Jewish sages taught that the second Temple was destroyed, and the Jewish people subsequently exiled, because of one reason alone: baseless hatred (sinat hiram). It's hard to imagine life free from the epidemic of hatred, or a world where all people can live together in peace no matter where they were born, how they worship, or what the color their skin might be. How long can we continue like this without destroying ourselves once again? Renowned Torah and Kabbalah scholar Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook believed that there was a solution:
“If we were destroyed, and the world with us, due to baseless hatred, then we must return torebuild ourselves, and the world with us, with love without cause [ahavat hinam]. —Orot HaKodesh
I hope and pray that our country and our world can emerge from despair very soon, and find a new way to live and love one another in peace.
