[Avodah] Chillul HaShem when NJ are the observers

[Joseph Kaplan]

"The argument
you are making is precisely that which was used in the last generation
to tell people to remove their yarmulke, because it's a "chilul haShem"!"

I don't think it's "precisely" that argument; in fact, I think the two cases are not similar at all.  A person who wanted to wear his yarmulke at work wasn't doing something negative to someone else; he wanted to do an act that he believed was demanded by his religion which did not hurt anyone else.  Therefore, it would be unreasonable for someone else to think poorly of a Jew who did that.  Spitting at someone, even if it doesn't hit him, is a an act that civilized society today, including Torah observant Jews, think is disgusting.  It is an insulting act, so the priest, at whom the spit was directed, who may be a wonderful, fine, moral ethical man who truly loves the Jewish people, will feel insulted and think ill of the Jew who spit as will even the most ehrlich NJ.  And if they see it often enough, they may begin to think ill of the God the spitters worship.  Sounds like Chilul Hashem to me.

Joseph Kaplan