Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31192/np.20.2.3
Suicide in Biblical Texts, in the Talmud and the Rabbinic Literature
Kotel Dadon
orcid.org/0000-0002-3542-3754
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Chair for Judaic studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In this article, the author analyzes and discusses the attitude of Judaism to the painful problem of suicide. The article focuses on suicide committed for religious reasons. The first part of the article consists of an introduction, followed by a general review of the attitude of Jewish law sources to suicide and the conceptual basis for the prohibition of suicide. The central part of this article is an analysis of various suicide cases throughout Jewish history, from Biblical times to the Talmudic period, using religious sources, such as the Talmud and the rabbinic literature. Among the cases the author discusses are the biblical case of King Saul’s suicide and some cases that have appeared in the Talmud and in rabbinic literature. In his research, the author uses the sources of Jewish law to examine the proper attitudes to these cases and to decide whether such an act can be considered in some cases as source of inspiration. The author uses many sources from rabbinic literature since Talmudic times through the Middle Ages up to modern times. Much of this literature has been translated into Croatian from Hebrew and Aramaic for the first time by the author.
Keywords
halacha; suicide; Maimonides; rabbi; Saul; Talmud; Torah
Hrčak ID:
280520
URI
Publication date:
15.7.2022.
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