During the Great Assembly of Agudat Israel in 1937, there was a heated debate concerning the Peel Commission report, that had recently recommended partition of Eretz Israel, and had put the recommendation forward to the League of Nations.
In the work לזמן הזה, cited copiously in this source sheet, R. Zalman Baruch Melamed focuses on one aspect of this debate within the Chareidi world: whether to promote Aliyah to Eretz Israel, based on the recommendation of the Peel Commission to assign a portion of the Land to Jewish sovereignty.
In the work לזמן הזה, cited copiously in this source sheet, R. Zalman Baruch Melamed focuses on one aspect of this debate within the Chareidi world: whether to promote Aliyah to Eretz Israel, based on the recommendation of the Peel Commission to assign a portion of the Land to Jewish sovereignty.
Within the debate, two groups faced off:
- The first group claimed that the Jewish people had to show the world that it had overcome its apparently hopeless situation.
- The second group claimed, based on the חתם סופר, that only a full redemption will do: all of the land, not part of it.
To counter the opinion of the first group, the second group made a further claim: that the mitzvah of kiddush HaShem is only valid within the Jewish people, and in particular, that public kiddush HaShem can only be accomplished within a quorum of 10 Jews; there is no such thing as kiddush HaShem where the audience is made up of the nations of the world.
R. Zalman Baruch Melamed brings explicit pesukim in Yechezkel that show that when the Jewish people are in their own land, this is a kiddush Hashem.
(כג) וְקִדַּשְׁתִּ֞י אֶת־שְׁמִ֣י הַגָּד֗וֹל הַֽמְחֻלָּל֙ בַּגּוֹיִ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר חִלַּלְתֶּ֖ם בְּתוֹכָ֑ם וְיָדְע֨וּ הַגּוֹיִ֜ם כִּי־אֲנִ֣י יְהוָ֗ה נְאֻם֙ אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהוִ֔ה בְּהִקָּדְשִׁ֥י בָכֶ֖ם לְעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃ (כד) וְלָקַחְתִּ֤י אֶתְכֶם֙ מִן־הַגּוֹיִ֔ם וְקִבַּצְתִּ֥י אֶתְכֶ֖ם מִכָּל־הָאֲרָצ֑וֹת וְהֵבֵאתִ֥י אֶתְכֶ֖ם אֶל־אַדְמַתְכֶֽם׃
(23) I will sanctify My great name which has been profaned among the nations—among whom you have caused it to be profaned. And the nations shall know that I am the LORD—declares the Lord GOD—when I manifest My holiness before their eyes through you. (24) I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you back to your own land.
Continues R. Melamed, when an individual Jew comes to perform kiddush HaShem, the principle expounded by the second group is valid: public kiddush HaShem requires 10 Jews. But when the Jewish nation as a whole performs kiddush HaShem, then this is certainly aimed at the entire world. This is what the pesukim in Yechezkel are saying.
(ד) ... רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן בֶּן בְּרוֹקָא אוֹמֵר, כָּל הַמְחַלֵּל שֵׁם שָׁמַיִם בַּסֵּתֶר, נִפְרָעִין מִמֶּנּוּ בְגָלוּי. אֶחָד שׁוֹגֵג וְאֶחָד מֵזִיד בְּחִלּוּל הַשֵּׁם:
(4) ... Rabbi Yohanan ben Berokah said: whoever profanes the name of heaven in secret, he shall be punished in the open. Unwittingly or wittingly, it is all one in profaning the name.
R. Melamed takes this further. The mishnah in Pirkei Avot 4:4 states that if a person commits a chillul HaShem, it does not matter if they did it intentionally or accidentally. The impact of chillul HaShem, unlike many other mitzvot, is measured based on the results, not based on the intention.
R. Melamed concludes with a penetrating halakhic analysis that leads to a beautiful consideration. As with chillul HaShem, so much more so with kiddush HaShem: the results count, even if the person did not have intention.
Those who settled the Land might not have had explicit intention to sanctify God's name. There are many reasons why secular Jews settled Eretz Israel. But one thing is certain: they performed the greatest kiddush HaShem of all!
Those who settled the Land might not have had explicit intention to sanctify God's name. There are many reasons why secular Jews settled Eretz Israel. But one thing is certain: they performed the greatest kiddush HaShem of all!