A VERY CURIOUS PARTNERSHIP

Parshat Emor contains the double mitzva of Kiddush Hashem and Chillul Hashem – namely, the commandment to sanctify God’s name, and the prohibition against desecreating God’s name.

At first glance it seems this adjacent duo is aimed at the priests and sacrifices. And yet they are treated as all encompassing mitzvot, to include every Jew in every era.

More puzzling than this anomaly is the obvious fact that if one is forbidden to desecrate God’s name, one should sanctify it. So why the need for both?

Rabbi Dunner explores the classic sources and then delves into the vexed issue of modern Jewish History – the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel – and how these two extraordinary events relate to the concepts of Kiddush Hashem and Chillul Hashem.