Yair Ben Elazar - the suicide speech at Masada

The importance of the speech

In the first years of the establishment of the state, Masada served as a symbol and role model for the Zionist movement. The willingness to fight to the bitter end against endless odds for personal and national freedom struck a deep chord in a generation that personally knew the heroes of Tel Hai, the Warsaw Ghetto and the Mountain Division. The last speech of the leader of the Zealots in Masada, Elazar Ben Yair, was a rhetorical distillation of the willingness to die a heroic death and not surrender to the occupying enemy. The speech was used by countless instructors in youth movements and educational organizations to instill Zionist motivation and illustrate how committed one can be to political freedom.
Lazer Ben Yair presents the inevitable defeat, the enslavement, torture and humiliation that will follow, and presents death as a respectable and moral alternative. He manages (after initial hesitation) to convince his fellow travelers to slaughter their families, then choose ten to kill the rest of the men, one to kill the rest of the ten - and then commit suicide. The power of Ben Yair's leadership, backed by the fear of the atrocities of the Romans (who were well known to the besieged) gives the speech a chilling power of persuasion.

The decades that have passed since then have led to a cooling of the Israeli public's attitude towards Masada fighters. The willingness of the Sikri fanatics to call secular Jews traitors and to murder them caused discomfort in the days after the murder of Emil Greenzweig and Yitzchak Rabin. Historical research has shown that the Sikris killed more Jews than Romans, and that Ben-Elazar's group did indeed start the great rebellion when it captured Masada in 66, and also gave it a heroic ending chord with its suicide in 72, but in the middle it did not really fight and preferred to remain isolated in Masada and murder politicians in Jerusalem while the battles were taking place in the Galilee and Judea. Even the willingness to commit suicide - personal, group and national - has over the years been seen less as courage and more as childish impulsiveness. Less of the Warsaw Ghetto and more of the 48-hour attack in the 2nd Lebanon War. Less of "it is good to die for our country" and more of "I will die with Philistines".
In this situation, Eleazar's speech is still a powerful and heart-wrenching text, but more out of despair and pity and less out of pride and admiration.

A two-part speech - Part One A direct and clear short (and in my opinion also more successful) in which Ben Yair speaks with power and leadership and convinces some of those present but not all. When Ben Yair notices that not everyone is convinced, he changes style and moves on to part two Scary, horrifying and desperate that enumerates the horrors that fell to the lot of those who surrendered to the Romans and those who fought them to the bitter end.

Elazar ben Yair - the suicide speech at Masada (part two)

(for reading The first part of the speech) aTo her the words that Eleazar spoke. But his words did not enter the hearts of all those who stood by him.
Although many were quick to listen to his advice, and almost greedily approached to follow it, in their opinion,
Because their death will be good and beautiful. But the soft-hearted in them woke up to have mercy on their wives and their husbands
And they saw with their eyes the future death for themselves, and they looked at each other and their eyes filled with tears
in them, because they are not comfortable with this thought. And Lazarus saw Marech-Lev
The people, who did not have the spirit to listen to his great advice, and were anxious that they would melt with their sighs
and in their tears the hearts of the heroes of the army who listened to his words, and therefore he did not stop talking about
their hearts, because he stood on his feet full of stature with a true heart and a mighty spirit and spoke things to them
Exalted about the eternity of the human soul (in the original: about the immortality of the soul). and read
to them with a loud and strong voice, piercing his eyes with tears:

