This appeared at the bottom of an e-page. I don’t know what he’s going to say. I don’t think it’s an obvious one - lying, cheating, stealing. Perhaps - not treating yourself with the respect you deserve (or am I just projecting this one)? And the answer is….
GROUNDLESS HATRED.
How appropriate this week - 14 days into Operation Protective Edge - ground forces in Gaza, three teenage Israelis dead, one Palestinian burned to death in Israel - groundless hatred.
He cites Talmud that the first Temple was destroyed because we had lost our faith in God - but was rebuilt after 70 years; the second Temple was destroyed because of groundless hatred, and still hasn’t been rebuilt.
Groundless hatred - think of someone you dislike and find SOME positive quality in them. Let that quality inform your negative ideas about that person. Again, interesting in light of the current warfare. How can Israel and Hamas be presented to each other and to the world in such stark contrast and still the world condemns Israel - violent anti-Jewish protests in Paris and Berlin. Netanyahu says that “Israel protects it’s people with rockets while Hamas protects it’s rockets with people.” We are told that Hamas stores rockets in or near schools, hospitals, mosques and homes. How can Israel strike them without some collateral damage? How can Hamas hope to achieve anything with this? Again, according to news sources, they used cement to make “terror tunnels” into Israel rather than schools and shelters for the Palestinians in Gaza. How can they be so cynical? What if Israel were to take control of Gaza and then pour money into building schools and hospitals and roads and infrastructure. What then?
Rav Kook is quoted at the end of the lesson, saying, “If the second Temple was destroyed because of causeless hatred, what if the third Temple is built because of causeless love?”
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