Every year, on Tisha b’Av, we talk about how sinas chinam brought the churban and ahavas chinam will bring the geulah. The unification of Hashem’s name is inextricably bound up with our own unity. This theme is repeated throughout the Torah, at Ma’amad Har Sinai, in the Nevi’im, in Midrashim, and throughout Shas. In our tefillin is inscribed the Shema, Hashem’s achdus, and in Hashem’s tefillin is inscribed the achdus of Am Yisrael – “U’mi k’amcha Yisrael, goy echad ba’aretz” (And who is like Your nation Israel, one nation on earth).
I find it interesting that the first time the Shema was uttered, by the twelve sons of Ya’akov, they were actually affirming their own achdus as well. The Gemara (Pesachim 56a) relates that Ya’akov wanted to reveal to his twelve sons the secret of the end of days, but the shechinah departed from him. He wondered aloud whether this was because there was a lack of emunah among the twelve shevatim. They responded with the Shema, the ultimate expression of emunah and Hashem’s achdus. At that time Ya’akov replied, “Baruch shem kevod malchuso le’olam vaed.”
A little bit of unity, fellow Jews. We are one nation. We all believe in God. We all believe in the Torah. We all pray to the same Ribbono Shel Olam. We have enough enemies on the outside. We don’t need enmity among ourselves.