Talk:Kiddush Hashem

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[edit] translation from Hebrew

I am working on translating the Hebrew version, which is a recommended article. Please see and comment on current progress at User:Nadav1/Kiddush Hashem nadav 05:53, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Some points to put in...

• One who dies Kiddush Hashem is called a martyr. Note the difference between this and murder-suicide terrorism.

• During the Yom Kippur service, there is an entire prayer "The Ten Martyrs" following the Yizkor {memorial for the dead} recounting ten rabbis murdered by the Romans, particularly Shimeon ben Gamliel, the Nasi, Rabbi Yishmael the High Priest, and, most relevant to this page, Rabbi Akiva (see next bullet).

• In Judaism, the highest form of dying Kiddush Hashem is to spend one's dying breath, while being murdered, saying the first line of the Shema prayer ["Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One"], the same fashion in which Rabbi Akiva, and countless other martyrs, have died. This is likely for the same reason that the prayer one is supposed to say upon hearing bad news is a benediction to God as "The True Judge"--by acknowledging God in the moment of one's own murder, one is denying the Problem of Evil.

• Crucial to understanding Kiddush haShem is its limits - Maimonides was quite clear in his Epistle on Forced Conversion that choosing life, under duress and persecution, and freeing yourself when it's possible, is preferable, quoting Proverbs 6:30.