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The following if from <b>Rav Schwab on Chumash<br><br>
</b><font size=3>More than anything, Rav Schwab feared the possibility of
making a <i>chillul Hashem. </i>He never used the title Rabbi in his bank
records or on his checks, out of<i> </i>concern, as he told me, that if,
G-d forbid, a check would bounce, “Rabbi” would add<i> </i>to the
<i>chillul Hashem .<br>
<br>
</i>Many years ago, a shameful scandal erupted in the Jewish community,
centering around a Jewish businessman who was put on trial for
embezzlement. At that time, influential members of the embezzler's
community approached the Rav with a plea that he do what he can to saw
the man from going to prison. Rav Schwab became extremely agitated, and
he pointed out to the petitioners that the man's behavior, which was so
widely publicized in the media, caused a tremendous <i>chillul
Hashem,</i> and that the man had became a virtual <i>rodef, </i>a threat
to the lives of Klal Yisrael.<br>
<br>
He told the visitors outright that the embezzler deserved to sit in
prison for a long time. He pleaded with them to give the embezzler a
message - that the man should shave off his beard and take off his
yarmulke when appearing in court, because by displaying these signs of
his religious affiliation, he would be making a new <i>chillul</i>
<i>Hashem </i>every day on the evening TV news, and would be a living
disgrace for the Jewish People.<br><br>
Rav Schwab wrote extensively on this topic of <i>chillul Hashem.<br>
<br>
</i><x-tab> </x-tab>If one
steals from a non-Jew, swears falsely and dies, his death is no atonement
10).... Let us repeat. The profaners and the desecrators give us
all a rotten
<x-tab> </x-tab>name,
aiding and abetting our many adversaries and antagonizing our few
friends. Therefore, no whitewashing, no condoning, no apologizing on
behalf of the <x-tab> </x-tab>desecrators.
Let us make it clear that anyone who besmirches the Sacred Name ceases to
be our friend. He has unwittingly defected from our ranks and has
<x-tab> </x-tab>joined our
antagonists, to make us all suffer in his wake. And - noblesse oblige -
the more prominent a man has become in Orthodox Jewish circles, the more
<x-tab> </x-tab>obligated he must feel to observe
the most painstaking scrupulousness in his dealings with the outside
world.<br>
<br>
Rav Shimon Schwab, quoted in <i>Selected Writings </i>(CIS
Publishers, 1988)<br>
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