Mesorat%20hashas for Gittin 114:22

רב נחמן בר יצחק אמר אלו תלמידי חכמים שממיתין עצמן על דברי תורה כדר' שמעון בן לקיש דאמר ר"ש בן לקיש אין דברי תורה מתקיימין אלא במי שממית עצמו עליהם שנאמר (במדבר יט, יד) זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באהל וגו' אמר רבה בר בר חנה א"ר יוחנן ארבעים סאה

'I will bring again from the depths of the sea,' those who drown in the sea. When the girls heard this they all leaped into the sea. The boys then drew the moral for themselves, saying, If these for whom this is natural act so, shall not we, for whom it is unnatural? They also leaped into the sea. Of them the text says, Yea, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid, XLIV, 23. ');">²¹</span> Rab Judah, however, said that this refers to the woman and her seven sons.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The same story is related of Antiochus Epiphanes in the second book of the Maccabees. ');">²²</span> They brought the first before the Emperor and said to him, Serve the idol. He said to them: It is written in the Law, I am the Lord thy God.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. XX, 2. ');">²³</span> So they led him away and killed him. They then brought the second before the Emperor and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid, 3. ');">²⁴</span> So they led him away and killed him. They then brought the next and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, He that sacrifices unto the gods, save unto the Lord only, shall be utterly destroyed.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid, XXII, 19. ');">²⁵</span> So they led him away and killed him. They then brought the next before the Emperor saying, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, Thou shalt not bow down to any other god.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid, XX, 5. ');">²⁶</span> So they led him away and killed him. They then brought another and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. VI, 4. ');">²⁷</span> So they led him away and killed him. They then brought the next and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied; It is written in the Torah, Know therefore this day and lay it to thine heart that the Lord He is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is none else.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid, IV, 39. ');">²⁸</span> So they led him away and killed him. They brought the next and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, Thou hast avouched the Lord this day&nbsp;… and the Lord hath avouched thee this day;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. XXVI, 17, 18. ');">²⁹</span> we have long ago sworn to the Holy One, blessed be He, that we will not exchange Him for any other god, and He also has sworn to us that He will not change us for any other people. The Emperor said: I will throw down my seal before you and you can stoop down and pick it up,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The seal had engraved on it the image of the king and by stooping down to pick it up he will make it appear as if he is worshipping the image (Rashi). ');">³⁰</span> so that they will say of you that you have conformed to the desire<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'accept the authority'. ');">³¹</span> of the king. He replied; Fie on thee, Caesar, fie on thee, Caesar; if thine own honour is so important, how much more the honour of the Holy One, blessed be He! They were leading him away to kill him when his mother said: Give him to me that I may kiss him a little. She said to him: My son, go and say to your father Abraham, Thou didst bind one [son to the] altar, but I have bound seven altars. Then she also went up on to a roof and threw herself down and was killed. A voice thereupon came forth from heaven saying, A joyful mother of children.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. CXIII, 9. ');">³²</span> R. Joshua b. Levi said: [The verse, 'Yea, for thy sake we are killed all the day long'] can be applied to circumcision, which has been appointed for the eighth [day]. R. Simeon b. Lakish said: It can be applied to the students of the Torah who demonstrate the rules of shechitah on themselves; for Raba said: A man can practise anything on himself except shechitah,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For fear that he might accidentally cut his throat. ');">³³</span> and something else. R. Nahman b. Isaac said that it can be applied to the students who kill themselves for the words of the Torah, in accordance with the saying of R. Simeon b. Lakish; for R. Simeon b. Lakish said: The words of the Torah abide only with one who kills himself for them, as it says, This is the Torah, when a man shall die in the tent etc.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XIX, 14. The meaning in the context is of course quite different. ');">³⁴</span> Rabbah b. Bar Hanah said in the name of R. Johanan: Forty se'ahs

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