October 13, 2023
What Jews Believe and Say about Martyrdom
Rabbi Soloveichik joins the Tikvah Podcast to look at the theological significance of the honorific given to a Jewish martyr, and explains how it differs from the typical honorific given to the Jewish dead.
Jews typically honor the dead by saying the phrase zikhrono li-vrakhah, “may his memory be a blessing.” But when a Jew is murdered because he is a Jew, he is considered a martyr, and his name is then honored by the use of a different phrase, hashem yikom damo,“may God avenge his blood.” Today, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik joins Tikvah Podcast host Jonathan Silver to discuss his 2018 essay in Commentary on this subject, and to share his first thoughts on one of the worst weeks in modern Jewish history.
