[Avodah] More on What Constitutes Chillul Hashem?

[Zev Sero]

Yitzchok Levine wrote:
> There is a section on Chillul Hashem in RSRH's Horeb. See 
> http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/horeb_chillul_hashem.pdf   
> 
>  From this it seems to me that any action or deed, whether illegal or 
> legal, that in any way casts anything negative on Judaism is a Chillul 
> Hashem.

This begs the question.  "Negative" is a subjective term; it depends in
whose mind something is negative.  The mah-yoffis-yidden limineihem
imagine that the privileged frame of reference is that of the goy, or
the secular Jew; anything he regards as negative is a chilul haShem.
Thus we have the paradox that keeping mitzvos and Jewish minhagim in
the face of opposition, which is the very *definition* of kiddush
haShem, becomes defined as "chilul haShem", while compliance with
their expectations at the expense of our own is somehow a "kiddush
haShem".

It gets worse when the privileged frame of reference isn't even a
real goy, but rather an imagined goy who so worships the law that he
despises anyone who would dare to break it.  The stereotypical German,
of course, fits this mould, which explains a lot about the 1930s and
'40s.  But in most countries the average person breaks the law
himself as often as he finds convenient, and certainly doesn't look
down on others just for doing things that are illegal.


-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher