From Parsha to Halakha Ha’azinu Sanctifying God’s Name
Parshat Ha’azinu presents the cycle of sin, punishment, and redemption that has defined Jewish history. In this context the redemption is not the result of repentance, but God’s decision due to the concern of “what will the Gentiles say.”[1] Moshe also raises this consideration to elicit God’s mercy, after the sins of the golden calf and the spies, as does Yehoshua after the retreat from the city of Ai, even though he didn’t know which sin led to the defeat.[2] The prophet Yechezkel informs us that this consideration has a name, “chillul HaShem,” the desecration of God’s name, and that it can be rectified by the opposite “kiddush Hashem,” sanctification of God’s name.[3]
When we turn and ask God to forgive us or redeem us to stop a chillul Hashem, our assumption is that God is responsible for kiddush Hashem. Yet the Torah itself makes it clear that we are responsible for sanctifying God’s name, and that God’s part is expressed in another way.
The Torah juxtaposes the obligation to sanctify God’s name and the prohibition against causing a desecration of God’s name to specific halakhic circumstances. A false oath in God’s name is a chillul Hashem on the most basic level, it desecrates the sanctity of God’s name.[4] Avoda zara, foreign worship, also desecrates God’s name by subverting God’s dominion.[5] Misuse and abuse of sanctified items is also referred to as a chillul Hashem.[6]
The Torah teaches that the overall observance of mitzvot is a kiddush Hashem, and violations are a chillul Hashem.[7] It seems that every moment that a person accepts the one God, they are sanctifying God’s name in the world. Therefore, despite a common belief to the contrary, a kiddush or chillul Hashem does not depend on the existence of an audience. A person can sanctify or desecrate the Name of Heaven even if they are alone; this is what the sages called, “chillul Hashem b’seter,” “a private desecration of God’s name.”[8]
The Torah relates occasions when the Israelites did not listen to God and caused a chillul Hashem; in order to reverse the damage and make a kiddush Hashem, God responds with what we consider a punishment: “I will be sanctified by those closest to me; and I will be honored before the entire nation.”[9] But while this negative response to Israel’s sins is intended to cause a kiddush Hashem within Israel, it also tends to diminish God’s reputation among the nations of the world. They assume the people of Israel suffer because the God of Israel is weak.[10] Ha’azinu describes how the rise and fall of Israel’s fortunes is a result of this cycle: God punishes Israel for their sins and then redeems them to preserve God’s reputation among the nations.
Halakhic expressions of kiddush Hashem
Halakha shifts the focus to our individual responsibility to sanctify God’s name, which is compounded by the chillul Hashem caused by our transgressions. The Torah teaches: “Do not desecrate my sanctified name, and I will be sanctified within the Israelites, I am God who sanctifies you.”[11] The sages learned from the repetition that there are two aspects of this mitzvah – refraining from actions that will be a chillul Hashem and actively doing things that are a kiddush Hashem, even if it entails mesirut nefesh (self-sacrifice).
The encounter between the Jewish People and the nations of the world made the necessity of mesirut nefesh apparent, yet the focus of the mitzvah is “within the Israelites.”[12] The readiness to give up one’s life to observe God’s commandments and to remain steadfast to one’s faith is one of the more distinct expressions of the mitzvah.[13] Yet Chazal use it as a reason in other contexts, such as the way the Torah is presented to the Gentiles. For example, some sages think the Torah does not prohibit theft from non-Jews, but admit there is a rabbinic prohibition due to chillul Hashem. Similarly, there is no Torah mitzvah to return lost objects to non-Jews, but we return them to make a kiddush Hashem.[14]
As encounters between Jews and Gentiles grew, so did the emphasis on the importance of kiddush Hashem before all people, and not just Jews. We are responsible for God’s removal of Divine intervention from our people and the ensuing chillul Hashem, so we are tasked with sanctifying God’s name among the nations of the world, whether it means sacrificing ourselves for Torah and mitzvot or representing a life of Torah.
The Torah relates that the leadership is held to higher standards of kiddush Hashem – with Aharon’s two sons during the Tabernacle’s dedication, and when Moshe and Aharon failed to make a kiddush Hashem at Mei Meriva. Consequently, the sages saw themselves as responsible for sanctifying God’s name within the Jewish People.[15] A person in a public position must take extra pains to keep their hands clean and avoid giving others any reason to suspect them. They are responsible for the way Torah observant people are viewed.[16]
The crux of the issue is the connection the sages draw between kiddush Hashem and love of God. If God is important to us and we maintain that there is a significance to God’s name and reputation in this world, and if we love God – then we’ll do whatever it takes not to detract from the name, and we will do the best we can to ensure others share our feelings:
“What does a chillul Hashem look like… ? Abaye said: As it says in a beraita, ‘you shall love Hashem your God’ – the name of heaven shall be beloved through you, you will read (Torah) and go over its teachings and learn from serving Torah scholars (talmidei chachamim, lit. students of sages); one’s business dealings should be pleasant with all people (lit. creatures). What do people say about this person? Praiseworthy is this person whose parents (lit. father) taught them Torah, praiseworthy is their teacher who taught them Torah. Woe to people who do not learn Torah. So-and-so who learned Torah, look how pleasant their ways are, how proper their actions, the verse says about such a person, ‘He said to me: You, Israel, are my servant, that I will be glorified through you.’
But someone who reads (Torah) and goes over its teachings and learns from serving Torah scholars (talmidei chachamim, lit. students of sages), but does not conduct business dealings faithfully and does not speak pleasantly to other people – what do people say about them? Woe is to so-and-so who studied Torah, woe to their parents that taught them Torah, woe to their teacher who taught them Torah. So-and-so who studied Torah – see how rotten their actions are! The verse says about such a person: ‘When they say to them this is the People of Hashem and they come from His land.’”[17]
[1] Devarim 32
[2] Shemot 32:11-13; Bamidbar 14:13-17; Yehoshua 7:7-8.
[3] For example: Yechezkel 20, 36:176-38.
[4] Vayikra 19:12
[5] Vayikra 20:3
[6] Vayikra 21:6, 12, 23
[7] Vayikra 22:32
[8] For example: Mishna Avot 4:4; Tosefta Sota 6:4; Tb Sota 36b.
[9] Vayikra 10:3
[10] For example: Yechezkel 35:16-38
[11] Vayikra 22:32; Sifra Emor Parsha 8 and the beginning of Chapter 9:4.
[12] ibid.
[13] Chazal discuss whether this is related to the laws of Kiddush Hashem or Ahavat (Love of) Hashem. See Tb Sanhedrin 74a; Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah 5:1; Yereim 304.
[14] Tosefta Bava Kama 10:15 (although that may be referring to a false vow); TY Bava Kama 4:3 (4b); TB Bava Kama 113a; TY Bava Metzia 2:4 (8a). According to Rambam (Hilkhhot Gezeila v’Aveida 1:2) and Shulchan Arukh (Choshen Mishpat 348:2), the halakha is that there is Torah prohibition against stealing from a non-Jew.
[15] Vayikra 10:3; Bamidbar 20:12-13; TB Yoma 86a.
[16] ibid; Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah 5:11.
[17] Tb Yoma 66a
