Kotzk Podcast 094: Rabbinic perspectives on honour killings

Welcome to Kotzblog number 554.

Our title today is Rabbinic Perspectives on Honor

Killings.

I've based myself on Dr. Moti Ben-Melech, and we're going to look at some very unusual and what I think is extremely fascinating rabbinic perspectives on honor killings, which we shall define in a moment.

And this research traces the very fraught process of by which some rabbis tried to reconcile the cultural norms in which they lived, which promoted ideas like honor killing, with Judaism and with Jewish law and with halakha.

But at the same time, there were other rabbis who resisted this tendency and they pushed back against that idea.

in an effort to uphold what they believed were Jewish values, morals, and ethics.

So we have a very interesting dynamic beginning to emerge.

But first we have to spend a little bit of time speaking about honor killings and defining honor killings in the Mediterranean area.

Now, lest you think that we're going off track and speaking about something that's not related to this topic, just bear with me because we have to define certain ideas.

We first have to look at what honor killing is, what it was in the society before we can move on to the Jewish interpretation of these honor killings.

So let's define honor killing.

Welcome to Kotzblog number 554.

Our title today is Rabbinic Perspectives on Honor

Killings.

I've based myself on Dr. Moti Ben-Melech, and we're going to look at some very unusual and what I think is extremely fascinating rabbinic perspectives on honor killings, which we shall define in a moment.

And this research traces the very fraught process of by which some rabbis tried to reconcile the cultural norms in which they lived, which promoted ideas like honor killing, with Judaism and with Jewish law and with halakha.

But at the same time, there were other rabbis who resisted this tendency and they pushed back against that idea.

in an effort to uphold what they believed were Jewish values, morals, and ethics.

So we have a very interesting dynamic beginning to emerge.

But first we have to spend a little bit of time speaking about honor killings and defining honor killings in the Mediterranean area.

Now, lest you think that we're going off track and speaking about something that's not related to this topic, just bear with me because we have to define certain ideas.

We first have to look at what honor killing is, what it was in the society before we can move on to the Jewish interpretation of these honor killings.

So let's define honor killing.