"How much my hope was disappointed!
Say, I said in my heart, because I am going to the war of freedom and I am a heroic people, who
Allow them to choose honorable life or death, and here you are no different from all the dark ones in your heroism
And with the courage of your spirit, and you fear this death, which comes to redeem you from terrible troubles, under which
You should have accepted it without delay and without hesitation for my advice. Both since, from the day we arrived
For her, we learned the laws of our Torah, the Torah of God, and our ancestors also showed this
in their actions and in their greatness, because the disaster of man is life and not death (meaning of course:
this world, not the next world). Because death calls out to souls and sends them back to God
The Neve of Purity, which has a pavilion, to not be added to the pain anymore; And all the time they are prohibited
In the dead body (in the body) and seven rages along with it, they are really important as the dead. Because it will not be prepared
The connection between the part of God and the part of God. And indeed the soul reveals its great power
While it is forbidden in the body, because it makes it a vessel for receiving the impressions of the senses, and it also prevents
Him in nothing sees and magnifies and exalts him in deeds above his inclusive attribute (the lost,
omission); But after the soul is released from the suffering that draws it to the earth, stick to it,
And you will reach the abode of your inheritance, only then will you replace eternal power and overcome powerlessness with no stopping
Passes, and you will no longer be seen by human eyes, because you will be like God. And they don't see her either
While in the body, because she was hidden from the eye when she came to him and disappeared when she left him. and only
It has one feature - that no body controls it, and it is the cause of all the transformations in the body, and all
Whoever the soul touches him will live and flourish, and whoever is far from him will wither and die. so big
Smooth forever! This year will be a faithful example for the righteousness of our words, because at this time of the year there is none
The corpse draws the soul after it, and the hour is a pleasant hour of rest for the departed souls
for their souls, and they come in the secret of God, who is close to them, and wander everywhere and foresee futures
many And why does it look like death - under which we love the calm during his sleep? and not
It is folly in our hearts to pursue freedom in life (in this world), while our eyes are narrow
Bakhrot-Eternity (in the world-to-come). And here, if we walk in the ways, which we learned from our ancestors, we should
Set an example for many and accept death with love, and if we ask for witnesses of the truth among the foreigners,
Let's look at the ways of the two people, who strive for the ways of wisdom all their days. the people
These educated people carry the life of the brake without greed, because their rust is considered in their eyes
to a strange work, which was cast upon them by the hands of heaven, and all their desire and desire is to release the souls
from the imprisonment of the Gentiles, and without hardship and distress and pressure against them, only from their very desire for eternal life
They turn the ears of their friends, because soon they will be gone, and no one refuses their advice,
For if all the people are blessed by them, and each one gives orders (tidings) to his brother in their hands
(the dead), and they believe wholeheartedly, because the life of souls together is eternity and truth. and these
(those who are about to die) hear the words of deposits, and then they give their flesh to the fire,
So that the soul may leave the body in purity, and die to the sound of singing and blessing. and convenient for their lovers
to send them to their deaths than for the rest of the people to send their townspeople a long way,
And they (the living) weep for their portion and praise the dead, because they were privileged to stand in the systems
the scriptures for the life of the world. And how are we not crushed and destroyed, if we fell in our spirit from the echoes,
And in our heart has a great disgrace been placed on the laws of our Torah, which were envied by all mankind? Even if
We also learned for the first time the opposite of this thing, because life is the purpose of good for man and death
He is a terrible disaster, here the hour has run out on us and requires him to bear death with a true heart,
Because it is God's will, and we cannot escape the decree. And I see that from ancient times
God issued this judgment on all the seed of the Jews and we have no idea how to find salvation
From him, if we refrain this time from leaving life. And don't teach yourself a duty and not a right
The Romans, because in our war with you we all perished. It was not the hand of their heroism that did it, because-if
A force superior to them was the grandmother of the matter and allowed them to claim victory. Is in the arms of the Romans
Did the Jews living in Caesarea fall? It did not occur to them to rebel against the Romans, and while they
were sanctifying the Sabbath day, a crowd of Caesarea citizens jumped on them and slaughtered them with their wives and their meat,
Before they had time to stand up for themselves, and he did not put his heart to the words of the Romans themselves, which
They announced that only we rebels are considered enemies in their eyes. And maybe they will say, because I am sitting
Caesarea were quarrelsome people all the time with their Jewish neighbors and found this time the kosher hour for brides
They have their old anger in them, but what shall we say about the Jews in Beit Shan? They are the ones who guaranteed you
Their heart was to fight against us, and they did not remember our fraternal alliance in our war with the Romans;
And indeed their love and faith in these (lions) benefited them a lot! They were murdered by their own hands
