,Radical Jewish Martyrdom

Radical Jewish Martyrdom


 

Publication Date: January 2009

Publisher: Association for Jewish Studies; Association for Jewish Studies

Author(s): Robert Chazan; Robert Chazan

Research Area: Culture and religion; Social conditions

Keywords: Religion; History; Judaic Studies; Antisemitism

Type: Report

Abstract:

The author discusses the phenomenon of radical Jewish martyrdom -- the sacrifice of life in the face of an oppressive foe who demands a betrayal of Judaism, which is made radical when the sacrifice of life takes place by actual suicide rather than acquiescing to death at the hand of the enemy. The author examines one example of this kind of martyrdom, the mass suicides committed in the Rhineland during the First Crusade in 1096, and argues that these mass suicides represented a departure from halachic (Jewish legal) constraints, and from traditional Jewish values. This departure, the author explains, can be connected to parallel perceptions in the surrounding Christian world of extraordinary theological and moral circumstances.