Rabbis and Their Pasts: Second Temple Sources, Martyrdom and Historical Memory

The appearance of the story of the Mother and her Seven Sons in classical rabbinic literature (two recensions of Lamentations Rabbah and the Babylonian Talmud) roughly coincides with the flourishing of the cult of the Maccabean Martyrs in the Roman east. That coincidence suggests that this Second-Temple-Era tradition entered rabbinic literature in a specific historical context and with awareness of contemporary Christian practice and debate. The transposition in the rabbinic narrative to the Roman era and the centrality of idolatry place it within an emerging martyrdom discourse in rabbinic literature that is itself in conversation with the tradition of commemoration and celebration of Christian martyrs. Comparison of variants and parallels underscores the creative work that has gone into constructing the narrative, particularly in its Palestinian versions. All this reinforces the plasticity and contingency of historical memory and underscores the rootedness of rabbis in their own time and circumstances.