We harbor a national intuition about our calendar. Inspired by rituals like our reliving of the Exodus on Pesach and our re-creation of Creation on Shabbos, we tend to interpret contemporary events based on the historical events that occurred at the same point on our annual calendar.
This is especially true during the grieving period between the fast days of the 17th of Tammuz and Tishah b’Av. Our Sages associated both dates with tragedies spanning millennia, from the generation that departed Egypt all the way to Roman times (Mishnah in Ta’anit 4). Since the times of the Talmud, other calamities, like the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and the outbreak of World War I, have been tied to this time. This three-week period has been one of misfortune since our initial sins of the Golden Calf and the Spies.
So it is not at all surprising that rabbis and pundits from the political right and left have linked the present turmoil and strife in Israel over judicial reform with the historical catastrophes of this time of year. Apparently, the supernatural punishment fueling centuries of suffering continues to plague us today. And along the same lines, many rabbis and pundits have invoked a critical passage from the Talmud (Yoma 9b), stating that the Second Temple was destroyed because of sinas chinam – “baseless hatred” of each other.
The first contention, that the current split in Israeli society follows a pattern of past schisms and could yield dire results, has ample historical support. From the split of the Jewish kingdoms of Yisrael and Yehudah with a toll of hundreds of thousands of deaths (Divrei haYamim II 13), to the Greek-era battle of Chonyo and Shimi for the high priesthood which fueled a breakaway Temple in Egypt (Menachot 109b), to the fight of Hyrcanus and Aristobulus for power which increased Roman influence (Bava Kama 82b-83a), we have lost so much due to strife between Jewish factions.
Superficially, the second contention – that this is about “baseless hatred” – also makes a valid point. Leaders in the current opposition supported elements of the right’s judicial reform in the past. Leaders in today’s government historically argued for the left’s referendums, during Disengagement. Given the agreement on the value of reform and referendum, isn’t today’s fight a matter of “baseless hatred”?
But I think not. Today’s political left and right share certain policies, but they inhabit a milieu of pain and conflict which forms a very substantive basis for feelings of hatred. It is not baseless; it is more along the lines of the story of Bar Kamtza. In this story, which dates to the destruction of the Second Temple, Bar Kamtza was accidentally invited to a large party hosted by his enemy. The host ejected him from the party, despite his pleas to spare him this humiliation. Seeing that the sages were present and they failed to protest, Bar Kamtza told the Romans that the Jews were planning to revolt, bringing down the force of the Roman empire against Jerusalem (Gittin 55b-56a).
Bar Kamtza’s reaction was dramatically disproportionate and fatally out of line, but it was not “baseless”; it was rooted in his experience of being humiliated, and of the leaders failing to rescue him. The same may be true today. The political right has been politically out-maneuvered, legislatively mistreated and subjected to name-calling and hostility for decades. The political left has been silenced by the current government, their agenda trod underfoot by an unsympathetic majority. The animus has a basis.
Labelling the hatred “baseless” matters, because it is a powerful judgment. If my opponent’s animosity is baseless, I need not be sympathetic. And if it is baseless, there is nothing I can do to remedy it. Calling the hatred baseless allows me to ignore it and go about my business. So using this label inappropriately has dangerous implications.
But if the label of sinas chinam does not apply, the solution of ahavas chinam, of baseless love, is very relevant. Of embracing each other simply because, as Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin taught, “A person is not created for himself. A person is created only to benefit others, with whatever power he possesses” (Introduction to Nefesh haChaim). Or as Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz of the Mir Yeshiva wrote, “All of Torah study, all of the learning and all of the deeds, the final goal is that all souls should be joined, to feel each other’s feelings, to truly be one” (Daat Chochmah uMussar III 295).
Ahavas chinam implies caring about others regardless of their views. It may mean compromise on important issues. It may mean a referendum. Not because we agree with each other. Not because the other is reciprocating. Not even because it will bring Mashiach. Just because ahavas chinam is the right approach, and what Hashem designed us to do. Maybe it’s not too late for “baseless love” to create enduring bonds, which will survive the outcome of the current crisis and keep us a united Jewish nation.
