Understanding Your Middos - 10 Eliminating Hatred

Introduction

Another trait which comes from our element of earth in the soul is the middah of hatred (sinah). It is forbidden by the Torah to hate another Jew: “And you shall not hate your brother in your heart.”[1] In addition, besides for how we must not hate another Jew, we have a commandment to love every Jew: “And you shall love your friend like yourself.”

Hatred is only when it is dormant in one’s heart. If one verbalizes his hatred to another or he takes action against the person he hates, he does not violate the Torah prohibition of hating another Jew.[2] [He is doing something else wrong, of course, by hurting someone, but the point is that it’s not considered by the Torah to be called hatred].

When are we allowed to hate someone? The Gemara brings a few scenarios.[3] If a person sees another person deliberately committing a sin even after the person was warned, the sinner is considered to be a wicked person, and one is allowed to hate the wicked person. Another example is that if someone could have testified for a friend to prove him innocent in court, yet he did not go testify for him; there is an argument in the Gemara if we may hate such a person.

The Gemara says, however, that if we see this “hated” person in need help to unload his donkey, we must stop to help him, so that we should overcome our hatred towards him.

The Gemara also says that it permissible to hate someone who is brazenly admits that he sins and he does not repent[4]; this is the same concept as the above quoted Gemara, in which is it is permitted to hate the wicked.

Why are we allowed to hate a wicked person? The Gemara says that it is because he is not called “your bother.” The possuk says that we are not allowed to hate our fellow, brother Jew, but a person who is wicked is not considered to be our brother. According to another opinion in the Gemara, not only is it permitted to hate a wicked person, but it is even a mitzvah to hate him.

This is a brief, general description of the discussion in the Gemara about when it is permitted to hate. Now we will delve into this, with the help of Hashem, and we will try to understand what exactly hatred is, and where it comes from; how hatred can be used either for good or evil.

Three Kinds of Hatred

We said earlier that hatred is rooted in the element of earth. We can see this from Adam. Adam was cursed with “And to earth you shall return.” In addition to this, he was cursed with “And I shall place a hatred between your and between its (the Snake’s) offspring.” Hatred is thus associated with the element of earth.

Earth is the root of the trait of hatred. However, the reasons that cause hatred don’t always come from our element of earth. Hatred can be caused by the other three elements as well – either from water, wind, or fire.

First we will study the three different causes for hatred – hatred that either comes from fire, wind or water - and then we will examine the root kind of hatred, which comes from our earth.

Hatred Stemming From Fire: Hating Another For Being Of Higher Status

One cause for hatred is coming from our element of fire. Rav Chaim Vital wrote that that hatred is a branch of arrogance, which is rooted in fire. With this kind of hatred, a person hates another person because he feels that that another is of higher status than him, and he resembles a fire, which seeks to go higher. When a person feels that another is on a “higher” level and thus he views the other as being “better” than him, he can come to hate him, because he feels lowered by the other person’s high status.

This is actually the same kind of hatred which is behind the phenomenon of Anti-Semitism. The Sages say that when Hashem gave our nation the Torah, the non-Jews began to hate us.[5] This is because when we received the Torah, we had officially become elevated over the rest of the world, and now the other nations saw how we were higher and better than them, causing them to feel low about themselves. Such hatred is a hatred that comes from the element of fire in the soul; soon, we will explain this a bit more.

Hatred Stemming From Water: Hating The Opposite Of What You Like

Another kind of hatred is caused by our element of water. The sefer Tanya writes that that the more a person loves something, the more he hates its opposite. For example, the more a person loves Hashem, the more he hates evil; Dovid HaMelech said, “Those who hate You, Hashem, I hate; those who fight You, I will fight”[6]. Evil is the opposite of Hashem’s will, and when a person loves Hashem very much, he will naturally fight evil. When a person loves something, he hates whatever it isn’t.

The word “love” is ahavah in Hebrew, which has the same numerical value in Hebrew as the word echad, “one”. The word “hatred” is sinah, which has the same root letters as the word sheini, two. This alludes to how when two people love each other, they feel like they are one, and when they hate each other, they feel apart from each other, as two separate entities.

