According to the Midrash Eleh Ezkerah, and a brief parallel source in Midrash Mishlei, [2][3] a Roman emperor commanded the execution of the ten sages of Israel to expiate the guilt of the sons of Jacob, who had sold their brother Joseph—a crime which, according to Exodus 21:16, had to be punished with death.
The names of the martyrs are given here, as in the seliḥah (varying in part from Lamentations Rabbah and Midrash Tehillim), as follows:
Although this midrash employs other sources, borrowing its introduction from the Midrash Konen, and the account of the conversation of Rabbi Ishmael with the angels in heaven probably from the Hekalot, it forms, nevertheless, a coherent work. Based on a Hamburg codex, it was edited by A. Jellinek[4] and, according to another manuscript, by S. Chones, in his Rav Pe'alim.[5] A second and a third recension of the midrash were edited, based on manuscript sources, in Jellinek's B. H.,[6] and a fourth is contained in the Spanish liturgical work Bet Av.[7] According to Jellinek, "the fourth recension is the oldest, since it has borrowed large portions from the Hekalot; next to this stand the second and the third; while the youngest is the first, which, nevertheless, has the advantage of real conformity with the spirit of the race and represents this the best of all." The martyrdom of the ten sages is also treated in the additions to the Hekalot[8] and in the qinna for Tisha B'Av.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Smaller Midrashim". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Its bibliography: 