בין תתנ"ו לת"ח-ת"ט - עיון מחדש

Over thirty-five years ago, Professor Jacob Katz attempted to explain why German Jewry committed mass suicide in 1096 while their spiritual heirs, Polish Jewry, did not follow suit during the Cossack rebellion in 1648—1649. Katz postulated that the religious commandment of sanctifying God's Name had taken on a spiritual meaning over the centuries thus diminishing the actual demand to die for the sake of God's Name in the eyes of seventeenth century Polish Jewry. Katz argued that because of this spiritualization of martyrdom Polish Jewry did not follow in the path of its forefathers when the time came to die for the sake of God's Name. This article argues that the practical demand to sanctify God's Name remained firm in seventeenth century Poland. The Cossack rebellion, however, was neither an attack on Judaism, nor a broad attempt to convert the Jews, but rather a politically, socially, and economically motivated attack against the Polish nobility, its allies and employees, something perceived by the Jews of the time. Not the objects of a religiously motivated attack, there were fewer opportunities for Jews to sanctify God's Name in the classic sense of the term in 1648 than in 1096 and much less of an emotional demand to do so. Martyrdom was thus not a widespread phenomenon.