Small tidbits and Sparks of wisdom

Sinas chinam — baseless hatred — is one of the most misused concepts in modern Jewish discourse. People often repeat, without much thought, that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because of “infighting among the frum.” Some even blame Shammai, Hillel, or the religious community at large. But this is historically and theologically false.

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 Rav Avigdor Miller’s 1971 Speech (Tape #R‑55)

> Question: Was the Beis Hamikdash destroyed because of sinas chinam, baseless hatred, among frum Jews?
Answer:
No, there’s no sinas chinam among the Jews. Don’t let anyone tell you that. The sinas chinam the Gemara talks about means the causeless hatred of the type that comes from Avneri, the representative of the immoral in the Knesses today. He hates decent Jews. The communists there too, or the Mapai, they hate the Jews. That’s the sinas chinam — but decent Jews don’t have sinas chinam.

In the times of the Beis Hamikdash it wasn’t Shamai and Hillel and their talmidim who had sinas chinam. It wasn’t the Pharisees and the multitudes of the frum Jews who were their followers who were the problem. The sinas chinam was from the Tzedukim and the Notzrim. They hated the Sages and the frum Jews who sided with the Sages. And it was because they were Jews — it was their sinas chinam for which the Jewish nation suffered.

I understand that even some well-meaning writers and speakers have attempted to apply the accusation of baseless hatred to the frum Jews at the time of the churban, but it’s a serious error.

(Source: Rav Avigdor Miller zt”l, Tape #R‑55, May 11, 1971 — via Toras Avigdor)

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❌ Stop Blaming the Torah World

Many speakers today carelessly repeat that the destruction came from “Orthodox Jews fighting each other.” That’s not only a historical distortion — it’s dangerous misinformation.

Rav Miller makes it clear: the hatred that destroyed the Beis Hamikdash came from Jews who hated Torah — not from those who upheld it. The Tzedukim (Sadducees), Notzrim (early Christians), and others who rejected the Sages and hated those who followed Torah — they are to blame.

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 Internal Disputes ≠ Sinas Chinam

Internal disagreements among frum Jews — whether about how to serve Hashem, how to approach kiruv, or what lifestyle reflects yiras Shamayim — are not sinas chinam. These are sincere arguments among Torah-committed Jews, trying to define the right path — not hatred.

These are machlokos l’shem Shamayim — debates for the sake of Heaven. Such disputes are not destructive; they are signs of a vibrant Torah life. Passionate disagreement over how to serve Hashem is not a cause of churban. It is evidence that the nation is alive with fear of Heaven.

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 And Stop Blaming “The World” — Look at Today’s Politics

Even today, we see the exact same sinas chinam — not among frum Jews, but from those who hate Torah and hate Torah Jews. Look at the political landscape: members of Meretz and socialist parties, in Israel’s very own Knesset, openly say they don’t want a Jewish character for the Jewish state. They want a state without Torah. They fight to erase the religious identity of the nation.

Add to that: liberal Jews in America who have abandoned mitzvos, married out, and now speak out publicly against Torah Jews, simply because they are Torah Jews.

That is sinas chinam. That is the same hatred we saw from the Tzedukim and Notzrim. It’s not internal disputes. It’s not halachic debate. It’s anti-Torah hatred, plain and simple.

This applies today as well.

Even among Jews, there are categories:

1. Torah-loyal Jews – Those who strive to observe halacha, uphold the mesorah, and live lives of yiras Shamayim.

2. Pick-and-choose Jews – Those who claim to be religious but reject parts of the Torah. They want to modernize halacha, reinterpret mitzvos, or selectively ignore commandments. This is the modern-day version of Tzedukim — those who rebel while wearing the costume of observance.

3. Anti-Torah Jews – Those who fight the very idea of Torah, who lobby politically against Torah education, who attack the religious community in Israel and abroad. This includes open secularists, socialist ideologues, and liberal Jews who’ve intermarried and now rage against Torah Jews in the public sphere.

These last two categories — the pick-and-choose Torah-rejecters and the openly anti-Torah forces — fall under Rav Miller’s warning. They are not simply “Jews with another opinion.” They are the continuation of the same strain of destructive hatred that brought down the Beis Hamikdash.

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⚖️ Halachic Clarity: When Hatred Is Justified

The Chafetz Chaim (Hilchos Lashon Hara, Klal 4 and 8:5–6) brings a halachic framework:

> One may bear justified animosity — but only when:

He personally witnesses another Jew commit a notorious, public, and intentional sin,

The sin is a violation of clear Torah law, and

The feeling stems from pain for the Torah, not personal revenge.

This is not sinas chinam — it is a Torah-sanctioned reaction to public chillul Hashem. As the Gemara says (Pesachim 113b), it is permitted to hate a rasha b’farhesya — someone who desecrates the Torah publicly and unrepentantly.

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 Beware of Mislabeling

But this cuts both ways:

Don’t accuse loyal Torah Jews of sinas chinam simply because they oppose compromise or reform.

Don’t misuse the term “baseless hatred” to shut down passionate halachic disagreement.

True sinas chinam is when Torah Jews are hated — for being Torah Jews.

That is what destroyed the Beis Hamikdash then. That is what threatens us now.

 Final Word: Let’s Be Clear

Sinas chinam is when Jews hate Torah Jews — just because they are Torah Jews. That’s what the Tzedukim did, what the early Notzrim did, and what many secular radicals and anti-religious Jews do today. That is baseless hatred.

But Torah-faithful Jews arguing over Torah? That’s not sinas chinam. That’s Torah itself. We must not confuse loyalty and struggle for truth with hate. Doing so only weakens our generation’s clarity.