Yom Turinos of Megilas Taanis[1]
Today, the 12th of the month of Adar, is recorded in Megillat Taʿanit Chapter 12 as a Yom Turinos. In the month of Adar, on the twelfth day, the Roman ruler Turnus Rufus seized the brothers Lulianus and Pappus in the city of Lod (Laodicea) after the king’s daughter was found murdered and the gentiles accused the Jews of the crime; these two righteous brothers stepped forward and declared, “We killed her,” thereby redeeming the entire Jewish community at the cost of their own lives. Turnus Rufus mocked them and said, “If your God is truly with you, let Him come and save you from my hand as He saved Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah from Nebuchadnezzar.” They answered him with great faith and clarity: “Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were worthy righteous men, and Nebuchadnezzar was a king through whom it was fitting for a miracle to be performed; but you are a wicked king, and it is not fitting that a miracle be done through you. Moreover, we are already deserving of death, and even if you do not kill us, the Omnipresent has many agents—many bears, lions, snakes, and scorpions—to take our lives; yet if you do kill us, the Holy One, blessed be He, will ultimately demand our blood from you.” Indeed, Turnus Rufus did not leave that place before Roman forces came upon him, split his skull with clubs and axes, and killed him violently. The sages testify that Lulianus and Pappus were completely righteous, and about them it is said (Pesachim 50a): “The martyrs of Lod—no created being can stand within their partition in Gan Eden,” and their self‑sacrifice is remembered as a supreme act of kiddush Hashem, sanctifying God’s Name not through a miracle, but through unwavering faith and moral courage.
[1] See Taanis 18a; Megilas Taanis Chapter 12; Miseches Semachos 8; Toras Kohanim Parshas Emor
