Halakhah su Isaia 29:22

That is that He commanded us to sanctify His name. And that is His saying, "and I shall be sanctified in the midst of the Children of Israel" (Leviticus 22:32). And the content of this commandment is that we are commanded to publicize this true faith in the world, and that we not fear the injury of any aggressor. And even though an oppressor seeks to coerce us, we may not listen to him, but rather must give ourselves over to dying; and not deceive him to think that we have denied [God or His Torah] - even if we [regardless] believe in Him, may He be exalted, in our hearts. And this is the commandment of sanctifying [God's] name, that the Jewish people is commanded as a whole - meaning, to allow ourselves to die at the hand of the coercer on account of our love for God, may He be exalted, and our faith in His unity. This is like that which was done by Chananiah, Mishael and Azariah at the time of the evil Nevuchadnetsar, when he commanded to bow down to an image and all of the masses bowed down to it, including the Jews; and there was no one there sanctifying the name of the Heavens. Rather all were afraid; and this was a great disgrace for all of Israel, since the commandment was lost from all of them. And this commandment (in such circumstances) is only commanded in such a large and public stand in which everyone is afraid. And this was a designated publicization of [God's] unity which was designated by God through Yishayah - that the disgrace of Israel not be complete during this stand, but that young men would appear at that difficult time; and death would not scare them and they would allow their lives [to be taken], such that they would publicize the faith and sanctify [God's] name among the masses. This is as He promised us when He said, "no more shall Yaakov be shamed, no longer his face grow pale. For when he - that is, his children - behold what My hands have wrought in his midst, they will sanctify My name, etc." (Isaiah 29:22-23). And the language of the Sifra is, "On this condition did I bring you out of Egypt: On condition that you sanctify My name among the masses." And in the Gemara (Sanhedrin 74b), they said, "Is a gentile (ben Noach) commanded about the sanctification of [God’s] name, or is he not commanded? Come and hear - the Children of Noach were commanded to observe seven commandments. And if you say like this, there would be eight." Behold it has become clear to you that it is among the commandments that are obligatory for the Jews. And they brought His saying, "and I shall be sanctified in the midst of the Children of Israel," as a proof for this commandment. And the regulations of this commandment have already been explained in the seventh chapter of Sanhedrin. (See Parashat Emor ; Mishneh Torah, Foundations of the Torah 5.)

The essence of piety is to apply oneself constantly to things, where his passions are most challenging, such as evil gossip, the evil inclination, vanities, not to speak falsely, not to stare at women or speak of worldly curiosities or walk about idly; implicit in all this is evil passion. Thus he should not swear at all, nor invoke God’s name in vain, and so in all similar matters that go on constantly, where his passion overpowers him and he cannot withstand (he will be able to resist) only if he has been trained from childhood. Therefore let a man train his children in these matters while they are yet small and when they grow old they will not forsake them or set them aside; as it is written, “And even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6). Take, for example, tallith and phylacteries, many men of quality wish to garb themselves with fringes and put on the phylacteries but refrain from doing so because of embarrassment; however all matters in which a man is trained (to do so) in childhood, when he grows up and attempts to forsake (them) it will be as difficult for him as death. But if a man strengthens himself in Torah and commandments and good deeds, then it becomes difficult for him to depart from them because of the embarrassment; people will say all that he has done so far has been to deceive people, as has been mentioned. He is called hasid, which is derived from hasadim (kindness).¹The term hasid used to describe the pious and saintly, derives from the Hebrew word hesed, meaning act of loving kindness. He is also called hasid because of the term hasidah (stork) (Deut. 14:18) which Onkelos translates huraitha (white bird). And it is written, “not now shall he be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale” (Isa. 29:22), which has the meaning of insult and shame that if they insult him and cause his face to become white and he like one deaf can not hear and like a mute does not open his mouth and does not insult anyone, then he is called pious.²Midrash Tehillim, ed. Buber, p. 123. And in the hereafter his face will shine brightly and he will succeed to sit in the seven classes of righteous men who will receive the Shekhina and enjoy the Divine Glory.³Midrash Rabbah (New York-Berlin: Horeb Publishers, 1924), Leviticus, Chapter XXX, p. 81a. As it is written, “Arise, shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee etc…. But upon thee the Lord will arise and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And nations shall walk by thy light and kings by the brightness of thy rising” (Isa. 60:1-3). These seven classes enjoy Divine Glory.