This essay was written by HaRav Diskin in response to some
questions which Yated Ne'eman's Rav Moshe Karp put to a panel
of talmidei chachomim. This and the other replies were
published in the Shabbos supplement for parshas Eikev,
5756. These insights are particularly appropriate and
applicable during this Three Week period of mourning.
"In every generation in whose time the Beis Hamikdosh
is not rebuilt, it is as though it was destroyed." This is
some kind of pointer to our situation today. We posed the
following questions: One: Did Chazal truly mean to say
that if it is not rebuilt in our times, it is as though it
was destroyed in our times, and that we have a problem of
baseless hatred? Two: If this is the case, how does
this manifest itself in our generation? And three: How
can these negative phenomena be corrected, for we all want
the Beis Hamikdosh to be rebuilt?
The point you are raising is a difficult one because Chazal's
statements of halocho are unlike their statements of
aggodoh. In the case of halocho, we have a
chain of tradition as to how to explain and elucidate them,
starting with the Rishonim, and ending with "our
teachers in the diaspora," the roshei hayeshivos,
z'l.
The statements of Chazal [such as these] for which the
explanatory tradition is small in quantity and what there is
of it is abridged, are wide open to anyone's interpretation.
Various thinkers and poets offer explanations that are more
representative of the feelings of their own hearts than they
are of firm, well grounded elucidations of what Chazal meant.
The exceptions are the greatest among our holy sages
z'l, with their great powers of comprehension of
Chazal's meaning. All that they say is like Torah shebe'al
peh for us and our lives are built upon their
utterances.
It is however also true that we ought not to scorn the inner
prompting of the hearts of great men of broad spirit, whose
explanations may not be exactly what Chazal intended but
which still are deep and fundamental in and of themselves.
However, it is hard to say with any certainty that this is
what Chazal meant though it may just happen that this was
their intention. In my replies, I will try to explain these
words of Chazal, though to set this down as their meaning can
only be incidental.
Commenting on the posuk about the destruction of the
first Beis Hamikdosh, "Why was the Land lost? Because
they forsook My Torah" (Yirmiyohu 9:11), Chazal tell
us, "This question was put to the chachomim and they
did not explain it. They asked the prophets and they did not
explain it until Hakodosh Boruch Hu explained it
Himself, `Because they forsook My Torah'." What needs to be
understood is that even when Hashem explained it, it was done
through prophecy. When they asked the prophets, they were
seeking an answer through a vision from Hashem, in other
words, prophecy. What the prophets did not explain until
Hashem Himself explained, would therefore seem to be one and
the same thing.
Perhaps we can answer by noting that the expression Chazal
use is, "they did not explain," rather than "they did not
reply." This means that there was a prophecy but that the
prophets were unable to explain it. It was given without
explanation, and they needed Hakodosh Boruch Hu to
explain. Unlike other prophecies, this one had to come with a
full explanation. This means that if the message, "because
they forsook My Torah," would have been given in the same
measure of clarity as other prophecies, which all had to
receive their final elucidation from the prophet, it would
not have been enough. In this case, none of them, neither the
chachomim nor the prophets, would have been able to
understand until Hashem came and explained it.
This was not the case with the destruction of the Bayis
Sheini, where the cause of the churban could be
divined through wisdom alone. Chazal determined that it
happened because of baseless hatred.
We find another statement of Chazal's: "The sin of the
earlier ones [in the time of the first churban], was
revealed and so was the end of their exile, whereas the sin
of the later ones [at the second churban], was not
revealed, nor was the end of their exile." Why did they say
that the sin of the later ones was not revealed, when Chazal
have told us that their sin was baseless hatred?
Apparently, Chazal are referring here to the kind of
revelation which we have mentioned above, namely, the
prophecy about the sin of the earlier ones that was explained
by Hashem Himself, whereas no such explicit prophecy came
regarding the sin of the latter ones. We see that the end of
the exile and the way to correct the sin which caused it are
easier to learn if the reason for the exile has been
explicitly revealed by prophecy. Correction of the sin is
only possible after it has been clarified and identified, and
that identity has become decisively fixed in the nation's
consciousness.
In the light of all this, it is reasonable to delve into the
essence of what the sin was and to explain it. The benefit of
this is that it leads to the sin's correction. It is
therefore perhaps fitting to give a detailed explanation of
the sin of baseless hatred -- sinas chinom -- and to
discuss and debate it from a halachic viewpoint. This will
help the awareness of its severity to penetrate our
consciousness and Hashem will then help us to overcome this
prohibition. My comments are therefore only presented as
halachic debate, around the periphery of this topic.
