We continue discussing the negativity of Sinat Hinam/Baseless Hatred.
Rav Yehezkiel Levenstein, in his sefer on Torah VDaat says,
“Hatred is the opposite of God’s entire will in creation. God created the world Tov Umetiv/ to be Good and to give good to others.
The whole creation is founded on hesed, as it says, Olam Hesed Y’Baneh
God created the world
Boreh Nefeshot Rabot
God created many creatures
V’Hesronam
and their lackings
Why did He create lackings?
In order to fulfill their lackings
Sinat Hinam is the total antithesis of God’s Middot, which are kindness, compassion and mercy. When a person has Sinat hinam, he is very far from the positive Mitzvah of Ubo Tidbak /Connect to Him.
The Sifri says that this Mitzvah is to connect to God’s Middot.
“Just as God is merciful, you be merciful,
Just as God is compassionate, you be compassionate.”
Conversely, if you are far from connecting to God, you have no connection to God, and you are not fulfilling God’s will in creation. That is why Sinat Hinam is worse than the most serious of sins. Sinat hinam is the total opposite of what God created the world for.
A person hs to realize that his whole reason for being is to try to emulate God, to try to be like God. But when a person has Sina, that is the antithesis of being like God.
To end on a positive note, we’ll share beautiful story about Rav Yehezkiel Abramsky, a great Gadol, that shows what it means to be like God. Rav Abramsky was once on his way to Bet Midrash and he saw a child crying. He stopped to ask why, and the boy told the Rabbi that it was because his friends had teased him that his pants were too short.
Rab Abramsky took off his glasses, leaned in closer to look at the boy’s pants, and replied that his pants were not too short. They were beautiful. He then spoke to the boy for a few minutes and calmed him down, until the boy’s tears dried.
Later that day, the boy excitedly told his father that he had spoken with Rav Abramsky.
When the father saw Rav Abramsky in shul, he asked if indeed the Rav had spoken to son, and about what.
Rav Abramsky said he spoke to the boy about his pants, and explained that it says about God, In the future He will erase tears from all faces.
“So that’s the way of God,” he told the father, “and I want to be like God, therefore, I came to erase the tears from your son’s face.”
That is what it means to be like God, and when you are like God, you connect to God
Sinat Hinam is the total opposite. Therefore, we want to stay far away from it.