Death in Jewish Life by Stefan C. Reif Andreas Lehnardt & Avriel Bar-Levav

Author:Stefan C. Reif, Andreas Lehnardt & Avriel Bar-Levav
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
Published: 2014-07-23T00:00:00+00:00

The relative of my friend R. Naḥman the son of R. Shemarya came to me and showed me a letter from R. Moshe the son of R. Meir, of blessed memory, reporting that our master and teacher, R. Shemarya son of R. Ḥayyim,439 of blessed memory, ordered that the qedoshim were not to be mourned.440

The qedoshim (literally, ‘holy ones’, i.e., martyrs) were those killed by Christians. According to R. Shemarya, mourning practices were not to be observed upon learning of their murder. R. Shemarya’s ruling was subject to scathing criticism by R. Yiṣḥaq, who wrote: ‘I say that atonement and contrition are required for what issued from his mouth.’ The wording of R. Yiṣḥaq’s reaction indicates the confusion and opposition generated by R. Shemarya’s ruling. What is of importance for us, however, is the existence in Ashkenaz at that time of a halakhic determination that those who died a martyr’s death were not to be mourned. Echoes of this ruling, and of its distribution, are also to be found in a responsum by R. Ya‘aqov Moellin (‘Maharil’),441 thus demonstrating the way of thinking that regarded martyrdom as such a fit and exonerating death that there was no need to mourn the martyr, nor even to recite the qaddish prayer for his benefit.442 The absence of a blessing for the dead on the tombstones of martyrs almost certainly originated in the same mindset. Since they died sanctifying the name of God, there was no longer any need for a blessing to send them on their way, neither on the journey to Paradise nor for their attachment to the bond of everlasting life. The manner of their death ensured them of their place in the world of everlasting life after death.443

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