Rabbi Yehuda ben Dama רבי יהודה בן דמא

Rabbi Yehuda ben Dama is named in the piyyut Eleh Ezkerah and in the Midrash Asarah Harugei Malkhut—among the ten put to death by Roman power. In the Talmud there are no sayings of his, and of his life nothing is told.

Here it should be said plainly: almost all we know of him is his name and how he died. The Midrash relates that he was killed on Shavuot, and that he asked the executioner for a delay so as to fulfil the commandment of the day. The lists of the ten differ, and in part of them another name stands in his place.

The count of the ten is read in the Musaf of Yom Kippur—and read by name. That is the tradition's regard for such men: not a life story, but a name said aloud.