We are all familiar with the oft-quoted Gemara (Yoma 9b) that the Second Beis HaMikdash was destroyed due to baseless hatred amongst the Jews. But it is well worth citing the Gemara’s full statement in that regard.
The Gemara states that the First Temple was destroyed due to the prevalence of the Three Cardinal Sins of idol worship, adultery, and murder in the Jewish nation. The Gemara follows by saying that during the Second Temple era, the people were filled with Torah, Mitzvos, and G’milas Chasadim (acts of kindness). Nonetheless, the Temple was destroyed due to baseless hatred raging within the Jewish community. The Gemara concludes by declaring: “This teaches us that baseless hatred is tantamount to the violation of the Three Cardinal Sins.”
This is quite stunning. We can be fully committed Jews, davening three times daily, keeping the Sabbath, and supporting all our amazing charities; yet, if we harbor hatred toward our fellow Jew, it is worse than worthless.
It is necessary to understand the term sin’as chinam – baseless hatred. I am sure if you ask any antagonist if he is guilty of baseless hatred, he will say, “Who me? I’m perfectly justified for hating the other guy. My enmity against him is well-based. Ask him why he hates me!”
The Gemara does not cite examples of the sin’as chinam that raged in those days. However, Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, the “Netziv” (1816-1893) in his remarkable introduction to Sefer B’reishis (Genesis) in his classic work Haameik Davar, explains as follows:
In the days of the Second Temple, says the Netziv, although the Jews were quite pious, they were quick to judge and denigrate others. When one Jew saw another Jew who did not follow his approach in the service of Hashem, he would quickly condemn him as a heretic.
It is interesting that Rav Berlin chooses that example as the ultimate illustration of sin’as chinam. I believe the intention of the Netziv is to convey that when we don’t take a moment to investigate the other side and to uncover what their beliefs and practices truly are, then that is sin’as chinam. A little pause to understand people who do things differently can go a long way in preventing baseless hatred. One can be pious to the hilt, but the rift that he causes is unforgivable.
We have seen this to be a rampant problem in our community today. If a Jew wears a certain color yarmulka, if he wears no hat or studies in a yeshivah not to his liking, he is immediately pigeonholed as being insufficient in his Yiddishkeit.
Of course, it goes both ways. Often, people look negatively at “black hats” or the chareidi world without bothering to understand their way of life.
What is happening today in Israel is probably the worst split since the Sadducees and the P’rushim (Pharisees) during the Second Temple era. But I don’t know if that led to street violence as we have it today.
I don’t want this article to appear partisan, although it is clear where my sympathies lie, so I will not assign blame to any one faction. But the division has led to burnings, riots, and even smashing the rear window of a car with three little children in it. This is not to mention mass resignations from the Army and the Air Force.
The problem is not the issue of the Judicial Reform case. Nobody even bothered researching and understanding what the problem with the Israeli court system is. Everything spun out of control because of what the Netziv wrote. If we do not probe the reasons why others practice differently from us, it brings sin’as chinam and leads to the calamity we see today.
I must make a few observations. If the issue were simply the nuances of judicial reform, then why are the protesters joined by other non-related causes? Witness the number of multicolored flags. Witness the Palestinian flag that shows up from time to time.
And irony of ironies, the Queen of the Left in America, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that some Supreme Court justices (i.e., conservatives) are “destroying the legitimacy of the Court…and are profoundly dangerous for American democracy,” due to a lack of oversight.
I would just love to ask her and all those who follow her what they think of the call for judicial reform in Israel.
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.