Such hatred is caused by water in our soul. This is when a person hates others who aren’t to his liking or taste. The more a person likes something, the more he will hate its opposite.

Hatred Stemming From Wind in the Soul: Oppositions

A third kind of hatred is caused by our element of wind in the soul. First, let us understand something about wind. Wind is unique among the elements in that it has four different forms. Fire, water and earth are always the same, but wind has four different directions – east, west, north and south.

When wind is moving in one direction and it encounters wind from an opposite direction, an opposition takes place. Each of the four winds are constantly moving in different directions, because of each of the winds serves a unique purpose.  This also reflects the concept of hatred stemming from differences, which we discussed above, when two people see each other as being two separate entities that are apart, allowing for hatred. Winds also have different directions they go in, so wind can also be a cause for differences, thus, hatred can also stem from wind in the soul.

We can see the soul’s wind as a cause for hatred between people, as follows. When a person meets another who opposes him, he feels challenged, and this causes him to hate the other. Such hatred comes from the wind in one’s soul. Even when a person meets another who is “different” from him – a person who has a different kind of life than he does – it creates a possibility of hatred toward the other, because people can have a hatred for those who are simply “different” than them. People feel challenged by others who live and think differently than they do.

This kind of hatred is very common in our generation. Unfortunately, different kinds of Jews can have a hatred for others kinds of Jew who belong to a different group (whether the other is Chasidic, non-Chasidic, a different Chassidus than mine, Sephardic, etc.), simply because the other lives and thinks differently than he does. It is not because they see faults in the other; it is an entirely different kind of hatred: the person feels, “I hate him, because he is so different from me!”

All in all, these are three causes for hatred: fire, water and wind. The root of all hatred is earth, though, which we haven’t yet explained. Now we will explain it.

The Definition of Hatred: Being Apart

The definition of hatred is essentially to be apart from the other. Either we are required to be apart from the other (like when we are supposed to hate the wicked), or we are apart from another for no reason – baseless hatred. Either way, the concept of hatred is to when we are separate from one another. By contrast, love is to be at one with another.

The reasons that cause us to feel separate from others are many, either as a result of our elements of fire, wind or water. But hatred, which is sinah in Hebrew, comes from the word sheini (two). When a person has hatred, he sees the other as a “second” person, as a result of not feeling one with him. When a person doesn’t feel one with another, he feels like there are two separate people here – the entire idea of hatred.

As we brought before from the words of our Sages, the Torah prohibition of hatred is only transgressed when it remains in one’s heart towards another, without being actualized. If a person verbally attacks someone, it is not considered hatred! [It is a different prohibition though – the prohibition of hurtful speech]. Only when a person keeps the hatred privately in his heart do the Sages consider it to be hatred which is not allowed by the Torah. What is the depth behind this?

It is as we are saying: Since hatred is to feel apart from one another, hatred can only be when it is dormant in one’s heart. Hatred is basically an outlook that the person has – an outlook which says that “I am apart from the other”. When a person verbally attacks someone, he is acting mean of course, but it’s not because he has an outlook of hatred towards the person. Only when a person hates someone in his heart and doesn’t show it to the person does he really hate the other, because hatred is an outlook inside the person, that the person adapts the attitude of feeling apart from another. Such an outlook is only felt in one’s heart. Once a person acts upon the hatred, it is no longer an outlook of hatred that resides in his heart, and it instead becomes an action of disparity towards the other person, but it is has left his heart and instead it has become an aggressive action upon another.

[Thus, hatred is only hatred as long as it’s kept in the heart. When it is released outward, it is a different issue, which is also a problem that needs to be dealt with but the point is that it’s not “hatred” anymore.]

The Element of Earth Actualizes One’s Hatred

We have defined hatred. Now let us explain why verbally offending someone else is not hatred. In order to understand this, we need more understanding about the element of earth.

The Sages say that there are three people whom Hashem hates: A liar, one who doesn’t testify for his friend, and one who testifies alone for an illicit relationship.[7] Why does Hashem hate these three specifically?

We will explain why, but let us first understand something else in order to answer this. From all of the elements, only earth is a non-active element. Wind, water and fire are active forces. But earth contains no power of its own. All it can do is bring the other three elements to their potential.

