TEN PRINCIPLES OF BASELESS HATRED
1. Hatred is a programmed human emotion originally meant to help us avoid threats to our survival. Hatred has been called “the ugliest of human traits” and is seen by experts as the source of most human problems.
2. Jews have a specific biblical prohibition against nurturing hatred: “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart” (Lev 19:17). In addition, Talmudic sages warned specifically against the dangers of “baseless hatred” (in Hebrew “Sinat Chinam”) among Jews.
3. To differentiate baseless hatred from generic hatred, the following definition is proposed: “baseless hatred is an unfair, excessive, and avoidable reaction by one Jew that transforms another Jew into an enemy and thereby destroys the integrity of the Jewish people.”
4. Baseless hatred is lethal to the Jewish people because of the “Hatred-Exile Paradigm”
5. The “Hatred-Exile Paradigm” includes five steps:
(i) Hatred destroys the capacity of empathy (the ability to experience another person’s emotions)
(ii) Without empathy, a Jew loses the capacity of Arevut (“mutual responsibility”).
(iii) Taking responsibility one for another (Arevut) defines the most essential relationship between Jews and represents the core component of their peoplehood.
(iv) When Arevut is lost, peoplehood is destroyed; the Jewish people turns into groups of individuals.
(v) When peoplehood is destroyed, Jews lose the title to the Land of Israel; when the Jews do not constitute one people, there is no need for a land.
6. The divisive effects of the Hatred-Exile Paradigm can be reversed by the “Judah Principle”. Our forefather Judah showed, for the first time, that mutual responsibility (arevut) is the remedy for baseless hatred (Gen 43:9, 44:33).
7. For the State of Israel, the Judah principle of Arevut is not just a moral imperative but also a survival strategy.
8. For Jews in Israel, what happens at the micro-social level cannot be distinguished from the macro-social; therefore what are apparently private issues can acquire a national dimensions.
9. The time has come for Jews in Israel and the Diaspora to focus on eliminating baseless hatred within families (siblings, parents, and in-laws), in the workplace, among neighbors, friends, and within the broader societal circle.
10. Prevention and repair of baseless hatred episodes can be achieved by developing the capacity of empathy that leads to Arevut.
1. Hatred is a programmed human emotion originally meant to help us avoid threats to our survival. Hatred has been called “the ugliest of human traits” and is seen by experts as the source of most human problems.
2. Jews have a specific biblical prohibition against nurturing hatred: “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart” (Lev 19:17). In addition, Talmudic sages warned specifically against the dangers of “baseless hatred” (in Hebrew “Sinat Chinam”) among Jews.
3. To differentiate baseless hatred from generic hatred, the following definition is proposed: “baseless hatred is an unfair, excessive, and avoidable reaction by one Jew that transforms another Jew into an enemy and thereby destroys the integrity of the Jewish people.”
4. Baseless hatred is lethal to the Jewish people because of the “Hatred-Exile Paradigm”
5. The “Hatred-Exile Paradigm” includes five steps:
(i) Hatred destroys the capacity of empathy (the ability to experience another person’s emotions)
(ii) Without empathy, a Jew loses the capacity of Arevut (“mutual responsibility”).
(iii) Taking responsibility one for another (Arevut) defines the most essential relationship between Jews and represents the core component of their peoplehood.
(iv) When Arevut is lost, peoplehood is destroyed; the Jewish people turns into groups of individuals.
(v) When peoplehood is destroyed, Jews lose the title to the Land of Israel; when the Jews do not constitute one people, there is no need for a land.
6. The divisive effects of the Hatred-Exile Paradigm can be reversed by the “Judah Principle”. Our forefather Judah showed, for the first time, that mutual responsibility (arevut) is the remedy for baseless hatred (Gen 43:9, 44:33).
7. For the State of Israel, the Judah principle of Arevut is not just a moral imperative but also a survival strategy.
8. For Jews in Israel, what happens at the micro-social level cannot be distinguished from the macro-social; therefore what are apparently private issues can acquire a national dimensions.
9. The time has come for Jews in Israel and the Diaspora to focus on eliminating baseless hatred within families (siblings, parents, and in-laws), in the workplace, among neighbors, friends, and within the broader societal circle.
10. Prevention and repair of baseless hatred episodes can be achieved by developing the capacity of empathy that leads to Arevut.
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