Bereishis Rabba (65:22): Jakum of Zeroroth was the nephew of R. Jose b. Jo'ezer of Zeredah.5 Riding on a horse he went before the beam on which he [R. Jose] was to be hanged,6 and taunted him: ‘See the horse on which my master has let me ride, and the horse upon which your Master has made you ride.’ ‘If it is so with those who anger Him, how much more with those who do His will,’ he replied. ‘Has then any man done His will more than thou?’ he jeered. ' If it is thus with those who do His will, how much more with those who anger Him,’ he retorted. This pierced him like the poison of a snake, and he went and subjected himself to the four modes of execution inflicted by the Beth Din: stoning, burning, decapitation, and strangulation. What did he do? He took a post and planted it in the earth, raised a wall of stones around it and tied a cord to it. He made a fire in front of it and fixed a sword in the middle [of the post]. He hanged himself on the post, the cord was burnt through and he was strangled. The sword caught him, while the wall [of stones] fell upon him and he was burnt. Jose b. Jo'ezer of Zeredah fell into a doze1 and saw his [Jakum's] bier flying in the air. By a little while he has preceded me into the Garden of Eden,’ said he..
So repentance by suicide seems to be a viable thing?
ReplyDeletewhy was R' Jose being executed? Why was his nephew taunting him? And then why did he decided to kill himself?
ReplyDeleteAnd yet we have this story which seems to say it was accepted by Heaven. Rav Elazar ben Durdaya got his Olam Haba by crying himself to death.
ReplyDeletenot quite the same - he cried, but it wasn't suicide
ReplyDeleteHere's a riddle for you all -
ReplyDeletethe Torah gives a bracha and klala - good for those who do good, and the opposite for those who reject the Torah or go after idols etc. Yet when we ask the question of why it doesn't apply in real world experience, one answer is that this is a collective reward and punishment. If one person doesn't play by the rules, then everyone else will suffer, even if they are tzaddikim. On the other hand, if rashaim live successful lives, we are told that somewhere along the line, either they did a mitzvah, or their great great grandparents did.
So what happens when we reach the next world - and we are told "sorry, but although you did mitsvot all your life, and avoided aveiras, kares etc, someone in your community did all these things, so you are going to hell along with all the other good people"?
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It appears that the Hasmonean rulers, especially in the later stages of the dynasty, had varying levels of megalomania and respect/disrespect for Torah sages, and at times several of them had Sages executed. Yose was one of the victims (although he had good relationships with earlier rulers, I think). Yose also had family members who were deeply Hellenist including his own son who strayed from the path of Torah and conducted himself improperly. The story seems to be conveying that Yose's rebuke put fear into the nephew about what would happen to him for carrying out this execution. To outward appearances the Nephew was a non-believer, but deep down, he was no "atheist in the foxhole" so to speak and actually had the fear of God. So I guess this was his idea of teshuva, and Yose says it was valid because he went to Gan Eden. How else can we read this?
ReplyDeletePresumably someone else carried out Yose's execution instead as I'm sure they had a lot of royal henchmen, and it seems to imply Yose was about to follow him in.