Martyrdom in Judaism is one of the main examples of Jews doing a kiddush Hashem, a Hebrew term which means "sanctification of [the] name".[1] An example of this is public self-sacrifice in accordance with Jewish practice and identity, with the possibility of being killed for no other reason than being Jewish. There are specific conditions in Jewish law that deal with the details of self-sacrifice, be it willing or unwilling.
The opposite or converse of kiddush Hashem is chillul Hashem ("Desecration [of] God's Name" in Hebrew) and Jews are obligated to avoid it according to Halakha (Jewish religious law). There are instances, such as when they are faced with forced conversion to another religion, when Jews should choose martyrdom and sacrifice their lives rather than commit a chillul Hashem which desecrates the honor of God. Martyrdom in Judaism is thus driven by both the desire to Sanctify God's Name concurrently and the wish to avoid the Desecration of God's Name.[2]
In Hebrew a martyr is known as a kaddosh which means "[a] holy [one]", and martyrs are known as kedoshim meaning "holy [ones]". Thus the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust are known as the Kedoshim.[3][4]
Jewish history is replete with many episodes in which Jews who lived in different times and places chose to become individual and mass martyrs.
Judaism, and the Abrahamic religions such as Christianity and Islam, all draw their notions of martyrdom from the Jews' Hebrew Bible as put forth in the Torah. Christian martyrs and Islamic martyrs, known as Shahids, both draw from the original Judaic sources for the concept or Mitzvah or commandment that calls upon one to unconditionally sacrifice one's life for one's God and religion if called upon and if circumstances so dictate, not to betray one's God, religion and beliefs.
Binding of Isaac
An angel prevents the sacrifice of Isaac. Abraham and Isaac, Rembrandt, 1634
The events described in the Bible known as the Binding of Isaac is the primal and archetypal example of martyrdom in the Torah. Abraham is called upon to fulfill God's commandment to slaughter his son Isaac,[5] and Isaac to willingly submit to this and offer his life up as a korban[6] or "sacrifice" and hence, if need be, dying as a martyr[7] because God had so commanded it.[8]
At the last minute God instructs Abraham to stop and to slaughter and offer up a ram instead. This was the worst of the ten tests of Abraham and the fact that Isaac was willing to give up his own life serves as a role model for all subsequent people who are called upon to sacrifice their lives for their God, religion and beliefs.[citation needed]
There are times that the Hebrew Bible records that the Israelites, the ancestors of the Jews, are instructed to wage war against their enemies in the Bible sometimes as instructed by God or their leaders or both. Examples are wars against Amalek and the Seven Nations. Such wars are known as Milkhemet Mitzvah ("war by commandment" in Hebrew, or "Holy War") and any Israelite or Jew who is killed in the course of fighting for the cause is automatically regarded as having died al Kiddush Hashem ("for Sanctifying God's Name") and is hence a Jewish martyr.[9]
Since these events took place so long ago, the main records are Biblical as well as some information gleaned from archaeology. Certainly many thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Jews were killed and martyred during this period in history.
An indication of how seriously Jews and Judaism regard the scope, tragedy and impact of the destruction of the First Temple and the catastrophic impact on their land, the Kingdom of Judah, and their subsequent Babylonian captivity. Many Jewish fast days and mourning periods were instituted and observed since ancient times, all of which also commemorate the martyrdom of Jews in those times:[citation needed]
During the Maccabean Revolt from 167 to 160 BCE, during at least seven wars between the Jews and the Seleucid Greeks, tens of thousands of Jews died in battle or were killed as martyrs, including some of the original Maccabees. Some of the best known Jewish martyrs of this period is the story of the woman with seven sons and Eleazar (2 Maccabees).
The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah commemorates and celebrates the miracle of the triumph of the Jews against the ancient Greeks and of Judaism and Torah over classical Greek culture.
Martyrdom of Jews is a prominent aspect of the three major Jewish-Roman wars[15] fought between the Jews in and out of ancient Judea and the Roman Empire in 66 CE to 136 CE that resulted in between one and two million Jewish casualties who are regarded as Jewish martyrs, such as Lulianos and Paphos.
In Judaism and Jewish liturgy, recounting the killing of the Ten Martyrs, as taught in Midrash Eleh Ezkerah, by the Romans is considered by many a solemn high point of the Yom Kippur prayer service. The most prominent of these martyrs was Rabbi Akiva, the famous Talmudic sage.
Jews and Judaism commemorate the tragedies leading up to and including the destruction of the Second Temple, its catastrophic aftermath, and the martyrdom of so many, on the solemn fast day of Tisha B'Av.
There have been times of great upheaval between Jews and Christians and hence between Judaism and Christianity starting from the inception of Christianity as a religion independent and apart from its Judaic roots. This has resulted in the death and martyrdom of countless Jews and Jewish communities dating from Roman times to the present as outlined in the various sections of this article.
The Crusades took place from the 11th to the 17th century during which time tens of thousands of Jews were martyred.[16][17][18] Rabbi Ephraim of Bonn (1132-1196) chronicled the fate of Jewish communities in Germany, France and England from 1146 to 1196.
A special Hebrew prayer, Av HaRachamim ("Father [of] Mercy") still recited in Ashkenazi synagogues today was composed commemorating the Jewish martyrs resulting from the First Crusade (1096-1099).
There were massacres of Jews and their subsequent martyrdom in London, where Jacob of Orleans was murdered in 1189, and York, where notable victims were Rabbi Yom Tov of Joigny and Josce of York both of whom died in 1190. The hatred of Jews in England culminated with the Edict of Expulsion of 1290.