in severe torture with all the members of their household together, and this was their reward, which they received for their faith
in alliance And the evil, which they did not allow us to do to these (pigeons), was given in their head, as they are
conspired to do it. Don't you know that there is no one in all the cities of Syria who did not kill you
The Jews sitting nearby, even though these Jews were our bitter and bad enemies
from the Romans This is what the residents of Damascus did, who did not even know what plot it contained
taste, and filled their city with an abominable murder, slaughtering eighteen thousand souls, Jews and their women
together. And our ears have heard that the number of Jews who died tortured deaths in the land of Egypt,
Exceeded sixty thousand souls. It is true that these Jews died like that, because they lived in a land that was neither theirs nor theirs
They could retaliate against their haters - but what about our brothers who live in the land of their inheritance,
To all those who called war on the Romans? He who was restrained from them spoke, in order to strengthen their hearts
In faithful hope to defeat their enemies? They have a lot of weapons and walls and fortresses
They had sublimity and a reverent spirit stirred them to fight for freedom, and their hearts were
The heart of heroes who will not turn back from anything, and all these together encouraged them to rebel. but only
Unfortunately, all of these were useful to them, and when we carried our hopes up, they turned and became the source
Terrible hardships. They fell, all their exalted ones fell! They all knelt before the enemies, as they had been prepared
To glorify their victory, and not to be a salvation for all those protected by them. And we must say: blessed
Those who fall in battle, because they died fighting for our freedom and not selling it (to the enemies). and who
Will he not suffer the fate of the great multitude, who surrendered under the hands of the Romans? And who wouldn't be in a hurry to choose
In death, before his eyes saw the evil that found them? These knelt down to die under the vessel of the destroyer,
These were burned in the fire, these puffed up their souls under the whips of their tormentors, and these - half of their flesh was eaten in the second
Bad animals, and still remained alive and dedicated to a second meal to be their prey, to amuse you
The heart of the haters and their mouths are worn out. But I believe that there are more unfortunate than these - all of them
Those who remain alive, who pray all day long to die and we are gone! And aya (where) the city
The great one, a city and mother of all the seed of the Jews, with its many and fortified walls with all strength
Its citadels and the glory of its precious towers, it is the one that has trouble containing all the great baggage
Prepared for war, and there was no number for the many people volunteering to fight for it? Aya
The faithful prayer, which we said, because that is what God has made his seat? completely destroyed,
She was turned from the root, and only one trace remained to her - the deposit of her destroyers on her beacons! the elders
Power-wielders wrestle in the ashes of Mount Habit and some women hide in it, which is the iron
Those who hate life abuse them with shame and words. And that one of them will return it to God
Will his heart have the strength to look at the sunlight, even if his life does not depend on it? who
The man whose heart was filled to hate the city of his ancestors, who is the soft-hearted man who desires life, who
Will he not be bitter in his heart, because he is still alive in this day? Oh, who will let us all die, they have not yet seen
We saw that holy city destroyed by the enemies, and the Holy Temple hollowed out and shattered.
And now our souls have entertained hope, joy for men of valor, perhaps we will find our hand to take from our enemies the
The vengeance of Jerusalem, and after our hope was disappointed and left us alone in great trouble,
Hasten to tell us a beautiful death. We will have mercy on our souls and the souls of our malefactors and women
May God have mercy on them. Both to die we were born and to die we gave birth to our offspring, and from death
Not even the approvers among humans will escape. But my life is disgrace and slavery and the dish of the seer in disgrace
His wife and sons - all these evils were not decreed upon the man by his covenant, but only from the heart of the bearers
The people suffered these horrors, because they refused to choose death during kosher. And here it is bravely
And with a generous spirit we rebelled against the Romans, and when they called us it was close to submit to them and save
Our souls, we did not listen to their voice. And who among us will not understand their very past, when you find it
Will they catch us alive? Woe to the youth, whose strength will be broken by many afflictions
They are unknown, and woe to the chroniclers, who will fail due to their old age to bear the troubles. see awe
The one when the wife of his youth was taken from him to dishonor and hear the voice of his son yearning for help
His father - and his hands will be forbidden and he will have no power to save? by no means! No more hands
They are forbidden and they hold the Shelah, it will be our salvation this time! And we die before we become
Slaves to our haters, and free men remain in our departure from the lands of the living, we, our women
And our sons! This is how the laws of our Torah commanded us, for this our wives and sons beg us!
God commanded us this decree, and it is the counsel that advises despite the Romans and
Their anger: They are fearful, lest one of them die, before he goes into captivity before them. Please hurry in our actions
And under the joy of the haters for our brokenness, to which they carry their souls, we will leave them with embarrassment
And wonder, seeing the bravery of our heart."

(for reading The first part of the speech)