2023/5783

The Tragedy of the Four Hundred Children

The heartrending episode of the four hundred children who jointly committed suicide to avoid being used as sex slaves by the Romans in the wake of Churban Bayit Sheini is seared into the Jewish memory.  The lingering question that haunts us is whether they acted properly.  

Gittin 57b vs. Avoda Zara 18a

The Gemara (Gittin 57b) relates: (William Davidson edition of the Talmud)

Rav Yehudah says that Shmuel says, and some say that it was Rabbi Ami who says this, and some say that it was taught in a Baraita: There was an incident involving four hundred boys and girls who were taken as captives for the purpose of prostitution. These children sensed on their own what they were expected to do, and they said: If we commit suicide and drown in the sea, will we come to eternal life in the World-to-Come? The oldest child among them expounded the verse: “The Lord said, I will bring back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea” (Psalms 68:23). “I will bring back from Bashan,” i.e., from between the teeth [bein shen] of the lion, and “I will bring them back from the depths of the sea” is referring to those who drown in the sea for the sake of Heaven.

When the girls heard this, they all leapt and fell into the sea. The boys then drew an a fortiori inference with regard to themselves and said: If these girls, for whom sexual intercourse with men is their natural way, act in such a manner, then we, for whom sexual intercourse with men is not our natural way, should all the more so conduct ourselves likewise. They too leapt into the sea. Concerning them and others like them the verse states: “As For Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter” (Psalms 44:23).

The conclusion of the Gemara seems to endorse the children’s drastic actions.  However, Rabi Chanania ben Tradyon forcefully rejects prematurely ending one’s life in another unforgettable tragic episode, presented in Avoda Zara 18a:

The Sages said: Not even a few days passed before Rabbi Yosei ben Kisma died of his illness, and all of the Roman notables went to bury him, and they eulogized him with a great eulogy. And upon their return, they found Rabbi Ḥanina ben Teradyon, who was sitting and engaging in Torah study and convening assemblies in public, with a Torah scroll placed in his lap.

They brought him to be sentenced, and wrapped him in the Torah scroll, and encircled him with bundles of branches, and they set fire to it. And they brought tufts of wool and soaked them in water, and placed them on his heart, so that his soul should not leave his body quickly, but he would die slowly and painfully.

His students said to him: Our teacher, what do you see? Rabbi Ḥanina ben Teradyon said to them: I see the parchment burning, but its letters are flying to the heavens. They said to him: You too should open your mouth and the fire will enter you, and you will die quickly. Rabbi Ḥanina ben Teradyon said to them: It is preferable that He who gave me my soul should take it away, and one should not harm oneself to speed his death.

The Halachah, following Rabi Chanania ben Tradyon, strongly condemns suicide, even defining it as murder (Rambam Hilchot Rotzei’ach 2:2 refers to suicide as “Shofeich Damim,” murder).  In Hilchot Teshuvah 3:6, Rambam writes that a Shofech Damim is denied a share in Olam Haba.  In Hilchot Avel 1:11, Rambam writes that we do not mourn for one who has committed suicide.  Moreover, the grave of one who commits suicide is separated at least eight Amot (12-14 feet) from other Jews (Gilyon Maharsha Yoreh Dei’ah 345:4). Why, then, does the Gemara seem to approve of the mass suicide of the four hundred children?

Rabbeinu Tam’s Answer

Tosafot (Avodah Zara 18a s.v. Ve’Al) cites Rabbeinu Tam’s explanation that the children feared that under torture, they would violate Aveirot, for which they are required to sacrifice their lives.  Under such circumstances, Rabbeinu Tam says that not only is it permitted to commit suicide to avoid violating such terrible sins, but it is also a Mitzvah.

This matter was not a theoretical discussion for Rabbeinu Tam, who lived in the throes of the Crusades.  There were, sadly, Jews who killed themselves during the Crusades lest they worship Christianity under torture by the marauding Crusaders.  

A Variation on Rabbeinu Tam

In a variation to Rabbeinu Tam, we suggest that the children feared that they would eventually fall under the influence of the Romans and willingly violate terrible Aveirot.  Psychologists refer to this as “Stockholm Syndrome,” where the kidnapped victims eventually adopt the ideology of their captors.  In a preemptive move, the children wished to die in a pure state rather than be spiritually contaminated later.

Binyamin Jachter compares this to the Ben Sorer UMoreh, which the Gemara (Sanhedrin 72b) explains that it is better if he dies while still innocent to avoid committing terrible Aveirot later on.  

Saul Miranda/Rambam

Shaarei Orah’s Saul Miranda suggests that perhaps the children acted wrongly.  After all, the Halachah regards minors as not having Da’at, the ability to make reasoned decisions. Nevertheless, the Gemara does not condemn poor youngsters because they did their best without adult guidance.  An adult, though, would have advised them to live and to try to escape after they reached their destination. Moreover, an adult would have guided them to think in the long term.   

I responded that Rambam seemed to agree with Saul’s approach. Rambam (both in Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah Perek 5 and Hilchot Rotzei’ach Perek 2) makes no exceptions to the prohibition of committing suicide.  He does not make the allowance and exception made by Rabbeinu Tam.  Rambam likely interprets Gittin 57b as Saul does.

The Spiritual Survival of Am Yisrael

My final suggestion is that the children sacrificed themselves in the act of resistance to the Romans to discourage them from kidnapping Jewish children and using them as sex slaves.  The children fought back in the only way they could.  They refused to allow themselves and the Jewish people to be severely degraded.  

The most prominent of the children realized that the only way Jews would return from Bashan, meaning their places of exile, was if there were those willing to die in their resistance to their captors.  Indeed, the only way we have survived as a minority community so often persecuted physically and verbally in our long Galut is through our willingness to sacrifice.

The girls were willing to sacrifice first, as Chazal (Niddah 31b) teach that women have an added measure of wisdom.  The females intuited that their deaths were necessary to preserve the Jewish future.  The boys then followed the example set by their female counterparts.  For this, they all achieved an honored place in Olam Haba.

Conclusion – Suicide is Never an Option

It is interesting and enlightening that during the Holocaust, suicide was very rare, especially amongst religious Jews.  However we explain the actions of the four hundred youngsters, suicide remains an anathema to be avoided at all costs, following the view of Rambam.  

Nonetheless, the children set a model for our survival in Galut.  They remind us that our remaining as Jews requires courage, commitment, and grit.  May we all merit being worthy successors, in a positive sense, to these four hundred heroic children.