Hatred: A Dangerous Emotion

I have often said that hatred is a very negative emotion. It is true that we say in our Friday night prayers, אוהבי ה׳ שנאו רע, that those who love Hashem hate evil. However, we are certainly not supposed to obsess over how much we hate even our enemies. We celebrate Haman’s downfall on Purim, but nowhere is it written how much we hated him.

We destroy our enemies because we love our family and country. We do what must be done because it is right and necessary for our survival. It has nothing to do with hatred. (You can Google, “Hatred a wasted emotion,” and find an article I once wrote in the JPost.)

I was deeply disturbed by a discussion I had with a student I helped convert twenty years ago. He lives in America so I innocently asked him what kind of job he thought Biden was doing. He answered, “We need to put Donnie (Trump) in jail.” He went on to tell me that no Trump supporter is welcome in his home.

I told him that I guess this ends my twenty year relationship with him. I said that it’s sad that your vile hatred of Trump is more important than the Rebbe-Talmid relationship I thought we had. I also reminded him that such attitudes of intolerance and rage, were not the principles he learned from me. I made it clear that I regretted recommending him for Giyur.

I share this with you, because we must be so careful not to stray from Jewish principles. Loving every Jew is not always easy. It requires us to be accepting of every Jew even when they don’t share our own views. So much more is accomplished with love, much more than hatred.