The Tikvah Podcast·Episode 330·Oct 13, 2023

Meir Soloveichik on What Jews Believe and Say about Martyrdom

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 Mosaic’s editor 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.