“You shall not desecrate My holy Name; and I shall be sanctified among the Children of Israel” (Vayikra 22:32)
Rashi expounds: Surrender yourself, i.e., your life, and sanctify My Name.
Whoever desecrates Hashem’s Name is prevented from doing teshuvah. Yom Kippur and suffering will not atone for this terrible iniquity. Only death can remove this sin, as the pasuk states (Yeshayahu 22:14), “This became revealed in My ears, [I,] Hashem, Master of Legions, that this sin will never be atoned for you until you die” (Yoma 86a).
The Gemara (ibid.) relates that Abaye translates the command “You shall love Hashem, your G-d” to mean that Heaven’s Name should become beloved to others through you. You should serve and learn from talmidei chachamim. You should deal pleasantly with people. What do others say of such a person? “Fortunate is his father who taught him Torah; fortunate is his mentor who taught him Torah. Woe to those who do not learn Torah. See how pleasant are the ways of so-and-so who learned Torah, how appropriate are his deeds!” About him, the pasuk says (Yeshayahu 49:3), “You are My servant, Yisrael, in whom I take glory.” Yet one who learns from and serves talmidei chachamim, but does not deal honestly with others or speak pleasantly, what do others say about him? “Woe to so-and-so who studied Torah; woe to his father who taught him Torah; woe to his mentor who taught him Torah; see how corrupt are his ways and how disgusting his deeds.” About him, the pasuk says (Yechezkel 36:20), “It was said of them, ‘These are the people of Hashem, but they departed His land.’”
A talmid chacham who does something that causes others to suspect him desecrates the Name of Hashem. An example would be a person who buys on credit when this is not the norm and then conveniently forgets about his debt in order to avoid payment; or someone who neglects Torah study in favor of materialistic pleasures. A greater chillul Hashem is caused by one who raises suspicions about himself regarding blatant sins, to the extent that his friends are ashamed of him.
The meaning of “You shall love Hashem, your G-d” is that His Name should be beloved to others through you. When a person learns Torah and serves talmidei chachamim, deals honestly in business and speaks pleasantly with others, what do people say about him? “Praiseworthy is the one who studied Torah and woe to one who did not! How pleasant are the ways of so-and-so who studied Torah! Praiseworthy is his father who raised him! Praiseworthy is his teacher who taught him Torah! Regarding him, the pasuk says, ‘For you are My servant, Yisrael, in whom I take glory.’” But one who learned Torah and served talmidei chachamim, yet does not deal honestly in business or speak pleasantly with others, what do people say about him? “Did you see so-and-so who learned Torah? How corrupt are his ways! How despicable is his behavior! Woe to his father who raised such a son! Woe to his teacher who taught him Torah!” (Beit Habechirah LaMeiri, Yoma 86a).
Chillul Hashem is an extremely severe sin. We find that Hashem overlooked the sin of avodah zarah, but did not overlook the sin of chillul Hashem. This is borne out by the words of the Navi (Yechezkel 20:39), “Let every man go serve his idols… and do not profane My holy Name any longer.” Our Sages (Yoma 86a) say that even Yom Kippur does not have the power to atone for the sin of chillul Hashem. Teshuvah and even suffering are insufficient to pardon this sin. Only death will annul it completely (Rabbeinu Bachya, Vayikra 22:32).
A condition of this mitzvah is that a person makes up his mind to sacrifice his life for Hashem’s sake. He is prepared to accept all forms of suffering and even death for the sake of sanctifying His Name. One who has reached this level of self-sacrifice in his mind is considered as having done it in deed. Thoughts such as these are extremely beneficial for the rectification of the world (Ramchal, Derech Hashem IV 4:5).
The Meshech Chochmah writes (Haftarot, Parashat Vayelech) that the desecration of Hashem’s Name which results from a transgression is manifold times worse than the transgression itself. It is multiplied by the number of witnesses and the impression it makes on them. Just as an act is considered to be a kiddush Hashem if done before ten people, similarly, an act is considered to be a chillul Hashem if done before ten people, each person according to his level.
