After 120 years, a person is asked six questions. One of the questions is Sipita L’Yeshua Did you look forward to God’s salvation/Did you look forward to the coming of Mashiach ?
The Chida has an interesting hiddush about this question.
He says that the requirement of looking forward to the salvation requires us to arouse ourselves to remove Sinat Hinam/Baseless hatred from our hearts.
The reason for this is that the Bet HaMikdash cannot be rebuilt until we fix the cause of the destruction, which was Sinat Hinam.
Therefore, if you are looking forward to God’s salvation, you are forced to fix yourself, because how could a person look forward to the rebuilding of the Bet HaMikdash if he himself is the cause of its destruction (for, as it says, in every generation that the Bet HaMikdash is not rebuilt, it is if it has been destroyed)?
It’s like saying you’re looking forward to winning the game and then purposely dropping the ball. You can’t be looking forward to something if you yourself are involved in the opposite.
Therefore, he says, a person has to work on the mitzvah of Ahavat Yisrael, not just because it is a Mitzvah, but because it is included in this question of Sipita LYeshua/did you look forward to God’s salvation?
The Chafetz Chaim says the same thing. We are constantly praying for the building of the Bet HaMikdash, but how can we be praying for it at the same time that we are causing it not to be built?
He brings up this concept in another area as well, where he talks about a person learning. We pray every day that it should be put into our hearts, the ability to listen, to learn, to understand, etc. with many requests that we want to learn. He gives a mashal of a man that came to a wealthy man and asked to borrow money. “Please, I am desperate,” he says. The wealthy man agrees, and tells him to come to his office tomorrow at 2 o’clock.
2 o’clock comes, but the man does not show up. The next day in shul, the man begs the wealthy man again, to borrow money, and again the wealthy man tells him to show up the next day at 2 PM.
But again, the man does not show up. This goes on day after day. Eventually, the wealthy man loses his patience and tells the man that he is trying to help, and all the man has to do is show up.
The Chafetz Chaim says it is the same thing with us. We ask Hashem, we plead with Hashem, to give us the ability to learn. And Hashem says, “Okay, come to the Bet Midrash to learn, and I will give it to you,” but we don’t show up.
Similarly, a person prays to Hashem to rebuild the Bet HaMikdash, but then he goes with an ax and knocks it down, again and again, day after day.
We can’t ask for things and then not do our part in the equation. That is what the Chida and the Chafetz Chaim are telling us about Sinat Hinam, and therefore, we are working on it.