We continue with our discussion, based on the Bet HaLevi, about how bad Sinat Hinam/ Baseless Hatred is.
Anytime a person is working on improving something, they should know how dangerous it is.
For example, if a person doesn’t realize how bad smoking is, they might not think that quitting is worth the fight. But if they understand how bad smoking is, they are more likely to stop. People need to know how bad things are. So he continues, and quotes from Avot D’Rebi Natan (chapter 12) which says that the people of Sedom all hated each other, so God wiped them out from this world, and the next world. In his words,
“You should love people and not hate people, because we find that the people of the Dor Hapelaga/generation of the Dispersion loved each other, so God did not want to destroy them. Rather, He spread them out. But the people of Sedom hated each other, so they got destroyed from this world and the next.
Similarly, regarding the Dor HaPelaga/generation of the Dispersion versus the Dor HaMabul/generation of the Flood, Rashi (Bereshit 11,9) asks which was worse. He points out that the Dor Hapelaga tried to attack Hashem, whereas it doesn’t say that about the Dor HaMabul.
And yet the Dor HaMabul was wiped out, but the Dor HaPelaga was not.
He explains that the Dor HaMabul were thieves who had contention between themselves, and that’s why they were wiped out.
The Dor HaPelaga, on the other hand, acted with love and friendship toward one another, as it says, they had one language, so they were saved.
From here we learn, says Rashi, that machloket/strife is hated by God, and peace is great.”
The Midrash Raba (Bereshit 38,6) also points this out, and says that the Dor HaMabul had no remnant, whereas the Dor HaPelaga continued- again for the same reason.
He continues and say that, “Even if the Jewish people are worshipping idols, Hashem does not punish them (in this world at least).” He quotes a pasuk that says, “Ephraim (a term used for the Jewish people) has avoda zara, but I will leave them (and not come down on them right now).
The Reshit Chochma says that We see how Hashem gives people some slack in this world (eventually, in the next world, they will get punished) more so when it comes to Avodah Zara than when it comes to Machloket.
We see this in the Dor Hamidbar / generation of the Desert. When they sinned with the Golden Calf, they were not sentenced to forty years in the desert. But when they had a machloket, or with Korach, they got horrible punishments- with Korach even children under the age of 13 punished.
He goes on with example after of example of how Hashem looks away at Avoda Zara but will not look away when it comes to machloket.