In the Talmud: The Martyrdom of Rabbi Hananiah ben Teradyon

Teaching Torah As Defying Death's Solitude

Nov 01, 1984

Having defied the Roman ban against teaching Torah, Rabbi Hanania’s martyrdom is one of most famous in the Talmud: burnt at the stake wrapped in a Torah scroll, he said “the scrolls are burning but the letters are stronger than the fire.” At first glance those on the scene act in a puzzling manner. Further inspection, however, shows the merit of each. Crying, his daughter Bruria regains her renown composure; his disciples’ question makes him their teacher even at his final moments and thereby overcomes death’s solitude; Rabbi Hanania himself viewed the study of Torah as a precept for which one must sacrifice one’s life, while teaching that suicide is never an option.

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Subthemes:
1) Eleh Ezkerah: The Martyrs, Executed by Rome
2) Remembering Rabbi Shaul Lieberman
3) Rabbi Haninah ben Taradyon’s Martyrdom
4) Burned with a Torah Scroll
5) The Torah is Fire--and Fire Cannot be Burned by Fire
6) In the World to Come with the Death of the Executioner
7) Rabbi Haninah ben Teradyon
8) A Strange Relationship With the Romans
9) Family
10) Head of a Yeshivah in Sikneh
11) Conversed with Heretics
12) A Public Figure
13) Torah as a Source of Joy
14) His daughter, Bruriah
15) Context: A Life Full of Mourning Under Roman Rule
16) Jewish Culture Forbidden and Hidden
17) Informers to Rome
18) Relationship between Rabbi Haninah and Rabbi Jose ben Kisma
19) Arrested for Teaching Torah in Public
20) Why Were the Punishments So Harsh?
21) Saying the Ineffable Name of God
22) Others Refusing to Stop Him
23) Rabbi Hananiah's View: One May Risk One''s Life for the Study of Torah
24) Bruriah at her Father’s execution
25) Midrashic Epilogue
26) The Executioner as Redeemer
27) Aggadah to Halakhah: The Rule of Ending with a Halakhic Teaching
28) Teaching his students Even at the Moment of Death
29) His Martyrdom as a Prediction of the Future
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