About the Agadah concerning the "chorei yehuda" who committed suicide. This is not permitted by Halachah, is the Agadah to be taken literally or is it saying something alegorical? If the Agadah is literal how could they do it?
The Gemara in Kesuvos (103b) relates that a certain "washer," upon hearing news of the death of Rebbi Yehudah ha'Nasi, ascended to his roof and "fell" to his death. A Bas Kol announced that this washer merited life in Olam ha'Ba.
Rav Yakov Emden asks what did he do to merit Olam ha'Ba? One explanation that he gives is that the death of Rebbi Yehudah ha'Nasi was so traumatic to this simple Jew that he went out of his mind. He did not consciously choose, with his working faculties, to throw himself off of the roof, and indeed he only "fell," and thus he is not held accountable for his death, but he is credited with being of such greatness that the death of the Torah sage caused him such tremendous anguish.
A similar explanation can be given to explain the actions of the "Chorei Yehudah" in the Gemara here.
D. Schloss