For a few weeks each year, Jews try to hold back their sinas chinam AKA baseless hatred. Generally, sinas chinam is alive and well in the Jewish community, but being as we just came out of the 9 days, many of us are still trying to hold back our true feelings about those who we feel the need to hate on. Let’s face it, Judaism probably wouldn’t be any fun if not for the sinas chinam. How would we make our lowly selves feel better than everyone else if we didn’t harbor some sinas chinam, we usually justify this sinas chinam of course and I’ve been thinking or rather wondering whether or not our supposed sinas chinam is actually sinas chinam at all. How can something that is based on something be baseless. Below is list of things which are commonly mislabeled as sinas chinam, when they are in fact based on something.
Hating Chabad: Creating false messiah’s are a no no and since no one has really vanished those messiah believers and we who hate chabad are such perfect Jews ourselves, we have a real justification to hate these people.
Hating the Gays: It clearly states in the Torah that being gay is assur, therefore hating the gays is not baseless hatred at all. In fact, it may even be a mitzvah to hate the gays, because everyone knows that if you hate the gays you must be a real hardcore Torah follower. Obviously, everyone hating on the gays has their basis in the Torah and since they keep the whole Torah perfectly we can honestly say that anything against the gays is not sinas chinam after all.
Hating the Charedim: Everyone knows that the true Charedi is breaking the Torah outright by adding to it, I’m not sure where it says in the Torah that women who wanted to daven with talis and tefillin were supposed to be attacked and therefore anyone hating on the Charedim must be a true Torah supporter. In fact, I’m willing to bet that almost everyone who hates the Charedim is practicing what we should call authentic Judaism.
Hating the Goyim: If they aren’t keeping the shiva mitzvos b’nei Noach, we can justify our hate of the goyim.
Hating women of the wall: You don’t have to be learning in a top yeshiva to know that it’s clear as day according to every halachic authority that women cannot put on tefillin or talis. It also clearly states in many seforim that such women are to be killed by stoning with chairs.
Hating Modern Orthodoxy: Modern and Orthodoxy do not go together, anyone seeking to destroy our mythological shtetl mesorah is evil and must be hated.
Hating non-Orthodox Jews: Of course they know the true way to practice (my way) and they have chosen to ignore the truth and distort it to suit their needs. The only way to bring them closer to my path is to hate them so much that they will become curious about the beauty of my derech.
Hating Chassidim: Those poor money grubbing backward Jews…they make me look bad. The hate is definitely justifiable.
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Just this week, I witnessed the existence of an organization that without question teaches HS boys to further mashichism. I asked a Chabad Rabbi, not from there, if Mashichists were Chabad. He said no. When I saw the Rabbi from the organization, I asked him that as a Mashichist, if he was Chabad. He said yes. The relation this story has to this post, is that I was told by the non-mashichist Chabad Rabbi that the Charedim that instilled in me the perspective which fueled my confusion and concerns about the mashichists actually had hate hate in their hearts and exemplified Sinas Chinam.
Let’s all be friends, man.
Oh man, I misread your comment and thought they were teaching HS boys to further masochism. I was intrigued, but disappointed to learn you were actually still talking about Chabad.
This is why it’s a mitzvah to hate BT’s – saying things like “Let’s all be friends, man.”
It’s also a mitzvah to hate converts – even the Gemara says their a pain.
What about women and the way their very existence proves to be a seductive trap for even the most pious man. Women are pritzus personified and should be banned accordingly.
Ha! That’s a good one.
Um they are.
How about hating what this site has become? That is certainly not baseless…
Hey talkingnewsquarefish – are you a sandal wearing vegetarian liberal?
How about hating the hating of what this site has become.
Look equal opportunity hating has always been a mantra of mine, granted when I started writing this site I didn’t have enough experience with liberal Jews, gays, reform, conservative, and renewal Jews to properly hate them. You may say that up until I began to learn the ways of the non-Orthodox, all of my hating was baseless. However, my hatred towards frum Jews has always been based on my personal experiences and one should try and seek out their own experiences so they can properly avoid the aveirah of sinas chinam.
On the flip side, often-times principled disagreement over hashkafah or halakhic matters, or well-founded criticism that is founded in reason and sources and avoids being “personal” is dismissed as “sinat hinam” or “mean-spiritedness” both as a tactic for avoiding discussion and debate, and out of a hyper-sensitivity and personal pique stemming from a sense of personal outrage that someone would not merely disagree with a particular Golden Calf [whoops, I mean position], but actually dare to challenge it.
Mega mega dittos to your point.There definetly is a lot of sinas chinam out there,but the term is abused way too often.As you said it,principled hashkafic debate,even when it ends is name calling,is not sinas chinam.
This is satire at its best. I love this article, I wish it appeared in most Jewish circulations. Though most people would probably miss the point.
What about those loud laining Sephardim that sound like that Nick Berg beheading video?
I would say they’re the more backward bunch than those money grubbing Crown Heights kikes.