with their request, whereupon the people remarked, "R. Eleazar has become unmuzzled" (איטחסם, from חסם = "to muzzle"), and they called him "Eleazar Hasma". The protagonist of this story is Eleazar ben Shammua, and not (as is often assumed) Eleazar Ḥisma. The latter was never Akiva's pupil. Indeed, he was Akiva's senior, and in the account of a halakhic discussion between him and Eleazar ben Azariah and Akiva, his name precedes that of Akiva. In contrast, Eleazar ben Shammua was an acknowledged disciple of Akiva, and the Midrashim explicitly state that he "went to Akiva, his teacher." Teachings His disciples once requested him to tell them whereby he merited unusual longevity, when he replied, "I have never converted the Synagogue into a passageway [for the sake of convenience]; have never trodden over the heads of the holy people [i.e., come late to college and stepped between the rows of attentive students; compare Abdan], and have never pronounced the priestly blessing before offering the benediction preceding it." When asked what merits will save man from the tribulations which are to precede the Messianic epoch, he replied, "Let him engage in the study of the Law and in deeds of benevolence." According to Eleazar, children as well as pious adults share in the glory of God. He also taught that the world rests on a single pillar, the name of which is Righteousness, as the Bible says, "The righteous is the foundation of the world". Quotes "Let the honor of your student be as dear to you as that of your colleague; that of your colleague, as the reverence of your master; and the reverence of your master, as that of the Most High." Even a fox, if it is his hour, bow down before him! References Its bibliography: W. Bacher, Ag. Tan. ii. 275 et seq.; Brüll, Mebo ha-Mishnah, i. 196 et seq.; Z. Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, pp. 173 et seq.; Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, ii., s.v.; Weiss, Dor, ii. 164 et seq.; Zacuto, Yuḥasin, ed. Filipowski, pp. 45, 58. Mishnah rabbis Jewish martyrs