Parshat Emor

In this week’s dvar Torah I will discuss two ideas from the Sfat Emet.

In this week’s parsha (23:32) we are taught the prohibition of disgracing Hashem’s name (chillul Hashem) and the command to sanctify His name (kiddush Hashem). In an earlier dvar Torah I discussed the Hatam Sofer’s perspective on chillul Hashem. The Hatam Sofer wrote that it is nearly impossible to avoid committing a chillul Hashem. A chillul Hashem is committed when an observant Jew’s behavior provokes a person into saying something negative about G-d and His Torah. Even if the observant Jew’s behavior was completely reasonable and justified, and a completely obnoxious person was the one who found fault, a chillul Hashem was committed. Given that this is the standard by which the Torah judges our behavior, and given the human tendency to find fault in other people’s behavior, the Chatam Sofer despaired of ever avoiding the sin of chillul Hashem.

The Sfat Emet (in his dvar Torah from the year 5641) agrees that our responsibility to avoid Chillul Hashem is limitless. But the Sfat Emet finds in this limitless obligation a cause for happiness. The pasuk pairs chillul Hashem with kiddush Hashem. We are assured that Hashem’s mercy is greater than His sternness. It follows that when a person works at avoiding Chillul Hashem (and the Sfat Emet in his dvar Torah from 5638 emphasizes that he means constant work) he earns a great reward. His reward is that he will merit to be m’kadesh Hashem.

In his dvar torah from the year 5683 the Sfat Emet discusses the mitzva of kiddush Hashem. In English kiddush Hashem means the sanctification of Hashem’s name. The most well known example of kiddush Hashem is martyrdom. But, the Sfat Emet notes, in general the Halacha rules that we should avoid martyrdom.

If a Jew’s final mitzva is to be martyrdom it must be that with this act he will reach spiritual perfection. The Gemara (in Avoda Zara page 17a) refers to acts that “earn Heaven in an hour.” The same Gemara tells of sinners who in a single moment of spiritual clarity realized that their entire lives were empty of meaning and died as penitents. They too “earn heaven in an hour.” The Sfat Emet says that this level of spirituality is achieved only by haste, and that a life dedicated to the calm and deliberate pursuit of perfection is more attractive. But in reality the person who reaches total clarity in an hour has reached the higher level. The Sfat Emet learns this from Pirkei Avot (4-22). There we are told that “an hour of penance in this world is to be preferred to all of eternity.” The one who reaches total spiritual clarity in an hour has the highest level of Heaven.