What is the distinction between these four areas of Torah and the rest of the entirety of
Torah? If the Torah values life over her laws should it not apply to all of her laws?
The value of anything is always equal to or greater than what you are willing to pay for it. For example, if you are willing to pay $1,000 for a worthless trinket because it reminds you of your dearest friend then that trinket’s value is at least $1,000 to you. If I am willing to sacrifice my life for my child then my child’s value is at least my life. In which case I can say that it is worth living just for my child because that is at least the value of my life.
This holds true with anything I am willing to pay with my life. People throughout history have been willing to pay their life for their country, for their beliefs, fame and notoriety. All these people gave value to their life thereby making their life worth living. Their lives were meaningful and valuable.
If, however, there is nothing a person is willing to sacrifice his life for, then there is nothing worth living for! Life suddenly has no value. This is not to say that such a person wants to die, to the contrary, they want to live but from their perspective life has no value. It is just something to enjoy as long as you have it. If life will suddenly become difficult and painful there is no point in living. Such an attitude reduces life to a meaningless experience. How sad this can be.
HaKadosh baruch Hu created this world for Man to have a relationship with Him. There is certainly much meaningfulness in life from His perspective. It would therefore follow that we ought to give up our life for that relationship; that is the value of life. The question becomes why does the Torah instruct us to transgress her laws to spare life, should we not give our life to uphold the Torah. The Torah is the vehicle by which we express our relationship to HaKadosh baruch Hu.
The answer is given by our Sages. The Torah is teaching us that we should pass over one instance of HaShem’s commandments in order to be able to continue living which will allow us to keep the other commandments that we will encounter. HaShem decided that it is worth the tradeoff of a single mitzvah for the benefit of keeping the rest of Torah for the duration of life that will follow.
So now we need to ask why do we not apply this reasoning to those four sins?
The answer is that these sins represent the very essence of who we are. These mitzvos define us as the people of HaKadosh baruch Hu. When a person transgresses Shabbos one time he has not relinquished his membership of HaShem’s people. When a person will eat pork in one instance he has not given up his membership. In both cases their relationship with HaKadosh baruch Hu has not been compromised. However, if a Jew commits murder, adultery, idol worship or shmad even for just one instance, he has compromised his relationship with HaKadosh baruch Hu.
It is therefore no wonder why great Jews who had the unfortunate opportunity to sacrifice their life for any of these mitzvos did so with such joy. They relished the opportunity to demonstrate that the value of their life was having a relationship with HaShem. They paid the highest price for that relationship.
How fortunate we are to live a life so rich with meaning, where our every breath can be filled with purpose and our every decision can reflect a relationship with HaShem!
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind