The Book of Maccabees and the Rabbinic Perception of Martyrdom

While Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all venerate martyrs, the term means something very different in each religion. Malka Simkovich argues that the two books of Maccabees—considered part of the Old Testament by many Christian denominations, but excluded from the Jewish Bible—introduced the idea to Judaism. In turn, they exerted much influence on early Christian writers, who heavily emphasized martyrdom. By contrast, Simkovich writes, the rabbinic tradition tended to downplay martyrdom.