Tefillah - 047 Living Al Kiddush Hashem

Sanctifying Hashem’s Name – Through Mesirus Nefesh (Altruism)

After we say the wordsאתה קדוש (You are holy) we say ושמך קדוש, “And Your Name is holy.” This is referring to the concept of kiddush Hashem, to sanctify Hashem’s Name.

It is written, “And I will be sanctified amidst the sons of Yisrael” – the Sages derive from this possuk that a person has to die al kiddush Hashem (in sanctification of Hashem’s Name) rather than commit any of the three cardinal sins of murder, idol worship or forbidden relations.

However, the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem can be fulfilled as we are alive as well - when we are willing to have mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice, or altruism) in our own life.

When a person has exertion to acquire any spiritual matters – such as his Torah learning and in his performance of the mitzvos - he also needs to have mesirus nefesh. When a person really wants to acquire a spiritual matter, it is not enough to be inspired. A person has to be willing to have mesirus nefesh for it.

‘Mesirus Nefesh’ In Our Avodas Hashem

There are many people who work very hard to acquire a certain spiritual attainment, but as time goes on, they find that they aren’t getting anywhere. They lose their excitement.

If a person is working to acquire a certain spiritual quality because he’s thinking about the eventual reward, he is very far from attaining anything. A person cannot either work with general spiritual goals, such as “I want to finish the entire Shas” or “I want to fix all my middos”. Rather, the sensible approach is to work with one goal you’re trying to acquire. If you try to go for everything, of this Chazal said, “The task is not upon you to complete.” We need to work with one detail at a time.

However, even this will take some sacrifice on our part to get there. Success in spirituality is not up to us, even when we exert ourselves. We need to be willing to have mesirus nefesh for it.

Exertion, ‘Mesirus Nefesh’, and Tefillah

All in all, if we want to acquire any spiritual gain, we really need three things altogether. We must actually exert ourselves to get it, and in addition, we must also daven for it. In addition, we also have to have mesirus nefesh to acquire it.

Defining ‘Mesirus Nefesh’

Having mesirus nefesh is the root of all our spiritual work.

We are used to the concepts of having to exert ourselves and to daven for things, but there is a root point which we must be aware of: spiritual success depends on mesirus nefesh. To exert ourselves in Torah is not yet mesirus nefesh. We need exertion, of course, but it is not everything.

Mesirus nefesh is for a person to be willing, on a constant basis, to undergo a sacrifice in order to attain a certain spiritual goal. Our Torah learning and our mitzvos need practical exertion on our part, but in order to really connect to our Torah and mitzvos, with the depths of our soul – we need mesirus nefesh. We must be willing to undergo mesirus nefesh.

Two Kinds of ‘Mesirus Nefesh’

There are two kinds of mesirus nefesh. There is ‘active’ mesirus nefesh, and there is ‘potential’ mesirus nefesh.

Active mesirus nefesh is a situation sent by Hashem when He wills it, in which a person is presented with the opportunity to be willing to die al kiddush Hashem.

Potential mesirus nefesh is when we are willing to have mesirus nefesh even when we aren’t presented with the opportunity. An example of this is that when a person says Shema, the sefarim hakedoshim write that he should be willing to get killed al kiddush Hashem.

Living A Life of ‘Mesirus Nefesh’

The concept of mesirus nefesh has to become a part of our life. Rabbi Akiva awaited his whole life for the day in which he could fulfill the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem. Rabbi Akiva was also the one who merited secrets in Torah that even Moshe Rabbeinu didn’t know. These two facts are interconnected. Because Rabbi Akiva was willing to have mesirus nefesh his whole life, he was able to reach the highest levels, even beyond Moshe Rabbeinu.

We are not on the level of Rabbi Akiva. But we can still aspire to live a life of mesirus nefesh. We can be willing to give up a part of ourselves in order to acquire something spiritual that we want to gain.

Mesirus Nefesh: A Life of Sanctifying Hashem’s Name

ושמך קדוש - “Your Name is holy.” To live a life of kiddush Hashem – to be willing to have mesirus nefesh – is the very inner light of a Jew’s soul. 

A person in the times of the Beis HaMikdash would bring a korbon for his sins, and the korbon would atone for him. The words of the Ramban are famous: when a person sins, really he deserves to die, but the korbon is killed instead, so that the person should realize that he was really supposed to die. Imagine a person who brings a korbon, yet he’s not willing inside to die rather than sin. A person who’s not willing to die rather than sin is missing the point of the korbon. He has the moshol (parable) without the nimshal (lesson). If a person wasn’t willing inside himself to get killed, his korbon doesn’t really atone.

The words here are very far from the general lifestyle of this generation, who have a hard time relating to the concept of mesirus nefesh. To help draw this matter close, let us think about the following.

What We Inherited From The Holocaust

It wasn’t such a long time ago that people were dying al kiddush Hashem. Millions of Jews died al kiddush Hashem only just recently [in the Holocaust]. Although it was a time of destruction that came to the world, and we cannot know Hashem’s ways, the fact that so much mesirus nefesh took place caused a great spiritual light to enter the world – the light of mesirus nefesh.

This was actually a preparation for the redemption. Although things looked bleak, it was still a preparation for the redemption. On a similar note, the Rambam wrote that even the movement of Christianity prepares us for the redemption, because when so much spiritual darkness enters the world, the more spiritual light we receive to counteract it; thus, the redemption is actually closer, now that we have gone through such a dark period in our history.

Millions of Jews died al kiddush Hashem, and this caused a great spiritual light to enter the world. It was not a coincidence that so many Jews died. It was all a preparation for the redemption.

The fact that so many Jews could die al kiddush Hashem – so many souls, even more than there were at Har Sinai – is what paved the way for the redemption. How? We are in the final generations, which are very lowly, and we are very far removed from the concept of dying al kiddush Hashem; but at the same time, a great light of mesirus nefesh entered the world ever since all these Jews died al kiddush Hashem, and now, we have that light.

“From the wound itself comes the recovery.” The light of mesirus nefesh was brought into the world, due to all the mesirus nefesh that millions of Jews revealed in that time of destruction. And it had to be this way, because mesirus nefesh is really the only power which can help us survive the current world, in which we are in exile from the “Erev Rav”.[1] The only way to survive this exile we are in is through mesirus nefesh, and this power was given to us recently by the previous generation.

The mesirus nefesh of the previous generation helps the later generations survive, and it especially helps our generation. We should tap into this power of mesirus nefesh that has now been given to us by all these millions of Jewish souls that died al kiddush Hashem, and this power of mesirus nefesh will help us get by anything in this exile.

In Conclusion

ושמך קדוש – “And Your Name is holy.” We must connect ourselves to Hashem’s Holy Name – how? Not just through avoiding the three cardinal sins, but through mesirus nefesh.

These words won’t apply to everyone who hears this. They are very far from most people in this generation, because most of us are far removed from the concept of mesirus nefesh. The words here indeed are only applicable to individuals in this generation who are willing to have mesirus nefesh.

May we merit with the help of Hashem to live al kiddush Hashem and to have a complete bond with Hashem.