Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel the Elder

They were on the fifth of Sivan, engaged in the laws of Passover, until the Caesar arrived with his sword drawn. The Caesar entered, followed by all the great men of Rome. He said to them: "Extend your necks! Is your heart still free for Torah?"

He asked them: "Who shall die first?" Rabbi Ishmael pleaded, "Kill me first, so that I do not see the death of my colleagues, for I am a High Priest, son of a High Priest, from the seed of Aaron the Priest."

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said to him, "Kill me first, for I am a Nasi, son of a Nasi, from the seed of David, King of Israel, peace be upon him!" The Caesar said to them: "Cast lots!" The lot fell upon Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel. Immediately, he extended his neck, and the Caesar struck him a single blow, cutting off his head like an ox.

Rabbi Ishmael said: "The tongue that expounded the Torah in seventy languages, how now does it lick the dust?" When the news reached Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira, they girded themselves with sackcloth and rent their garments מסכת סופרים פרק ח.

The Caesar said: "Ishmael! Extend your neck!" Rabbi Ishmael said: "By your life, Caesar! Grant me one moment until I weep for my colleague." Immediately, Rabbi Ishmael took Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel's head, placed it on his knees, and put his eyes upon his eyes, his mouth upon his mouth, and his nose upon his nose. He cried out with a bitter voice like a shofar and said: "Holy mouth, faithful mouth, mouth that prevailed with the might of the Torah of a holy and pure people, mouth that brought forth precious stones and pearls, who has buried you in the dust? Who has filled your tongue with dust and dirt?" He cried over him with bitterness of soul and said: "Is this Torah, and is this its reward?!" "The tongue that used to expound the Torah in seventy languages, how now does it lick the dust?!" And he lamented and wept over Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel.

The Caesar said to him: "Before you weep for your colleague, weep for yourself, for your death is harsher than his." Rabbi Ishmael said to him: "I do not weep for myself, for my colleague is greater than I in Torah and wisdom, and I weep because he preceded me to the heavenly academy."

The Caesar said to him: "Is there anyone in your nation like you, or better than you?" He said to him: "No." Immediately, he decreed his execution.

From his cry, the Caesar's daughter looked out and saw the beauty of Rabbi Ishmael and desired his beauty, for they said of him: "No one was as handsome as him since the days of Joseph son of Jacob," and he was one of the seven handsome men who existed in the world: Adam the First, Jacob our Patriarch, Joseph son of Jacob, King Saul, Absalom son of David, Rabbi Abahu, and Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha the High Priest. He was beautiful in form and handsome in appearance, like the angel Gabriel, beautiful of eyes and pleasant to behold, like the angel of the Lord of Hosts.

The Caesar's daughter said to the governor, "Wait an hour until I enter before my father to save him," for her mercy was stirred for him.

Immediately, he waited for her, and she entered before her father and said to him: "Father, I have one question and request from you." He said to her: "Whatever your question, it shall be granted to you, and whatever your request, it shall be done, except for Ishmael and his colleagues."

She said to him: "Father, this is my question and request: how can I witness the loss of his beauty?" for she desired the form of his beauty. "I ask you to spare his life!" He said to her: "My daughter, I have already sworn." She said to him: "If so, grant me permission to peel the skin of his face so that I may gaze upon it instead of in a mirror."

And the Caesar commanded to do as she requested. She commanded to peel the skin of his face. And she embalmed it in balsam oil so that it would remain preserved and not change. When they reached the place of the phylacteries, Rabbi Ishmael cried out a great and bitter cry, and the whole world, heaven and earth, were shaken. The Caesar said to him: "Why did you not cry out until now?" He said to him: "I do not cry out for my soul, but for the mitzvah of phylacteries that they are taking from me, I cry out."

The Caesar said: "And still in your God do you trust? If He is mighty, let Him come and save you now!" He said to him: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" Job 13:15.

The ministering angels said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: "Master of the Universe, this righteous man, to whom You showed all the treasures of the heavens, the treasures of the upper worlds, and the secrets of the lower worlds, such a wicked decree has been decreed upon him, that he should be killed with a strange death by this wicked man. Is this Torah, and is this its reward?!" The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: "Leave him, so that his merit may endure for the generations after him."

He cried out a second time with a bitter voice to the Creator of his soul. The Throne of Glory was shaken, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, sought to turn the entire world back to chaos.

Immediately, Gabriel descended to Rabbi Ishmael and said: "If you cry out a third time, the world will immediately return to chaos. Rather, happy are you and happy are your colleagues, what is reserved and what is fitting for you!" When Rabbi Ishmael heard this, he placed his phylacteries on his mouth until his soul departed.

The Holy One, Blessed be He, began and said: "The memory of the righteous is a blessing" זצ"ל. Michael and Gabriel began and said: "His soul is in Eden" נ"ע. The holy Hayyot began and said: "May his soul be bound in the bond of life" ת. נ. צ. ב. ה. The Seraphim began and said: "His soul is above in Gan Eden" נלב"ע. The angels and all the hosts of heaven began and said: "May his memory be for life in the World to Come" זלה"ה with the righteous. And still, the skin of Rabbi Ishmael's face lies in Rome.