Parchment Burning - 2nd Century Martyrs

The title of this blog, Parchment Burning, comes from the story about the martyring of Rabbi Chanina ben Teradion, who was one of the Ten Martyrs killed by the Romans in the time of the Mishna.

Despite Roman decrees against the teaching of Torah in public, Chanina continued to do so:
"He would sit and learn Torah and gather groups around him, with a Torah scroll on his lap." (Babylonian Talmud, Avoda Zara 18a) 
In one version, he is sitting in a Beit Ulam, and I think the expression and the setting must have been akin to a synagogue or house of study. The Romans barged into this gathering, grabbed the Torah and wrapped it around Chanina. They stuffed in tufts of damp wool stuffed between to keep the fire from consuming him immediately. Chanina took comfort in being burned together with a Torah scroll.

As the flames consumed him, his students asked him what he saw, and he replied:
"Parchment burning and letters flitting in the air." 
The story of the death of Chanina, along with the other martyrs, is among the most famous elegies recited by the Jewish people on the Ninth of Av, and is also read in the synagogue on Yom Kippur. It lends a certain idealism to being burnt together with Torah scrolls, which in certain times and places was embraced by Jews facing imminent death.
Sculpture of Chanina's death, by Benno Elkan

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