Rebbe,
I cannot understand why the Gemarah chose these stories to express mesirut nefesh. The maaseh of Rabbi Adah Bar Ahava is the most confusing to me. He tore off a ladies red dress, not knowing if she was a bat yisrael or not.
First of all, is this the derech the Torah would guide us to handle this situation. The Maharsha explains that she could have been the daughter of the king. This then would be suicide on the part of Rabbi Adah.
Furthermore, what happened to "malbin pnei chavero barabim" and "hocheach tocheach"??? I believe that there are much more, clear-cut, cases of mesirut nefesh that the Gemarah could have brought to show how the rishonim were mosrei nefesh than these. Now, I see how Rav Adah would be choosing between the better of 2 evils. However, now that the non-Jews know that they can make 400 zuzim just for walking in the market with a red dress on, makes this situation even less clear. Any insight into this question would be extremely appreciated....
Respectfully Yours,
Pinchas Mizrachi, Aventura, FL USA
The Gemara is giving an example of how the earlier generations were totally comitted to the service of Hash-m, beyond any consideration for themselves. As an example, the Gemara brings this story. Obviously, Rav Ada's actions were motivated solely by his selfless commitment to G-d. When he saw a woman -- whom he thought was Jewish (indeed, he admitted to his mistake) -- wearing an enticing garment, herself sinning and causing other Jews to sin, his automatic response was to do something to stop this desecration of G-d's name. It can be compared to one who sees a child run into the street without looking to see if cars are coming; you would certainly run to push the child out of the way of an oncoming car, despite the scratches and bruises that the child may suffer as a result of your pushing him. So, too, Rav Ada could not bear to see a Jewish woman killing herself and others (that is, killing their eternal lives in the World to Come), and therefore he did what had to be done.
Rav Ada bar Ahavah deemed that it was necessary -- in the era in which he lived -- to act the way he did. If he would have acted calmly, quietly, and politely, then people would not get the message of how terrible promiscuous behavior is. He had to act with zeal so that the importance of the message would be made clear to all and it would have the necessary impact -- and he did so at the risk of sacrificing his own money, reputation, and life. If the Gemara chose this as the example, it is clear that it felt that it indeed is an appropriate example of Mesirus Nefesh.
In this incident, it is evident that the woman was more immodestly dressed with the item of clothing that was ripped off than without it. (See the comment that is cited in the margin of our Gemaras in the name of the Aruch. Perhaps there were certain types of provocative garments which everyone knew were a sign of a harlot.)
"Suicide" of the type that you describe, when one acts for the sake of heaven, certainly can be called "Mesiras Nefesh" -- sacricing one's own interests, comfort, and even life for the sake of sanctifying Hash-m's Name in this world.
Y. Shaw