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Hello, Reb Shraga. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I am the Educational Director of the Living Kiddush Hashem Foundation, and I am also a licensed therapist. We moved to Baltimore a year ago. I was a 10th grade rebbi in the Denver Yeshiva for 13 years and then worked as an assistant principal in Cincinnati. My wife is Tzipporah (nee Feldheim), who is the assistant principal for the 5th and 6th grades in the Bais Yaakov Middle School.

What brought you to Baltimore?

Someone recently actually asked me, “Of all cities, why are you bringing a Kiddush Hashem Foundation to Baltimore? They don’t need it!”

He is absolutely right, and that’s why we love it here. It’s a highly impressive city. Just look at the kiddush Hashem that was produced here throughout of the year of Corona. Does anything more need to be said?

We moved because we were looking for a larger and more central community for both the Kiddush Hashem Foundation and my work as a licensed therapist. I love the opportunities that I have here to teach about Kiddush Hashem in a number of girls’ and boys’ high schools and yeshivos.

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Rabbi Shraga Freedman

We understand that Kiddush Hashem is a wonderful and important mitzvah, but why establish a whole foundation?

When I was learning in Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood over 20 years ago, Rav Matisyahu Salomon gave a series of talks on Kiddush Hashem that completely blew my mind. He quoted many sources to demonstrate that Kiddush Hashem is our ultimate mission! The entire Torah and all of its mitzvos are tools for creating Kiddush Hashem. In short, it is the raison d’etre of the Jewish people.

How did that lead to your books?

When I first learned these fundamental ideas, I was plagued by many questions. If Kiddush Hashem is so vital, why don’t we actively proselytize or teach the world about Hashem? Why do we emphasize separating ourselves from society? And how does it all work? How do our mitzvos (especially chukim) and kedushah add up to Kiddush Hashem? After learning the topic for a number of years, I felt as if a beautiful new world had opened before me, which I wanted to share with others. I began with a Hebrew sefer titled Mekadshei Shemecha, followed by weekly columns in the Yated Neeman and then two English books, Living Kiddush Hashem and A Life Worth Living, which offer more practical applications and many incredible stories.

What results have you seen from teaching and writing on this subject for so many years?

One important effect I have noticed is that this focus creates an incredible balance and deep connection between bein adam lamakom and bein adam l’chaveiro, and between Torah learning and derech eretz. To achieve the goal of kiddush Hashem, both elements need to be given equal importance.

I will never forget how Rav Mattisyahu Salomon used to exhort us to avoid causing a chillul Hashem when we drove to seder every day. He would say that we must never forget that the purpose of our Torah learning is to create kiddush Hashem, and then he would warn us that if we drove to yeshivah in a way that caused other drivers to think poorly of Hashem’s chosen people, we might negate the impact of all the hours of learning throughout the day. Rav Mattisyahu also explained that this is the reason Chazal teach us that derech eretz precedes the Torah. Since the ultimate purpose of learning Torah is to create a kiddush Hashem, a person who interacts with people without derech eretz, and thus causes a chillul Hashem, will not be able to achieve that purpose. connections—Shabsey Gartner (who now lives in Toms River) and Benyomin Moss, along with his fatherin-law, Moshe Firestone of Los Angeles—the foundation has grown by leaps and bounds. We are bringing curricula to schools and camps all over the country, and we are currently running a chaburah initiative (book club) for anyone who wants to learn the books with special discounted prices for the books. We will be having a kickoff event here in Baltimore on August 25th at 8:30pm for women and girls at KAYTT (Rabbi Heber’s shul), where I will be sharing some fantastic stories and much more.

Is there anything else that you want the readers to know?

Email “subscribe” to LivingKiddushHashem@gmail.com to subscribe to our weekly focus and to receive special offers and updates. We need ambassadors to keep spreading Kiddush Hashem. Visit LivingKiddushHashem.org for more resources and information.

Living Kiddush Hashem was founded with the goal of imbuing every Jew with a powerful sense of mission — the mission to be mekadeish sheim shomayim in his or her own unique way. We accomplish this by raising awareness of the paramount importance of the mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem and its centrality in everything we do.