Mesirus Nefesh in Every Mitzvah

1“You shall keep My commandments and do them; I am Hashem. You shall not desecrate My holy Name, and I will be sanctified in the midst of Bnei Yisrael … Who took you out of the land of Egypt.”¹ Rashi explains: “‘You shall keep’: this is the study of Mishnah. ‘And do them’: this is the deed.”² Why does the passage on kiddush Hashem, sanctifying Hashem's Name, come right beside study and deed? We must also understand the reason the Torah gives for the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem: “Who took you out of the land of Egypt.” What kind of reason is that?

2It seems we can explain it this way. Strictly speaking, the obligation of mesirus nefesh, giving up one's life, was stated only for the three gravest sins: idolatry, forbidden relations and bloodshed. Even so, a kind of mesirus nefesh was taught for every single mitzvah as well. As Chazal said, “Words of Torah endure only in one who kills himself over them, as it says, ‘This is the Torah: a man who dies in a tent.’”³ And they also said: “Every mitzvah for which Israel gave itself up to death is still held firmly in its hands.”⁴

3It is also known that some of the Rishonim, the early authorities, namely Tosafos and the Rosh, disagree with the Rambam.⁵ The Rambam holds that a person may not give up his life for any mitzvah except the three gravest sins of idolatry, forbidden relations and bloodshed.⁶ Tosafos and the Rosh hold that although no one is obligated to give up his life for every mitzvah, anyone may choose to give his life to fulfill any mitzvah of the Torah. The Kesef Mishneh, R' Yosef Karo's commentary on the Rambam, brings a proof for their view from the Gemara.⁷ R' Yehudah ben Bava gave his life for semichah, the ordination of rabbis, even though he knew that the government had decreed death for anyone who ordained, and that is what happened to him. On their view, then, mesirus nefesh has a place in every mitzvah. It is, however, “the law, but we do not teach it as a ruling,” since the Torah commands giving up one's life only for the three gravest sins. But one who wants to make his soul whole must give himself over to fulfilling the whole Torah.

4Another passage of the Gemara shows the same idea. Rav Papa said to Abaye: “Why were miracles done for the earlier generations, while no miracles are done for us?” Abaye answered: “The earlier ones would give their lives for the sanctification of Hashem's Name; we do not give our lives for the sanctification of Hashem's Name.”⁸ In other words, through their mesirus nefesh, which goes against nature, they stirred an awakening from below. So, measure for measure, they in turn were answered with miracles, above nature.

5The whole survival of the Jewish people in exile comes from the mesirus nefesh Israel has shown in every generation. We can see this plainly. Of all the peoples and kingdoms that ruled the world thousands of years ago, nothing remains, because they were absorbed into the nations around them. Yet the Jewish people has been in exile for close to two thousand years and has passed through many troubles and sufferings, and it is still alive and enduring. This truly defies nature. It comes from the power of Israel's mesirus nefesh in exile, which gives it an existence beyond the natural order.

6This is the meaning of a story in the Gemara, as Rashi reads it.⁹ R' Yochanan was bathing in the Jordan when he saw Reish Lakish, then the chief of a band of robbers, leap across the river from one bank to the other. R' Yochanan said to him, “Your strength for Torah!” and Rashi explains: “How fine your strength is for bearing the yoke of Torah.” At first glance this is astonishing. Does Torah study depend on physical strength? Can a weak person not learn? Surely the Torah depends only on a person's diligence and toil! The answer is that R' Yochanan saw in Reish Lakish the trait of mesirus nefesh with all his 248 limbs, his whole body, for in a single bound he made so great a leap from one bank of the Jordan to the other. R' Yochanan looked deep within him and told him: if you dedicate this strength of yours, your mesirus nefesh, to Torah and the life of the spirit, learning Torah with all your 248 limbs and with mesirus nefesh, you will surely succeed in your learning.

7This makes clear the words of Rashi with which we began: “‘You shall keep’: this is the study of Mishnah. ‘And do them’: this is the deed.” Study and deed stand next to the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem to teach that learning Torah and doing the mitzvos also require mesirus nefesh. This answers our first question.

8This also lets us explain why the passage on kiddush Hashem was placed next to the laws of slaughtering offerings. Those laws say that an offering may not be slaughtered before the eighth day after its birth, an animal and its young may not be slaughtered on the same day, and none of the offering may be left over.¹⁰ The Ibn Ezra raised this question, and it led him to a novel reading: the whole mitzvah of “and I will be sanctified in the midst of Bnei Yisrael” was addressed only to the Kohanim.¹¹ They are the ones commanded not to offer a mother and its young together, and to sanctify His Name among Bnei Yisrael through their service of the offerings. The other Rishonim, however, explain that this mitzvah was said to all Israel, since everyone is commanded to sanctify Hashem's Name. On their view, the placement of the passage still needs explaining.

9It seems we can explain it through what the Ramban writes about how the offerings bring atonement.¹² When the blood is sprinkled on the altar, it stands for the person's own blood, his very life. As all this is done, the person should reflect that he sinned against his God with his body and his soul. His own blood ought to be spilled and his body burned, were it not for the Creator's kindness in accepting a substitute from him. This offering atones in his place: its blood instead of his blood, a life for a life, and the chief limbs of the offering in place of his own chief limbs. So there is a link between the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem and the passage of the offerings. Through an offering, it is counted as though a person had offered up his own life and given it over to the Creator, blessed be He. And the offering will be accepted favorably for him only if it comes out of his mesirus nefesh for Hashem.

10This answers our second question as well: why the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem says, “Who took you out of the land of Egypt.” The purpose of the Exodus was to serve Hashem, as the verse says, “When you take the people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.”¹³ And to serve Him, blessed be He, means to serve Him with all one's heart and soul. So, because He took us out for this, all avodas Hashem, the service of Hashem, must be carried out with mesirus nefesh.

11May Hashem grant that we be privileged to serve Him with mesirus nefesh and to bring the complete redemption near, speedily in our days. Amen.