Ready to die?
While we usually define martyrdom as the act of dying for our beliefs, true martyrdom is actually much deeper than that.
True martyrdom is not about dying for a cause, it is about giving your entire being to the Almighty. Merely dying for a cause does not show that your whole identity is for G-d, as it is possible that the reason the person is willing to die is one of personal benefit.
Because the concept of self-sacrifice is specifically when it transcends reason...even a person who actually gives their life for the sanctification of G-d’s name, if their intent was to achieve something such as a reward, for example, this is not true self-sacrifice...the true concept of self-sacrifice is that a person has no other desire besides G-d, as the verse says, “For whom do I have in heaven, and I desired no one with You on earth.”
Torah Ohr 120d-121a
It is possible that the person gives up his life since he believes that by giving up his physical life, he actually gains more than he would have, were he to have remained alive.
In addition to a gain that a person may believe he will receive in an afterlife, a person can be so dedicated to his cause that he believes his life is not worth living, were he to be forced to give up that cause. He is therefore willing to die.
In both of these instances, his giving up of his life is not in contradiction to his identity, but is rather an expression thereof.
True martyrdom is when the person gives over his entire being and identity completely to G-d, above any logic or personal feeling. The person is completely given over to G-d in a way that his personal identity is non-existent.
It is this trait of complete relinquishment of personal identity that was expressed in Avraham’s martyrdom, and it was this trait of ultimate self-sacrifice with which Avraham blazed the path for his descendants to follow.
Ur Kasdim vs. the binding of Yitzchak
This ultimate degree of martyrdom was the trait that was expressed by offering Yitzchak as a sacrifice, and was not expressed in the act of Avraham being thrown into the furnace.
When Avraham gave up his life and let himself be thrown into a furnace, it is possible that there was some rational—albeit a sacred one—that drove him to sacrifice his life.
Avaham saw that the world was in a tremendous state of darkness and he therefore made it his mandate “to formulate replies to the inhabitants of Ur Kasdim, and debate with them, telling them that they were not following a proper path.” He was so driven by this goal, that he did not let anything stand in his way—even if that meant giving up his life.
Were he to have indeed been killed by the event of Ur Kasdim, this act itself would have propelled the declaration that there is only one G-d, and shown that an individual believed in this so much, that he was willing to die for that belief. Being ready to die in the furnace did not extinguish his mission, it helped drive it.
By the sacrifice of Yitzchak however, his giving up of his life didn’t serve an objective of spreading G-dliness. It was merely an expression of complete dedication to G-d. Were Avraham to have gone through with slaughtering Yitzchak (G-d forbid), not only would it not have helped his goal, but it would have squelched any hope that monotheism would continue in the world. Together with the death of Yitzchak, would have died his heir in declaring to the world that there is only one true G-d.
And he said, "Do not stretch forth your hand to the lad, nor do the slightest thing to him, for now I know that you are a G-d-fearing man, and you did not withhold your son, your only one, from Me."
Bereishis 22:12
Only after Avraham sacrifices his son, does G-d say, “Now I know that you are a G-d-fearing man,” as only then is it clear that all of Avraham’s actions were driven by his devotion and submission of his entire identity to the Almighty.
