Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Welcome to the Judaism community on Codidact!

Will you help us build our community of learners? Drop into our study hall, ask questions, help others with answers to their questions, share a d'var torah if you're so inclined, invite your friends, and join us in building this community together. Not an ask-the-rabbi service, just people at all levels learning together.

Comments on Have other great Rabbis followed Rebbi Akiva's example for dying as a martyr?

Post

Have other great Rabbis followed Rebbi Akiva's example for dying as a martyr?

+1
−0

The Talmud (Berachos 61b.9) relates the holy incident regarding Rebbi Akiva's martyrdom. He proclaimed "all my days I have been pained, waiting for this moment of fulfillment".

Seeing as his comment is regarding one of the intentions behind the twice-daily recitation of this prayer, coupled with the turbulent history of the Jewish people persecution, have there been other such incident with Rabbis of towering stature in their generation to have notably proclaimed the same ideas [to their disciples or otherwise] as a successor for the example Rebbi Akiva set?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

1 comment thread

General comments (1 comment)
General comments
rosends‭ wrote almost 4 years ago

I think you are asking a deeper question -- is there an essential tension between v'chai bahem on one hand, and R. Akiva's seeming interpretation that the only way to be mekayem a particular mitzvah is by dying. Maybe he knew that there were other ways of satisfying b'chol nafshecha but that martyrdom added a rare level, so no one else should aspire to martyrdom as a necessary way to complete observance of the commandment.