"והוציאו את רבי עקיבא... וסרקו בשרו במסרקות פיפיות"
“They brought out Rabbi Akiva... and lacerated his body with sharp pointed iron combs.”

QUESTION: The martyring of the ten Sages was done by the Romans as a punishment for the brothers kidnapping and selling of Yoseph.

When Yosef was sold, only nine brothers were present (Reuven had returned home and Binyamin did not participate). Why were ten Sages killed?

ANSWER: According to the Midrash the brothers had agreed not to reveal to Yaakov the whereabouts of Yosef and had made Hashem a party to the agreement (see Rashi, Bereishit 37:33). The Roman King thus calculated that ten (counting Hashem) had cooperated in the kidnapping, and therefore he killed ten Sages.

Commentaries ask why Rabbi Akiva was among the ten Sages killed since he was a descendant of converts and his ancestors had taken no part in the kidnapping.

The answer given is that Rabbi Akiva was punished on behalf of Hashem, who participated in the kidnapping by not revealing to Yaakov the whereabouts of Yosef.

A hint to this in the Torah can be found in the pasuk “Vechol ma’aseir bakar vatzon kol asher ya’avor tachat hasheivet ha’asiri yiheheh kodesh la’Hashem” — “and all the tithe of cattle and sheep, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to G‑d” (Vayikra 27:32). The words “Vechol ma’asar” (וכל מעשר) are an acronym for "וידעו כולם" — “let it be known to all” — "למה מת עקיבא" — “the reason for the death of Akiva,” — "שהיה רועה" — “who was a shepherd of” — “bakar vatzon” — “cattle and sheep.” The pasuk continues “kol asher ya’avor” — “all those who died” (literally “went under”) — “tachat hashavet” — “represented one of the tribes (the shevatim).” But Rabbi Akiva had no relationship to the tribes, so why was he killed? We must conclude that “ha’asiri” — “the tenth” sage, that is, Rabbi Akiva — was “kodesh laHashem” — martyred on behalf of Hashem.

(ר' שמשון זצ"ל מאסטראפאלי)

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QUESTION: Why was Rabbi Akiva selected to be the one martyred on behalf of Hashem?

ANSWER: The Gemara (Pesachim 22b) says that Shimon Ha’amsuni had a practice of interpreting every occurrence of the word “et” in the Torah to mean a reference to something additional. When he reached the pasuk, “Et Hashem Elokecha tira” — “Hashem, your G‑d, shall you fear” (Devarim 10:20) — he stopped because what could there be in addition to G‑d? Rabbi Akiva interpreted the word “et” as including talmidei chachamim — Torah scholars. Since it was Rabbi Akiva who equated Torah scholars with Hashem, he was the one selected to represent Hashem.

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The Gemara (Berachot 61b) says that while Rabbi Akiva was being put to death, he recited the Shema, and when he said the word “echad” he expired. A voice emanated from heaven and said, “Lucky are you, Rabbi Akiva, that your soul ‘went out’ with ‘echad.’” In light of the above, we may say that the voice also meant, “Lucky are you Rabbi Akiva that your soul went out on behalf of ‘Echad’ — Hashem — the One and only One.”

(אר"י ז"ל)