Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31823/d.31.4.1
Suicide for Religious Reasons and as an Act of Heroism. An Analysis of Suicides at Masada and Suicides During the Holocaust According to Rabbinic Literature
Kotel Dadon
orcid.org/0000-0002-3542-3754
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In this article, the author analyzes and discusses the attitude of Judaism towards suicides committed for religious reasons, sometimes motivated by heroism. The article starts with an introduction, followed by a general overview of attitudes from Jewish laws towards suicides committed for the sanctification of God’s Name. The central part of the article consists of an analysis of the collective suicide committed by zealots at Masada and the attitude of Judaism towards various suicide attempts during the Holocaust. In his research, the author uses sources from Jewish laws (halacha) to examine the appropriate attitudes towards these cases and to consider the practical implications of such cases on people today. Many sources of rabbinic literature used in this article, from Talmudic times to modern times, have been translated by the author from Hebrew and Aramaic into Croatian for the first time.
Keywords
suicide; Masada; Holocaust; rabbi; halacha; Talmud
Hrčak ID:
313582
URI
Publication date:
24.1.2024.
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