Note 159 — BOOK V THE JEW AND THE TALMUD
Reading edition
Of Akiba, the Mishnah tells us, as he was in his last agonies, while his flesh was being torn with combs of iron, he kept repeating the words of the “Shema” invocation, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One.” He lingered over the word One, and expired as he uttered the word “One.” The ministering angels then said before the Holy One, “Such is Torah (the Law), and such is its reward.” Bath Qol (the heavenly voice) went forth and said. “Happy art thou, Rabbi Akiba, that thou art invited to the life of the world to come....”
Such was the end of Akiba, the most exalted, most romantic, and most heroic character perhaps in that vast gallery of the learned of his time. The most remarkable period of his career may be dated about A.D. 110–35.