Sanhedrin 74

Today we encounter the famous talmudic articulation of Judaism’s three cardinal sins:

With regard to all other transgressions in the Torah, if a person is told: Transgress this prohibition and you will not be killed, he may transgress and not be killed. This is the halakhah concerning all prohibitions except for idolatry, forbidden sexual relations and murder. 

According to the rabbis, a person should avoid committing these three sins — idolatry, forbidden sexual relations and murder — at all cost, even the cost of their own life. Immediately, the Gemara has questions, especially about the first:

And should one not transgress the prohibition of idol worship to save his life? But isn’t it taught in a beraita: Rabbi Yishmael said: From where is it derived that if a person is told, “Worship idols and you will not be killed,” he should worship the idol and not be killed? The verse states: “You shall keep My statutes and My judgments, which a person shall do, and he shall live by them,” (Leviticus 18:5) — thereby teaching that the mitzvot were given to provide life, but they were not given so that one will die due to their observance.

Regarding idolatry specifically, Rabbi Yishmael teaches that because Leviticus 18:5 says that Jews should “live” by the mitzvot, they are not commanded to die on account of them. However, Rabbi Yishmael doesn’t have the last word on this subject. The beraita continues in an anonymous voice: 

One might have thought that it is permitted to worship the idol in this circumstance even in public. Therefore, the verse states: “Neither shall you profane My holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the Lord Who sanctifies you.” (Leviticus 22:32) 

There is a difference here between public and private transgressions. In private, one should “live by them” — transgress rather than allow oneself to be killed. Sinning in public, however, is a different matter. Another teaching on today’s daf questions the certitude of the original teaching that one should submit to death rather than commit one of Judaism’s three cardinal sins:

When Rav Dimi came from the land of Israel to Babylonia, he said that Rabbi Yohanan said: The sages taught that one is permitted to transgress prohibitions in the face of mortal danger only when it is not a time of religious persecution. But in a time of religious persecution, even if they issued a decree about a minor mitzvah, one must be killed and not transgress … What is a minor mitzvah for this purpose? Rava bar Yitzhak says that Rav says: Even to change the strap of a sandal. 

According to Rabbi Yohanan, in a time of persecution, the expectations tighten and a person should not agree to transgress any mitzvah, even under mortal threat, even a mitzvah as minor as a method of tying one’s sandal — which, most commentators believe, refers not to a true mitzvah but rather to a custom. This is an extreme statement. We might have expected the rules to relax in a time of persecution, when Jews need to do things they ordinarily wouldn’t in order to avoid harm. So what is it about a time of persecution that leads some rabbis to believe that, despite clear and present danger, Jews must assiduously adhere to all mitzvot, even seemingly minor ones, and even possibly customs that are not commanded?

This could be an intentionally hyperbolic passage, included to make  a point. It could also be that Rabbi Yonanan believes that since all Jews are responsible for sanctifying God’s name, public sinning in a time of persecution might turn others to sin. Because people are wired to follow the majority, such a situation could create an existential threat to the entire community.

And yet, we know — both from the Gemara that follows and from history — that there are many times over the centuries when Jews have publicly transgressed mitzvot in order to save their own lives. To take a biblical example: Queen Esther’s marriage to King Achashverosh violated the prohibition on intermarriage, but saved her life and put her in a position to save her people. To pick an historical example: Many Jews during the Spanish Inquisition and beyond outwardly practiced Catholicism to avoid persecution.

So which is it: Live by the mitzvot or die by them? The general consensus is that one should indeed give up one’s life rather than violate the Big Three commandments. But for other mitzvot, Maimonides (Mishneh Torah, Foundations of the Torah 5:1) not only affirms the “live by them” view, but rather pointedly rules that “if a person dies rather than transgress, he is held accountable for his life.”

Read all of Sanhedrin 74 on Sefaria.

This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on March 1, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.