Self-sacrifice under Jewish Law

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Main article: 613 mitzvot

Self-sacrifice under Jewish law can be said in Hebrew in two ways:

1) Mesirat nefesh (מסירת נפש), the exact translation is: 'giving over the soul'. ^[1]

2) Yehareg ve'al ya'avor (יהרג ואל יעבור), the exact translation is: 'One should be killed and not transgress'.

1 Usage
2 Requirement
- 2.1 Types of sexual misconduct involved
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Usage

Mesirat nefesh is normally used when talking about performing a positive commandment. For example: "One needs to do such and such with Mesirat nefesh," means, "doing such and such with the utmost dedication even at the cost of losing one’s life."

Yehareg ve'al ya'avor is used when talking about violating a prohibition. For example, "going against this prohibition is byehareg ve'al ya'avor," means, "one should let oneself be killed rather than violate this prohibition." Since yehareg ve'al ya'avor is advanced wording, in other words, it is the direction one should take prior to doing something, so after one follows through on yehareg ve'al ya'avor, the act of doing so is called having Mesirat nefesh although it didn’t start with a positive commandment.

Following through and acting in accordance with the law of yehareg ve'al ya'avor, and thus acting with Mesirat nefesh, is considered a Kiddush Hashem.

[edit] Requirement

(The following requirements are according to the Rambam.)

Yehareg ve'al ya'avor is normally required for only three of the 365 prohibitions (negative commandments) in Jewish law:

idolatry
Certain types of sexual immorality
murder of a human.

There are 613 commandments in Jewish law, of which 365 are prohibitions, meaning things one should not do, whilst the remaining 248 positive commandments are things that you must do. If one is forced to violate one of the above three prohibitions, then one has to give even one's life and thus not violate them.

However, if one is forced to violate a commandment in public—-in the presence of at least 10 Jewish adults—-and the motive of the forcer is to force you to violate a commandment with the pure intention of forcing you to go against your religion, then every prohibition becomes a matter of B’Yehareg ve'al ya'avor. This is because desecrating the Torah in a public fashion is a Chillul Hashem, which is considered the harshest violation of Jewish law at least as far as heavenly forgiveness is concerned ^[2] ^[3]. But if the forcer wants something else rather than forcing you to go against your religion-—for example, one is forced to violate the Shabbat because the forcer wants to make a profit—-or it is not in the presence of at least 10 Jewish adults, then even though it is a violation, then it is not a matter of B’Yehareg ve'al ya'avor since it is not a desecration.^[4]

There is, however, one more exception, and that is when it is a time of crisis for the Jewish faith, for example, if a government or any other power wants to force Jews not to be religious. In such an instance, every prohibition in Jewish law becomes B’Yehareg ve'al ya'avor, and one is to have Mesirat nefesh on every negative or positive commandment even when it is not in public. However, if a government or any other power is not opposing the Jewish religion in itself, but rather any religion, such as in Russia under the communist regime, then according to some opinions, the above does not apply.^[5]

It is also considered a crisis for the Jewish faith when a particular requirement within Jewish Law is in danger of being outlawed by a government or other power.^[6]

[edit] Types of sexual misconduct involved

In both Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism, the types of sexual misconduct subject to "yeihareig v’al ya’avor (Die rather than transgress)"^[7] include those mentioned in Leviticus Chapter 18, which include adultery, various types of incest, bestiality, sexual relations during a woman's niddah period (during and shortly after menstruation), and violations of the prohibition "thou shall not lie with a man as with a women, it is an abomination." Both Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism agree that the latter prohibition definitely includes homosexual anal sex. Orthodox Judaism and traditionalists within Conservative Judaism agree that in addition a broader range of male-male homosexual conduct is covered by the "die rather than transgress" prohibitions..^[8]

Many authorities hold that the martyrdom requirement does not apply to purely passive behavior, so that, for example, a married woman who is raped is not required to die resisting the rape, but that it applies to playing the active role in a "die-rather-than-do" forbidden sexual act.^[9] Maimonides and many current Orthodox authorities hold that a lesser degree of prohibition applies to lesbian conduct.^{[citation needed]}