Kalonymus ben Meshullam

As thousands of bodies piled up, several Jewish communities chose the path of resistance of Masada, men slaughtering their wives and children, and then themselves.

Kalonymus ben Meshullam, one of our great piy- um, prayer writers, piyyutists, poets, was head of the community at Mayence, and he was one of them.

Rabbi Yomtob ben Isaac, our author of Mayor of the Piyyutim and the Siddur, was murder- murdered in York, England, and the list goes on and on.

And when they finally got to Jerusalem, they burned alive the Jews, men, women, and children together.