MARTYRDOM: SUICIDE FOR THE SAKE OF HEAVEN

Michael S. Stroh

Welive ina period of time when religious martyrdom has become an important issue, and there is more discussion of martyrdom now than at any time since the Middle Ages. It is obvious why. When people are willing to commit suicide in order to kill others and claim it is an act that God wants, and even commands, we must discuss it. Where does Judaism stand on the question of suicide for the sake of heaven? It is not my intention to present a complete survey of martyrdom in the Jewish tradition or the halakhic parameters of sacrificing one’s life for the sanctification of the Name. For example, I will not deal with the martyrs of Masada or the question of whether Samson was a suicide martyr. The common dictionary definition of the word martyr is one who chooses to suffer death rather than renounce religious principles. It is not clear with both Masada and Samson that this was the motivation. Martyrdom comes in two forms: involuntary and voluntary. Involuntary martyrdom occurs when the person does not intend to die, but is killed for what the person is, or does, or believes. Voluntary martyrdom occurs when the person seeks death as a positive and praiseworthy act. I will deal only with voluntary martyrdom. In voluntary martyrdom, the martyr chooses death because his/her death is pleasing to God . It is the ultimate sacrifice and expresses the deepest love for the Deity ; this expression of loyalty and fealty can be matched by no other. My concern will be a relationship with God in which one believes that God views the suffering of the individual or even the death of the individual as a positive and desirable expression of faithfulness. I will make some general observations, and then move to a consideration of two specific texts, the Akeidah, and the death of Rabbi Akivah.

In religious martyrdom the act of self-sacrifice is usually connected to a belief in an after-life which is a reward for the act, although it does not have to be so connected. However, it is clear that in Judaism , Christianity and Islam it is. It may entail a concept of soul and body in which the soul is valued much higher than the body and the body may be regarded as an entrapment or cage for the soul. It may be that the body has no intrinsic value whatever; the body is something to be endured until we can leave it and attain