It is common knowledge that the [three] cardinal commandments of the Torah require us to lay down our lives for them, while the other commandments do not necessitate sacrificing our lives for them. One of the three is idolatry; if one is coerced to transgress this prohibition, he must be ready to die and not submit.
Nonetheless, Rabbenu Yonah writes that if a person swears falsely in court it is desecrating Hashem's Name, which is even worse than worshiping idols even in the privacy of his home! Imagine! Rachmono litzlan someone is worshiping an idol. And we know that idolatry is the worst of all possible transgressions and yet we see that causing a public chillul Hashem is considered even worse.
And it is common knowledge that [Jews] chas vesholom persecuting Torah scholars is a tremendous chillul Hashem, since Torah and Jewry are one: Yisroel, Oraisa and Vekudeshoh Berich Hu are one. If one of these [Torah] is lost, the world is lost. It is the end of the world. There is no world.
The sole purpose of the world is Torah study and there is nothing worse than interfering with it, since this is our very life, the life of Klal Yisroel throughout the generations ever since the Giving of the Torah. We must know that there is nothing else besides Torah! This is our very existence.
May Hashem help that those who seek to tamper with this shall fail miserably, and may we merit to be rescued from this and to merit restoring Torah to its glory and be enabled to continue to study Torah, Torah, and more Torah!
