Q&A: Desecration of God’s Name
Desecration of God’s Name
Question
Hello Rabbi, I wanted to ask what, in your view, counts as desecration of God’s name. Take for example those who scribbled on banknotes that had pictures of women on them. In my view that’s a desecration of God’s name, because it presents Judaism as stupid, etc. But in the eyes of the person doing it, it’s a legitimate thing. The same goes for normative actions that a religious person conducts himself with, but in the eyes of a secular person would be considered a disturbance…
Answer
This question is not unique דווקא to desecration of God’s name. In any dispute, what one person does may be seen by someone else as problematic. Why do you see a special problem here? If according to their view it is halakhically forbidden to look at pictures of women (a halakhic absurdity, of course), then according to their view there is no desecration of God’s name here, since they are only observing Jewish law. Just as observing the Sabbath is not a desecration of God’s name even if there are those who see it as an anachronism. And in the opinion of someone who thinks this act is halakhically unnecessary, then it also involves desecration of God’s name.
In my view, the main desecration of God’s name here is the stupidity: treating pictures of women on banknotes as a core matter of halakhic faith worth those costs. But according to their (stupid) view, they ought to do it.
Discussion on Answer
Because there is no commandment to walk around without tefillin. If someone thinks that observing the Sabbath is an anachronism, is observing it publicly in the public domain a desecration of God’s name?
Yes, but even if someone thinks something specific is forbidden and I do it in my own private sphere, then that really is my decision and my right to rule in accordance with whomever I want. Desecration of God’s name, by contrast, is defined by how the matter is perceived in public. For example, according to Rabbi Yohanan, walking four cubits without Torah and without tefillin is considered a desecration of God’s name…