[Avodah] Rav Schwab on Chillul Hashem

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 11/10/2015 10:24 AM, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> Glasner wrote that Ones Torah ethic cannot be seen as abominable by
>      Enlightened people in order to be seen as a wise nation and to be
>      holy. Otherwise we make Torah foolish and disgusting.
>
> [Block-quote in the original]
>
> 	If one violates anything agreed upon as abominable by enlightened
> 	people -- even if it is not explicitly forbidden by the Torah --
> 	he is worse than one who violates the laws of the Torah.
>
> 	I say that anything that is revolting to enlightened Gentiles is
> 	forbidden to us, not just because of hilul hashem, but because
> 	of the command to be holy. Anything the violates the norms
> 	of enlightened human beings cannot be permitted to us, a holy
> 	nation;

Who are these "enlightened people", and what makes them so special?
If they have invented their own value system that contradicts the
Torah then they are not enlightened, they are savages.   Nimrod and
Antiochus were the "enlightened" people of their respective generations,
and our ancestors spat on their "enlightenment" and did all that was
abominable and revolting in their eyes.  Indeed they made the Torah
appear foolish and disgusting to these wicked people, because they
refused to accept their value system and justify the Torah in its terms.

To take a modern example, almost all the so-called "enlightened"
nations of the world have decided that capital punishment is barbaric
and wicked, no matter what the crime.  The USA stands out as the only
industrial country to reject this principle, and as a result most of
those who consider themselves "enlightened" regard Americans as
primitive and savage.   But in fact it is they who are savage, because
they consciously refuse to do justice to murder victims.  The Torah
says "the earth *cannot be forgiven* for the blood spilled on it except
by the spiller's blood".  Their lands are soaked in blood that they
refuse to avenge, and thus there is no justice in their lands.  They
violate the Noachide commandment to establish a justice system.  And
yet according to these authors you cite we must conform ourselves to
these "enlightened" people's principles.

-- 
Zev Sero               All around myself I will wave the green willow
zev at sero.name          The myrtle and the palm and the citron for a week
                And if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm doing that
                I'll say "It's a Jewish thing; if you have a few minutes
                I'll explain it to you".