Tanya: Chapter 19 - Part 1

Re: Question The Tanya itself in ch. 18 writes that " ...Therefore even the most worthless of worthless and the transgressors of the Israelites, In THE MAJORITY of cases sacrifice their lives for the sanctity of G-d's Name and suffer harsh torture rather than deny the one G-d..." i.e. the Alter Rebbe himself acknowledges that there are a minority instances when this is not the case.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains (see Tanya with Mare Mekomos and Pirushim on ch. 18) that this can be explained based on what it says in the end of ch. 19 that they do this without any belief. Additionally, the Rebbe explains elsewhere that sometimes the darkness -or ignorance- is so great that they don't even realize that with this act they are actually separating themselves from G-d or that it is actually a forbidden belief. Reply