[Siman 2] (Deut. 27:9:) “Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, ‘Pay attention and listen.’” What is the meaning of pay attention (hasket) and listen? Be silent (has) and then break down (katet). Moses said to Israel, “Form [yourselves into] individual classes (kitot), and incline your heart to hear the words of Torah.” Another interpretation: He said to them, “Pound (katetu) your hearts and souls to hear the words of Torah.” [(Deut. 26:16:) “With all your heart.”] R. Eliezer ben Jacob says, “The text comes to warn the priests when they perform a service not to have two hearts, one in the presence of the Holy One and one for something else.” (Ibid., cont.:) “And with all your soul (nafsheka),” even though [someone] takes your life (nafshekha). On one occasion [the Romans]⁠¹ decreed a religious persecution against Israel, in which they were not to occupy themselves with the Torah.⁠² R. Aqiva and his colleagues proceeded to [ignore it and] occupy themselves with the Torah. When Pappus ben Judah found him, he said to him, “See here, rabbi, you are endangering yourself, when you transgress against a decree of the king.” R. Aqiva said to him, “Let me illustrate for you in a parable: To what is the matter comparable? To a fox. As he was walking near a river, he saw [some] fish there.⁠³ He said to them, ‘Get yourselves to me, and I will hide you in the clefts of the rocks. Then you shall not be afraid.’ They said to him, ‘Are you the one that they say about you that you are the most clever of the animals? You are only a fool. All our lives have been [spent] only in the water. So would you tell us to walk onto the dry land? If we are afraid in the place of our life, all the more so [will we be afraid] in the place of our death!’ Similarly all the life of Israel exists only in the Torah, of which it is written (in Deut. 30:20), ‘for that is your life and your length of days’; yet you are saying, ‘You are endangering yourself?’” In a few days they arrested the both of them. Pappus said to him, “Fortunate are you, since you were arrested for the words of Torah. Woe to that Pappus, who was arrested for idle things.” [Subsequently] when they brought out R. Aqiva for execution, it was time to recite the Shema'. While they combed his flesh with combs of iron, he was calling out the recitation of the Shema'. About him David has said (in Ps. 17:14), “Of those who die by your hand, O Lord […] from the world (heled), their portion [is life].”⁴ R. Hanina bar Pappa said, “Do not read, ‘of those who die,’ but, ‘those who kill,’⁵ [because they kill themselves] for the sake of the Torah, which was given [by Your hand].” When people see them, they say, “They are full of rust (hulda), they have sins on their hand; that is the reason they were killed, and so they die from the world.” But they do not know that their portion is in eternal life and that everything good is being kept in store for them. It is so stated (ibid. cont.), “may You fill their belly with what You have kept in store for them.” And not only that, but they attain merit for their children after them.⁠⁶ And because [the Children of] Israel lay down their lives for the Torah and for the sanctification of the name of the Holy One, blessed be He; for that reason the Holy One, blessed be He, made them into an entity and a blessing in the world, as stated (in Deut. 26:17), “Today you have had the Lord promise….” And just as Israel makes an entity in front of the Holy One, blessed be He, so does the Holy One, blessed be He, make them an entity, as stated (in vs. 18), “The Lord has proclaimed you today [to be for Him a treasured people…].” R. Joshua ben Levi said, “Just as the pestle ('eli) crushes, so is Israel going to crush four empires under its feet. It is so stated (in Deut. 26:19), ‘And to set you on high ('elyon)) over all the nations that He has made in praise, in name, and in honor.’”