[Avodah] Heroes, Victims and Kedoshim

[Micha Berger]

(This post ties in to the previous, despite being on different threads.) 

On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 07:30:19PM -0400, Yitzhak Grossman wrote:
: I have wondered for many years whether there is *any* classic source
: for the notion that one who is killed for being a Jew, as opposed to
: one who *voluntarily* gives up his life for God, His Torah, His Mizvos,
: or His people, can be said to have died Al Kiddush Hashem.

The Belzer Rebbe holds that the purpose of the Holocaust was that it
shifted the definiiton of qiddush Hashem. Until then, the only Jews who
were meqadeish sheim shamayim were those who elected to live as Jews.
The Nazis y"sh made identity by birth a defining feature and thereby
gave that feature the power to bring ge'ulah.

However, the BR seems shevach, since I think there are examples from
well before the Holocaust.

Most Shabbasos we say "Av haRachamim". The Crusaders didn't give them a
chance to choose between Torah and death. Being a Jew meant living in the
ghetto, and living in the ghetto meant being a victim of murder, fire,
rape and looting. And while it's possible that we're only referring
to Jews who lived al pi halakhah, they are called "masru nafsham al
qedushas hasheim" despite simply being victims for who they were, not
what they did.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Nothing so soothes our vanity as a display of
micha at aishdas.org        greater vanity in others; it makes us vain,
http://www.aishdas.org   in fact, of our modesty.
Fax: (270) 514-1507              -Louis Kronenberger, writer (1904-1980)