Sinat Chinam: Baseless or Inexcusable?
Tisha B'Av is now behind us. Despite all the hopes when Corona first hit that Mashiach was right around the corner, we mourned once again on Tisha B’Av. We certainly have – once again – determined to do something about the primary cause of the destruction of the second Bais HaMikdash, i.e., שנאת חינם Sinat Chinam (SC), usually translated as “baseless hatred”. And yet, I must conclude that the problem of SC is worse than ever. What is SC? Why would someone hate another baselessly? Surely that is something only a psychopath would do. Ordinary people do not hate someone for no reason at all. Three incidents that our Sages point to help us to understand. The first occurred about 100 years before the Churban, in 63 BCE. The evil Hasmonean king ינאי ( Alexander Jannaeus )was gone. Righteous Queen Shlomzion Hamalka succeeded him and appointed her eldest son Hyrcanus II to succeed her. This did not sit well with her younger son Aristobulus I...