Jews in the areas of modern-day France were subject to the Crusades and many suffered martyrdom.[19] Historian Ephraim ben Yaakov (1132-1200) describes Crusaders' massacres of Jews, including the massacre at Blois, where approximately forty Jews were killed following an accusation of ritual murder:
As they were led forth, they were told, 'You can save your lives if you will leave your religion and accept ours.' The Jews refused. They were beaten and tortured to make them accept the Christian religion, but still they refused. Rather, they encouraged each other to remain steadfast and die for the sanctification of God's Name.[20]
During the Spanish Inquisition, many of those who were executed were Jews who refused to convert to Christianity. The status of those crypto-Jews who had pretended to adopt Christianity in an attempt to avoid persecution is unclear in Jewish Law that forbids Apostasy in Judaism under all circumstances. True adherents of Judaism were expelled from Spain following the Alhambra Decree of 1492 while remaining in Spain would mean death and martyrdom.
Maria Barbara Carillo (1625-1721) was burned at the stake for seeking to return to Judaism.
Jews were falsely accused of anti-Christian or anti-Muslim acts and activities and were often scapegoated and consequently thousands of Jews were killed and martyred over many centuries. Examples are the Brussels massacre (1370), 1910 Shiraz blood libel, Kunmadaras pogrom (1946).
The Khmelnytsky Uprising was known to Jews as Gezeiras Tach VeTat,[21][22] meaning the "Decree of [years] 408 and 409" (corresponding to 1648 and 1649). Some historians estimate that between 100,000 and 500,000 Jews were slaughtered during the Khmelnytsky Uprising from 1648 to 1658. See the section Khmelnytsky Uprising: Jews for an outline of the discussion about the actual numbers of Jews killed by the Cossacks.
Notable martyrs of this period include Rabbi Yechiel Michel ben Eliezer (died 1648) who is also known as the Martyr of Nemirov. Rabbi Samson ben Pesah Ostropoli (died 1648) was martyred together with 300 of his followers.
Photo believed to show the victims, mostly Jewish children, of a 1905 pogrom in Yekaterinoslav (today's Dnipro)Jews with bodies of their comrades killed in Odessa during the Russian Revolution of 1905.
The modern notion of Pogroms began mostly in the Russian Empire during the early 19th century, beginning with the Odessa pogroms. Over more than a hundred years, tens of thousands of innocent Jewish civilians, men women and children were massacred by rampaging mobs. Those who were murdered in this barbaric fashion are regarded as Jewish martyrs.
The Pogroms overlap with the beginnings of the Holocaust as well as happening during and after the Holocaust.
From above. 1st row: Mass graves of Bergen-Belsen after its liberation in April 1945. 2nd row: Jewish prisoners from Hungary newly arrived at Auschwitz in May 1944; left image, chimneys of crematoriums II and III of Birkenau. 3rd row: corpses in April 1945 in the already liberated Nordhausen concentration camp (left). Crematory ovens in Buchenwald with bones of German women opposed to the Nazis, April 1945 (right). 4th and last row: Auschwitz
The approximately six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust during the period of the Second World War are regarded as martyrs by most Jewish religious scholars.[23] In Hebrew they are referred to as kedoshim ("holy ones") who died al kiddush Hashem ("for [the] sanctification [of] God's name").[24][25][26][27]
Haj Amin al-Husseini meeting with Adolf Hitler (28 November 1941).
During the Second World War, some Muslim leaders such as Amin al-Husseini colluded with the Nazis and hence contributed to the Holocaust and hence to Jewish martyrdom.[29]
Modern Israel has instituted and dedicated a special day known as Yom HaZikaron ("Day [of] the Remembrance") in memory of those Jews killed in the service of building up and defending the state of Israel as well as in memory of those killed in terrorist attacks.[30]
^Marvin Bash Messages of the Chofetz Chaim: 100 Stories and Parables 2006 Page 91 "Section VII Sanctification of the Name: An Introduction It is written in the Torah, as one of the commandments, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 19:2). According to this Biblical verse, the Jew is obligated to be holy, ..."
^Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Akedah". britannica.com. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 24 February 2020. ((cite web)): |last1= has generic name (help)
^Marc, Brettler (2002). "Is there Martyrdom in the Hebrew Bible?". Academia.edu. Sacrificing the Self: Perspectives on Martyrdom and Religion. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
^Marc, Brettler (2002). "Is there Martyrdom in the Hebrew Bible?". Academia.edu. Sacrificing the Self: Perspectives on Martyrdom and Religion. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
^Lander, Shira (December 11, 2003). "Martyrdom in Jewish Traditions". St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, MD. Post-70 Roman Period Traditions (Catholic-Jewish Consultation Committee Meeting: Bishops Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the National Council of Synagogues). Retrieved 13 February 2020.
^Lander, Shira (December 11, 2003). "Martyrdom in Jewish Traditions". St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, MD. Martyrdom in Second Temple Judaism (Catholic-Jewish Consultation Committee Meeting: Bishops Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the National Council of Synagogues). Retrieved 13 February 2020.
^Lander, Shira (December 11, 2003). "Martyrdom in Jewish Traditions". St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, MD. Medieval Martyrdom (Catholic-Jewish Consultation Committee Meeting: Bishops Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the National Council of Synagogues). Retrieved 13 February 2020.
^The Yivo Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. "Gzeyres Takh Vetat". yivoencyclopedia.org. Yivo. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
^Berel Wein adapted by Yaakov Astor (21 November 2011). "Tach V'Tat". jewishhistory.org. Destiny Foundation. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
^Lander, Shira (December 11, 2003). "Martyrdom in Jewish Traditions". St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, MD. Post-Shoah Notions of Martyrdom (Catholic-Jewish Consultation Committee Meeting: Bishops Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the National Council of Synagogues). Retrieved 13 February 2020.
^Backenroth, Gili (7 August 2019). "Six Million Kedoshim". yated.com. Yated Ne'eman. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
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