The first point to consider is whether sinas chinom is
identical with that which the Torah prohibits in the mitzvo,
"Do not hate your brother in your heart" (Vayikro
19:17), and this was therefore the mitzvo which the
generation of the second churban transgressed.
Alternatively, the mitzvo may not refer to sinas
chinom as such, which one can transgress without
encroaching on lo sisno, the latter being confined to
cases where one nurses the hatred in one's heart and does not
let it show, whereas sinas chinom is even when one
shows the hatred outwardly.
A second point for clarification is whether this particular
sin has extra severity because it leads to the loss of the
Land, or whether it is the disgust that it causes, as the
Sefer Hachinuch (245) explains. If so, it may not
depend on transgressing the actual mitzvo and then hatred
that is expressed outwardly will have the same effect, as
Chazal said, "Why were they victorious? Because there were no
slanderers among them." We see that this failing can lead to
defeat in battle, and perhaps to the loss of the Land as
well.
We might be able to resolve these questions in the light of
the explanation of the posuk, "Yaakov is the portion
of His inheritance," (Devorim 32:9), where the word
chevel is also understood as a rope, meaning that the
whole of Klal Yisroel is one unit composed of many
threads twined together, each of which alone is not
considered to be a part of the whole, unless all the threads
are joined together to form one rope. If this unity is
damaged through sinas chinom, the unity of Klal
Yisroel is harmed, with the result that whatever depends
on Klal Yisroel as a whole for its existence, will no
longer exist.
Jealousy and hatred are closely interlinked, for jealousy can
easily lead to hatred, the latter becoming a convenient
solution to the former. Jealousy as a trait cannot be totally
rejected however, because one type of jealousy is permitted
and is even desirable, as we find in the Torah, "And Rochel
was jealous of her sister" (Bereishis 30:1), and as
Chazal say, "Jealousy among scholars increases wisdom." Now
we have to decide which kind of jealousy is permissible and
desirable and which is forbidden and disgusting.
The answer to this is straightforward. Simply put, the entire
subject boils down to my unwillingness for my friend to rise
any higher than I. If this leads me to strive to improve
myself and my path in life, so that by elevating myself
I narrow the gap between us, that is the good kind of
jealousy. If it leads me to any other kind of intention, such
as how to put him down without my bothering to work on
myself, it is forbidden.
There are two possible ways to put down someone of whom I am
jealous. Either I can cause him to stumble and bring about
his fall from the level he is on -- this is hard to do and is
not encountered very frequently -- or, I can try to belittle
him both in my heart and thoughts and in my speech. In making
light of him and interpreting everything he does negatively,
there is profit for me. Hatred is also involved in this
shameful trait, because it affords a way to dispel some of
the frustration which I feel towards my friend.
This is baseless hatred. I don't hate him because of his
badness or his shortcomings but precisely because of his
virtues.
It is an obvious and an acknowledged fact that jealousy is
especially prevalent towards those in the group to whom I am
closest, and the closer my friends are to my own territory,
the more powerful the jealousy. Any group or community that
is more closed than the surrounding society, whose members
are therefore closer to one another and who are in constant
interaction, also scald one another and jealousy is
especially strong.
Those in this situation should take special care to keep
their distance from this trait, to which they are
particularly vulnerable. They should adopt different ways and
means of combating the yetzer hora which fans and
feeds the fire of jealousy and, consequently, of hatred as
well.
What more can I add concerning how to fight this shameful
trait? All the mussar works, whose authors had
extensive knowledge of the human character and whose
knowledge and understanding of Chazal's statements was great,
treat the subject at length and offer advice. I will just
make one point, which I repeat to my talmidim: Don't
praise yourselves . . . One can only feel dismay at another's
virtues if he attained them through his own work.
Characteristics and abilities that people have had since they
were born are not reasons for feeling proud and are therefore
nothing to be jealous of. Anyone who thinks about this a
little will acknowledge that it is so. Since the vast
majority of jealousy is over things which the other person
has because he was made that way, and not because he toiled
for them, some thought in this direction can eliminate
jealousy and sinas chinom too.
One should also take note of the fact that we are all
Hashem's soldiers and were all created for one purpose. Each
and every one of us has to serve Hashem and put to use those
powers that were given him, according to his ability and the
reward is in proportion to the effort. So, what place is
there for jealousy?
Let us pray to Hashem to remove the jealous spirit within us
and to redeem us again, with the rebuilding of the Beis
Hamikdosh, bimheiroh beyomeinu omein.
