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Kiddush Hashem
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Just a Little Background
Being Marbeh Kvod Shamayim
This month is Chodesh Elul. Every year, we focus so much on learning about and doing Teshuva that we lose focus of what Elul is really about. We are preparing to be mamlich HaKadosh Baruch Hu as King! Therefore, this month we will focus on being mamlich Hashem, by making a Kiddush Hashem. We will focus on Kedusha, raising our own levels of kedusha and bringing more kedusha into this world.
We also associate making a Kiddush Hashem with how we act in public, saying thank you to the busdriver, etc. That IS great! That is a Kiddush Hashem, but making a Kiddush Hashem is so much more than that!
What is a Kiddush Hashem? A Kiddush Hashem is revealing Hashem to yourself and to others. It’s an awareness, Hashem is in front of you at every moment, and I am going to act appropriately. At every moment, I will try to remember that my actions have the potential to create a spot of kedusha in this world.
Raise Your Bar
Practical Tips:
IN PRIVATE: no one will know what you did and if you did it! It is for yourself! Your own private way of being Mamlich Hashem and creating a spot of Kedusha in this world.
When you get dressed in your room, up your level of tzniyus one notch. It doesn’t have to be anything major.
Before you daven, look in the mirror and make sure you look bakavadik for Hashem. I know someone who put on a little extra makeup before she davened just so for Hashem!
Don’t sweat those small choices! Imagine this scenario: you are home alone and davening. You subconsciously scratch your head, and then you realize you have to wash your hands. What do you do? Sometimes can really be hard when it’s something so small. No one will know either way. But YOU will know! Create that spot of kedusha in the world!!! It’s those small little things that make the world a better place.
Once a day, do a mitzvah for someone else without anyone else knowing it, besides for you and Hashem
Kedusha with your words! Raise your own bar with your language! This tip is specific to each person.
Once in a while, abstain from something that is technically permitted—simply for the sake of becoming closer to Hashem.
IN PUBLIC
Shmiras einayim, it’s for girls too! The world we live in is a pretty dirty place to be, try raising your own Kedusha by guarding your eyes.
Train yourself to look out for other people. Look at different things going on outside, there’s literally just opportunities waiting to be grabbed. Some people see branches on a sidewalk, other people see an opportunity to make a Kiddush Hashem by moving them aside.
If you drive: be patient. Driving in the tristate area can be pretty aggressive, we need mor drivers to put in effort to make a Kiddush Hashem when driving. Because at the end of the day, after 120, it doesn’t matter where we went, but it matters how we drove to get there. “Where I am going is less important than how I drive to get there.”
When you make a show of kevod Shamayim in public, have in mind that you are demonstrating the supreme importance of Hashem’s Will.
Even when you are serving Hashem in private, be conscious of the fact that you are putting His Will ahead of your own.
Make someone else feel very important by holding a door open for them, or allowing someone to go ahead of you in line.
Be mefarseim Hashem’s hashgacha! Tell over Hashgacha Pratis stories!
KEDUSHA
When saying Shema, whether in the morning or at night, have in mind that you are being Mamlich HaKadosh Baruch Hu as King. “HASHEM ECHAD! HASHEM IS ONE!”
Choose one song that any time you are walking outside and hear a shmutzy song, you will instead think of that song. For example, “Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh”. This will keep your neshama pure.
Read the book, “Living Kiddush Hashem”, an incredible sefer on the topic of Kiddush Hashem that will really change your perspective and shift your focus in life, by Rabbi Shraga Freedman.
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Kiddush Hashem
The mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem is far more than a simple imperative to behave nicely in public, it is a precept with many facets and with far-reaching implications. It is the mission of the Jewish people and the purpose of all our mitzvos. It has bearing on our middos, and on our conduct in private and public alike. It can require a person to give up his life to avoid a sin, but it can have almost innumerable applications in the course of life itself as well. What is the unifying theme that connects all the aspects of this mitzvah? How can we understand the basic definition of Kiddush Hashem?
Rav Chaim Friedlander (Sifsei Chaim al HaTorah, Parashas Emor) explains that the concept of “kedushah,” or the act of being “mekadeish” an item, means attributing great value to that item. For example, there is a mitzvah to be “mekadesh” the Kohanim which we observe by inviting them to lead a zimun, giving them the first aliyah when the Torah is read, and so forth. Through these actions, we demonstrate that the Kohanim possess an exalted position in our society; we treat them as people of great value because they are the servants of Hashem.
In a similar vein, Kiddush Hashem means attaching superlative importance to Hashem and His Will. Being mekadeish Shem Shamahyim means expressing though our words or deeds the fact that Hashem’s Will superceds everything else, that it is of more importance and value than anything else in our lives. When a person demonstrates this, whether it is thorugh an action performed in private or public act, he fulfills the mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem.
An act performed in private can create a Kiddush Hashem by expressing the pure desire to do Hashem’s Will. When a person performs a mitzvah solely because Hashem has commanded it—rather than for the sake of personal gain of any sort—he demonstrates that the Divine Will takes precedence over any other considerations. When a person resists the temptation to sin because of the Will of Hashem, he demonstrates that the ratzon Hashem is of greater importance than his own desires. And when a person gives up his very life for the sake of Hashem’s Will, he demonstrates that he values the Divine Will evern more than his own existence. Even if these actions are not witnessed by other human beings, a Kiddush Hashem is effected because of this demonstration of priorites. (Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 5:10).
At the same time, when a person’s actions are witnessed by others, he can create a Kiddush Hashem even if his personal motivations are not pure. When a religious Jew speaks pleasantly or demonstrates some other form of refinement, he may cause others to have greater regard for Jews who observe the Torah, even if his behavior was not driven by the purest intentions. Likewise, a person who speaks highly of talmidei chachamim or of others who exhibit yiras Shamayim may increase his listeners’ respect for such people. A person may also increase others’ appreciation for Hashem Himself by speaking about Divine hashgachah, and giving thanks to Hashem, or through various other means. Even if he did not have the specific intent to demonstrate the importance of Hashem and His Will, the impact of his words and actions on others will nonetheless constitute a Kiddush Hashem. (Printed from “A Life Worth Living”, by Rabbi Shraga Freedman, with permission from him).