Rabbi Chananya ben Tradyon, one of the "Ten Martyrs" (see entry for Sivan 25) was killed on this date. When the Romans discovered him teaching the outlawed Torah they wrapped him in a Torah scroll, piled bundles of twigs around him, and before setting him afire they placed damp woolen cloths on him to prolong the agony of being burned to death.
As the flames engulfed him, his disciples asked him, "Master, what do you see?" Rabbi Chananya replied: "I see a scroll burning, but the letters flying up to Heaven."
Links:
The Ten Martyrs
Jews, since Abraham, saw themselves as servants of a transcendent G-d. But in a New World, servitude and self-discipline didn’t go over so well.
The Rebbe wrote that he had pondered this problem at length: How can we communicate to children today the dedication and responsibility that comes along with being a Jew?
So the Rebbe created Tzivos Hashem—literally, an army. He gave the children a sense of pride, as they rose in rank in this army, and told them that they were on a special mission to defeat evil, model goodness, and make this world a divine home for its Maker, the Commander-in-Chief.
At public gatherings, the children now crowded around the Rebbe’s chair, even sitting under the table at his feet. At one point, a certain elder attempted to chase them away. The Rebbe admonished him, “You are a civilian and they are officers, and you want to chase them away?!”
That is education. That is wisdom.