[Avodah] Suicide for atonement?

[Daniel Eidensohn]

*Kiddushin(81b):[[ *Every time R. Hiyya b. Abba fell upon his face6 he 
used to say, 'The Merciful save us from the Tempter.' One day his wife 
heard him. 'Let us see,' she reflected, 'it is so many years that he has 
held aloof from me: why then should he pray thus?'7 One day, while he 
was studying in his garden, she adorned herself and repeatedly walked up 
and down before him. 'Who are you?' he demanded. 'I am Harutha,8 and 
have returned to-day,' she replied. He desired her. Said she to him, 
'Bring me that pomegranate from the uppermost bough.' He jumped up, 
went, and brought it to her. When he re-entered his house, his wife was 
firing the oven, whereupon he ascended and sat in it.[*to kill himself 
-- Rashi*] 'What means this?' she demanded. He told her what had 
befallen. 'It was I,' she assured him; but he paid no heed to her until 
she gave him proof.9 'Nevertheless,' said he, 'my intention was evil.'
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