Love to the Last Breath

Abstract

This chapter relates to the way Rabbi Akiva transformed his execution by the Romans into a further, final lesson, in his philosophy of love. Rabbi Akiva’s death raises questions of theodicy, and of the place of belief in life after death—juxtaposed with the moral challenges presented within the physical world. The emphasis placed on life in this world, as opposed to life in the world to come, brings to mind a comparison between the meaning of Rabbi Akiva’s death and the meaning of the death of Socrates—as reflected in the latter’s conversation with his companions as the time approached for him to drink the cup of hemlock, and in the discussion between Rabbi Akiva and his students during his execution.