gemara in Avodah Zarah 18a records that Rabbi Meir helped rescue Beruriah’s sister from Roman captivity by teaching the jailer to invoke “אֱלָהָא דְמֵאִיר עֲנֵנִי,” “Elokah d’Meir aneni,” and assuring him that these words would protect him if he were caught for releasing her. That episode gave rise to the tradition of invoking Rabbi Meir’s zechus (merit) in times of distress.
Rabbi Meir’s life work was a direct continuation of what the ten martyrs died to protect. They gave their lives so the Torah would endure: Rabbi Meir dedicated his life to ensuring it did. The Gemara in Eruvin 13b records his extraordinary brilliance: “שֶׁלֹּא יָכְלוּ חֲבֵרָיו לַעֲמוֹד עַל סוֹף דַּעְתּוֹ”, “His colleagues could not reach the depth of his understanding.” That brilliance was placed in service of the very mesorah the martyrs died to preserve.
Why We Remember: The Piyut of Eileh Ezkerah on Yom Kippur
The piyut Eileh Ezkerah, recited by Ashkenazim during Musaf on Yom Kippur, recounts the deaths of the Asara Harugei Malchus in vivid, painful detail. Ashkenazim also commemorate the Ten Martyrs on Tisha B’Av, typically through the kinah Arzei HaLevanon, while Eleh Ezkerah is recited in Yom Kippur Musaf. Sephardic communities recite versions of this kinah (lamentation) on both Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av.
In both traditions, the purpose is the same, to stand before HaKadosh Baruch Hu on our most solemn days and recall the ultimate sacrifice our greatest sages made for the Torah.
Its placement on Yom Kippur is commonly explained by the theme of kapparah: after the Avodah recalls the atonement service of the Beis HaMikdash, the liturgy turns to the deaths of the righteous, which Chazal and Midrash connect to atonement as well.
We remember the Asara Harugei Malchus as Torah giants, role models for mesirus nefesh. Their martyrdom helped define the ideal of unwavering loyalty to Torah that sustained Klal Yisroel through later generations of persecution.
Lessons from the Asara Harugei Malchus for Our Avodas Hashem
The ten martyrs showed us that Torah is not merely something we study, it is something worth living and dying for. In our own generation, boruch Hashem, we are not called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice. But their example challenges us: How seriously do we take our limud Torah (Torah study)? How deeply do we value the mesorah they died to transmit?
Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava’s willingness to ordain five talmidim at the cost of his life, an event connected to the Usha synod that would rebuild Torah leadership in Eretz Yisroel, teaches us that transmission of Torah to the next generation is a sacred responsibility. Rabbi Akiva’s joy in fulfilling “b’chol nafsh’cha” teaches us that every mitzvah, even giving up one’s life al kiddush Hashem, can be performed with simcha (joy) and kavanah (intention).
The practical lesson for our avodas Hashem (service of Hashem) is this: we honor the Asara Harugei Malchus not only through our tears on Yom Kippur, but through the way we live every day. Every time we open a Gemara, every time we perform a mitzvah with care, every time we give tzedakah to support Torah learning in Eretz Yisroel, we are continuing what they gave their lives to preserve.
Conclusion
The Asara Harugei Malchus gave everything so that the Torah would endure. Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, as a talmid of Rabbi Akiva and son-in-law of Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon, carried that legacy forward with his extraordinary Torah scholarship and chesed (kindness). Today, Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities, founded in 1799, continues this sacred chain by supporting the poor of Eretz Yisroel, Torah scholars, widows, and orphans. By giving tzedakah in the merit of Rabbi Meir, we become partners in the very mission the ten martyrs died to uphold.
We must remember: these practices of giving tzedakah and invoking the zechus of a tzaddik are not a segulah with a guarantee or formula. They are ways of strengthening our bond with HaKadosh Baruch Hu and increasing merit. Only the Ribbono Shel Olam determines outcomes.
In the merit of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, and in the zechus of the Asara Harugei Malchus who gave their lives for Torah, may you be blessed with strength in your emunah, clarity in your avodas Hashem, and the merit to support and preserve the Torah for generations to come.
