Kiddush Hashem (Sanctification of G-d's Name)

Naftali The Torah tells us, Leviticus 18:5. “You shall observe My statutes and My ordinances, which a man shall do and live by them . . .” From this it was deduced that the mitzvot were given to live by, not to die by. However, the Torah also tells us, ...

I know that there are religions in which it's a great thing to die for your faith, and doing so makes you a saint or gets you a ticket to paradise. What is the Jewish view? Is a person supposed to die for his beliefs?

The 20th of Sivan is the anniversary of the martyrdom of the Jews of Blois, victims of the first ritual murder accusation in France, more than 800 years ago. Blois is a city in France, on the river Loire, not far from Orleans. It is not a large city (its ...

I guess when something is truly right for you, no matter how impractical or out of the ordinary it may seem, you find yourself doing what you are meant to do...

After many long minutes, the Rebbe finally lifted his head from his arms and said solemnly: "You can go home. Your wife just gave birth to a baby boy..."

When the world made no sense, these Jews still cared to know what they should do or not do. When the world ignored G-d and His commandments, they determined that they would not...

the Germans often remarked to the Jews, "Why don't you commit suicide…?" Suicide was viewed as an immense desecration of G-d, for it showed that one had no trust in G-d's capability to save one from the accursed hands of the defilers...

Among the millions of Jews cruelly killed by the Romans were the "Ten Martyrs"--all great sages and leaders of Israel--memorialized in a special prayer recited on Yom Kippur. Three of them--Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha and Rabbi ...

Rabbi Chananya ben Tradyon, one of the "Ten Martyrs" (see entry for Sivan 25) was killed on this date. When the Romans discovered him teaching the outlawed Torah they wrapped him in a Torah scroll, piled bundles of twigs around him, and before setting ...

Generally, today, the concept of Kiddush Hashem, sanctifying the name of G-d, is observed not by dying as Jews but by living as Jews