The Mitzva of Kiddush Hashem and the Prohibition of Ḥillul Hashem
מצוות קידוש השם ואיסור חילול השם
Every Jew is commanded to sanctify the great and awesome Name of God and to refrain from desecrating it. Usually, Kiddush Hashem (sanctification of God’s Name) is fulfilled through revealing faith and morality in everyday life: by walking in the ways of God, doing righteousness and justice, being careful to avoid transgressions, and observing mitzvot with devotion and joy. But sometimes, in difficult and terrible times, when a Jew is ordered by wicked people to betray the faith of Israel and commit a grave transgression that involves Ḥillul Hashem (desecration of God’s Name), the mitzva of Kiddush Hashem obligates him to give up his life for the sanctity of God’s Name and not commit that grave and unbearable transgression, as it is stated (Vayikra 22:31-33): "You shall keep My commandments and do them; I am the Lord. You shall not profane My holy Name, that I may be sanctified in the midst of the Children of Israel; I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord." The Sages said (Sifra ad loc.): "On this condition I brought you out of the land of Egypt – on condition that you devote yourselves to sanctify My Name…"
The role of Israel is to reveal and publicize the belief in God’s unity, and thereby draw life and blessing into the world. The existence of the world, its repair and its redemption depend on this. This great destiny should fill every Jew with tremendous love for God, to the point that he always walks in the ways of God, and when required to do so, even gives up his life for the sanctity of His blessed Name, the source of his life and soul, as it is stated (Devarim 6:4-5): "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." "'With all your soul' – even if He takes your soul" (Mishna Berakhot 9:5). Therefore, although the mitzvot of the Torah were given so that we should live by them, and therefore pikuaḥ nefesh (saving life) overrides the mitzvot, as it is stated (Vayikra 18:5): "You shall keep My statutes and My laws, which a person shall do and live by them" – "'and live by them' – and not die by them" (Yoma 85b) – when it comes to Kiddush Hashem and preventing its desecration at the most severe level, one must be killed rather than transgress (yehareg ve-al ya’avor). There are three levels in this:
1) When a Jew is coerced to commit one of the three grave transgressions – idolatry, forbidden sexual relations (gilui arayot) and bloodshed – he must be killed rather than transgress.
2) Regarding the other transgressions in the Torah, if the coercion is intended to make him violate his religion publicly, he must be killed rather than transgress. But if the coercion is for the personal benefit of the coercer, or to make him violate his religion but not publicly, that is, not in the presence of ten Jews, he should transgress rather than be killed.
3) In a time of shemad (religious persecution), that is, when a decree is issued against Israel in order to make them violate their religion, one must be killed rather than transgress any of the Torah’s mitzvot, even in private.
Another supreme level of Kiddush Hashem is that of IDF soldiers who go out to battle in defense of the people and the Land. So great is this mitzva that it is the only one that obligates a Jew to risk his life. With all the mitzvot for which one must be killed rather than transgress, if he is able to flee, he should flee and be saved; but from going out to battle it is forbidden to evade (see Peninei Halakha: Ha-am Ve-ha’aretz 4:1-4).¹
Notes (1)
- The mitzva of Kiddush Hashem is fulfilled in all of a person’s conduct, even in private, but even more so in public, as the Sages said (Sota 10b): "Yosef, who sanctified the Name of Heaven in private, merited that one letter from the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, was added to his name; Yehuda, who sanctified the Name of Heaven in public, merited that his entire name is called by the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He." So wrote Rambam, Yesodei Ha-Torah 5:10-11. The basis of the obligation of self-sacrifice lies in the mitzva of "that I may be sanctified," that is, in the mitzva to sanctify the Name of Heaven and to refrain from Ḥillul Hashem, as Rambam wrote in Yesodei Ha-Torah 5:1-2; Sefer Ha-mitzvot, positive commandment 9, negative commandment 63. True, some Rishonim explained that the obligation to be killed rather than transgress in private with the three grave transgressions, even though there is seemingly no Ḥillul Hashem in it, is due to the severity of the transgressions; so wrote Ramban and Nimukei Yosef. However, even from their own words it emerges that the obligation of self-sacrifice for the three transgressions is based on love of God and sanctification of His Name, similar to self-sacrifice in a time of persecution (see Ramban, Shemot 20:6). The reason one must be killed for them even when the coercion is in private and for the gentile’s benefit is that one who commits them grievously harms the image of God within him and thereby desecrates the Name of Heaven, even when it is not noticeable to others. Moreover, even in private there is at least one gentile there who sees the Jew committing grave transgressions, and this too involves Ḥillul Hashem (Avnei Nezer, YD 128:4-5; Rabbi Goren, Torat Ha-Shabbat Ve-ha-mo’ed, p. 388). Even regarding their abizraihu, that is, the offshoots of the transgression, one must be killed rather than transgress, because of the great Ḥillul Hashem involved in these transgressions (below, halakha 4, and notes 15, 19; Sefat Emet, Pesaḥim 25a; Ḥavot Binyamin 93). In summary, the mitzva of Kiddush Hashem is a general mitzva that divides into levels: with the three grave transgressions, one must always be killed rather than transgress; with the other transgressions, only when they involve public Ḥillul Hashem of violating one’s religion, and in a time of persecution even in private. The mitzva of Kiddush Hashem further extends to all of a person’s conduct: the more righteously he behaves, the more he sanctifies the Name of Heaven, and the more wickedly he acts, the more he desecrates the Name of Heaven (Yad Peshuta, Yesodei Ha-Torah, introduction to ch. 5).