From http://halachafortodaycom.blogspot.com.au/
I’m posting this because I think it is very important. I touch on this idea in my book ‘Freiing Out,’ and about the importance of respecting differences in others within a halachic framework.
Also ‘Halach for Today’ is a great site to sign up to. You will receive a daily halacha. I’ve been receiving their email now for over a year and have found the content very interesting.
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This solemn period in the Jewish calendar is a time for reflection of our relationship to one another, especially as it relates to “Sinas Chinam, baseless hatred”, the sin that brought about the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash, the sin which the Talmud states is equal in severity to transgressing the three cardinal sins of idol worship, murder and sexual depravity.(Talmud Yoma 9b)
The Netziv, HaRav Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (in Shu”t Mayshiv Davar Vol.1 Siman 44) famously expounds upon this “baseless hatred” and explains that it was not just a hatred towards people for petty iniquities, rather it included a hatred for any Jew who practiced their “Avodas Hashem” in a different manner than them
If one saw another Jew relying on a Halachic leniency which was accepted in that person’s community, but wasn’t relied upon in their own circles, instead of accepting that “Eilu V’Eilu Divrei Elokim Chaim” (See Talmud Eruvin 13b) , that person was deemed a heretic and was baselessly hated to the point that people were attacked or even killed for being different!
All Jews who long for the arrival of Mashiach and the rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdash – and the Jewish nation- to its former glory, should try and rectify themselves during this period, especially in this crucial area of Sinas Chinam.
