Mitzvah #7

Not To Profane G‑d’s Name

 (Leviticus 22:32)

Category:

Negative

Definition:

Chillul Hashem- To refrain from desecrating G‑d’s name; from making it mundane.

Reason:

Mankind was created to serve G‑d, it is inappropriate to desecrate His name.

Who/When/Where?

·        Must be kept by men and women

·        At all times and under any circumstance

·        At every moment of the day and night

How would I transgress it?

There are 3 parts to this mitzvah.

û  A person who was supposed to let themselves be killed, as described in Mitzvah #6, and did not has desecrated the Name of G‑d.

û  A person who transgresses any of the Mitzvot when he does not have any pleasure from the transgression or any reason to transgress desecrates G‑d’s name by showing that he does not care and that Mitzvot are not important.

û  If a distinguished person does something inappropriate for someone in their position, even though the act itself may be permissible he has desecrated the Name of G‑d.

Details:

û  One should not transgress any Mitzvah as this make the Mitzvah appear unimportant.

û  This can apply to one who transgresses out of a desire for pleasure as he cares more about his own pleasure than G‑d’s Will.

û  The Talmud gives an example of a distinguished person doing something that seems wrong: For a community leader to buy from a store on credit and not pay immediately. This is because an observer may think he is taking it without any payment (stealing).

Consequences:

Even though this is one of the worst things a Jew can do, there is no punishment for this transgression. A court can only impose punishment when one does something intentionally, there were witnesses, and they were warned. In this case, the person was forced into a situation.

Chassidic Perspective:

All of the Mitzvot are dependent on the Name of G‑d (Tetragrammaton) which is comprised of four letters. Yud-Hey-Vov-Hey

Yud (י) - A point. The G‑dly Will contracted and constrained in a specific idea, the specific Mitzvah at hand.

Hey (ה)- That idea spreading out into detail- the details included, and those not, in the Mitzvah.

These two stages are the concept of each Mitzvah, the way it is in the upper worlds, G‑d’s will.

Vov (ו)- The point is drawn down, into our minds through learning Torah and into our hearts as love and fear of G‑d, influencing how we think and feel about the Mitzvah.

Hey (ה)- What we think and feel spreading out beyond ourselves into action- to do the positive Mitzvot and to not transgress the negative Mitzvot.

The Hebrew word for this Mitzvah is Chillul Hashem. Chillul can mean ‘mundane’ or ‘a hole’. When a person transgresses a Mitzvah they are a)desecrating the Name of G‑d by making it mundane and b) creating a hole. Each Mitzvah is meant to bring G‑dliness into this world in a specific form (613 different ones). By transgressing one causes that the G‑dliness cannot enter the world, there is a hole that does not allow it to enter. They create a separation, a hole, between the first two letters of G‑d’s name- representing the Mitzvah itself, and the last two letters- representing the way the Mitzvah is manifest in man and the world. Thus, they create a “Hole in the Name of G‑d”.