Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava's Last Semichah

The institution of semichah irked the Romans. They decreed that any individual who ordains or is ordained will be executed and the entire city that housed the ceremony will be demolished. Realizing that an ordination ceremony might take place in the outskirts of a city, they decreed further that even if a ceremony took place there, the adjacent city would be demolished.

Despite the grave danger, Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava went ahead and ordained the leading elders of the forthcoming generation: Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yossi ben Chalafta, Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua, and possibly Rabbi Nechemya. The Gemara points out that in fact Rabbi Meir was already ordained by Rabbi Akiva. However, his semichah was not accepted by all because of Rabbi Meir’s youth at the time. (The Maharshah posits that since Rabbi Meir was the only student of Rabbi Akiva to receive semichah directly from him, R’ Yehudah HaNasi compiled the anonymous Mishnayos to reflect his opinions.)

In order to prevent the destruction of the hosting city, Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava performed the semichah ceremony in between two large cities, Usha and Shafram, outside their city limits. Unfortunately, in middle of the ceremony, they were discovered by a legion of Roman soldiers. Despite his students’ protests, Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava chose to remain and block the enemy so the newly ordained rabbis could flee and continue the chain of semichah.

The Romans killed Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava by throwing 300 spears at him. The Gemara writes a gruesome description of his death: “They made him like a sieve” (Sanhedrin 14a). The death of the righteous is an atonement for the rest of Klal Yisrael. In fact, Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava is listed as one of the Ten Martyrs.