Parshiot Matot-Masei 5785, 2025: Sinat Chinam and Ahavat Yisrael

 
Rabbi David Etengoff
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
Cheshbon hanefesh (introspection) is a crucial aspect of the Nine Days. One way we can begin this spiritual journey is to focus on a well-known passage in Talmud Bavli, Yoma 9b:
The first Holy Temple, why was it destroyed [at this time]? This took place because of three different aspects that had become part of its very nature: idol worship, illicit physical relations and murder...The second Holy Temple wherein they were involved with Torah study, mitzvot observance, and acts of loving-kindness, why was it destroyed? It was because of groundless and baseless hatred (sinat chinam). This comes to teach us that baseless hatred is the equivalent of the three cardinal prohibitions of idol worship, illicit physical relations, and murder. (Translation my own)
 
Is our age similar to the time of the Second Beit HaMikdash? On the positive side, there is ample evidence to suggest that we are studying more Torah today than at any time in Jewish History. Mitzvot observance continues to expand and acts of loving-kindness (gemilut chasadim) are performed by more institutions and individuals than one can possibly count.
 
On the negative side, however, sinat chinam, the equivalent of the three atrocious sins that destroyed the First Beit HaMikdash, and the sin that destroyed the Second Beit HaMikdash, seems to be growing stronger each day. Powerful and disruptive rifts fracture our Jewish communities throughout the world. Little wonder, then, that we have not merited the building of the Third Beit HaMikdash.
 
Fortunately, there is a strong countermeasure to sinat chinam. Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook zatzal (1865-1935), the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine under the British Mandate, offers us an invaluable ray of hope. He proposes ahavat yisrael, unconditional love for the Jewish people, as the antidote for sinat chinam, and conceptualizes it in this manner:

Listen to me, my people! I speak to you from my soul, from within my innermost soul. I call out to you from the living connection by which I am bound to all of you, and by which all of you are bound to me. I feel this more deeply than any other feeling: That only you, all of you, all of your souls, throughout all of your generations, you alone are the meaning of my life. In you I live. In the aggregation of all of you, my life has that content that is called ‘life.’ (This, and the following translation, Shemonah Kevatzim 1:163, translation, Chanan Morrison)
 
 Rav Kook continues his love song for the Jewish people with these stirring words:

Without you, I have nothing. All hopes, all aspirations, all purpose in life, all that I find inside myself, these are only when I am with you. I need to connect with all of your souls. I must love you with a boundless love.... Each one of you, each individual soul from the aggregation of all of you, is a great spark, part of the torch of the Light of the universe which enlightens my life. You give meaning to life and work, to Torah and prayer, to song and hope. It is through the conduit of your being that I sense everything and love everything.
 
It is crucial to realize that Rav Kook’s unlimited love for all Jews was far more than mere theory, as he embodied ahavat yisrael in every aspect of his life:
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A vocal group of ultra-Orthodox Jerusalemites vociferously opposed Rav Kook, due to his positive attitude towards secular Zionists. Often, they would publicize posters along the city streets, attacking the Chief Rabbi and discrediting his authority. One day, Rav Kook returned from a brit milah ceremony in Jerusalem's Old City, accompanied by dozens of students. Suddenly a small group of hotheaded extremists attacked the rabbi, showering him with wastewater. The chief rabbi was completely drenched by the filthy water. Emotions soared and tempers flared.
 
By the time Rav Kook had arrived home, news of the attack had spread throughout the city. Prominent citizens arrived to express their repugnance at the shameful incident. One of the visitors was the legal counsel of [the] British Mandate. He advised Rav Kook to press charges against the hooligans and promised that they would be promptly deported from the country. The legal counsel, however, was astounded by Rav Kook's response. “I have no interest in court cases. Despite what they did to me, I love them. I am ready to kiss them, so great is my love! I burn with love for every Jew.”
(http://ravkooktorah.org/KDOSHM62.htm)
 
For Rav Kook, the opposite of sinat chinam is not ahavat chinam, love without cause for one’s fellow Jew, since, within his worldview, such a concept could not exist. Rather, this great and holy soul considered every Jew to be worthy of love and respect. As such, he is famous for the following powerful statement: “There is no such thing as ‘ahavat chinam,’ groundless love. Why groundless? He is a Jew, and I am obligated to love and respect him. There is only ‘sinat chinam,’ hate without reason. But ‘ahavat chinam’? Never!” (Adapted by Chanan Morrison from Rav Kook’s work, Malachim Kivnei Adam, pages 483-485)
 
In these days preceding Tisha B’Av, it is particularly appropriate to engage in depth-level soul-searching to try and remove every aspect of sinat chinam from our thoughts and minds. Then, and only then, will we be able to embrace Rav Kook’s noble words, and replace sinat chinam with ahavat yisrael. With Hashem’s help may this be so. V’chane yihi ratzon.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
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