When the element of earth is used for a constructive reason, it brings the other three elements to their completion. But if it is used for evil purposes, it uses the elements and utilizes their potential in an incomplete way, which will have detrimental effects. Having understood this, we can now understand why Hashem hates these three kinds of people specifically.

One kind of person whom Hashem hates is a liar. A liar doesn’t tell what it’s in his heart. A liar essentially is misusing his element of earth, because he isn’t utilizing his speech properly. He has failed to properly use his element of earth, because he didn’t say the truth. What he says is different than from what is really going on in his heart –and therefore, he is hated by Hashem. To be “different” means shinuy in Hebrew, which comes from the word sinah (hatred). Since a liar is acting different than how he should – by saying something that is not in line with the truth he knows in his heart - he is hated by Hashem, because now that he has made himself different from what he really is on the inside, he becomes hated.

This also helps us understand why someone who verbally attacks another isn’t transgressing the sin of hatred: it is because this person is not acting differently than what is in his heart. The real problem of being different is not when one is different from someone else, but when he is “different” within his own self. A liar is different from within his own self, because he isn’t telling the truth, and so he is hated by Hashem. The same can be said of a person who hates another in his heart but doesn’t show it – this is true hatred, because he is acting different within his own self.

It is only when one keeps hatred in his heart that it is considered hatred, because he is acting different from what he really feels. But when one verbally insults another, he isn’t being different from what he really feels, so this cannot be called hatred.

The second kind of person whom Hashem hates is one who doesn’t testify for his friend when he is able to. His problem is that he isn’t verbalizing what he knows in his heart. This is different than a liar, whose words are not in line with his heart. But this person is also transgressing the sin of hated, because he is also acting “different” than what he knows deep down.

The third kind of person whom Hashem hates is one who testifies alone about another’s illicit relations. Such a person is misusing his element of earth in a different way: his actions do not produce results. The testimony of one person about someone else’s illicit relationships is not accepted, so his actions have failed to result in any anything. He is also hated by Hashem, because he has misused his element of earth; he is also a kind of liar.

The First Step in Fixing Hatred:  Hating Evil

Until now we have spoken about the definition of hatred: Hatred is when one is apart from someone else, as a result from feeling “different” than others, considering others as “another”, which is a lack of oneness with another. We have explained that this is when one uses the element of earth in an evil way.

Now we will speak of solutions to hatred.

The sin of hatred is that a person essentially feels that he is apart from another; he sees the other as a separate entity from himself, as someone “else” whom he is apart from, and this itself is the root of the hatred. The way to rectify hatred, then, is through becoming “apart” from the evil that is in the person – rather than feeling apart from the person himself who commits the evil.

The Sages say that it is permissible to hate the wicked (and according to one opinion, it is even a mitzvah to hate them). This is actually a part of fixing our evil hatred. We need to distance ourselves from evil, but what does it mean to hate a wicked person? The sefer Tanya explains that this doesn’t mean to hate the sinner himself – G-d forbid such a thing. Rather, it means that we must love him as a person, but at the same time to hate the evil that he is doing. We need to both love him and hate him at once! In our actual behavior, we must keep a distance from him and not be involved with him.

Before we explain how to erase our hatred for another, the first step we need in fixing hatred is that we must know when to use it properly: we are required to hate evil and wicked people, as the Sages say. We must feel that wicked people are our worst enemies, and we are required to take action against them. We must hate them with utter hatred, as Dovid HaMelech says. If we do this, we rectify our own sin of hatred, by using hatred in the proper time when it is supposed to be utilized.

But the hatred that we need to uproot from ourselves is the evil kind of hatred, and this is when we hate others for the wrong reasons. We will now go through how we can uproot these kinds of evil hatred.

Fixing Hatred that comes from Fire

How do we get rid of our improper hatred toward others? It depends on where in our soul the hatred comes from.

If someone hates another because he feels that the other is “better” than him for being on at a higher and more successful level than him, such hatred comes from the element of fire in his soul. The depth behind this kind of hatred is because when one feels that another is “better” than him, he feels that the other is very apart from him. How can this hatred be fixed?

To stop hating him, the person needs to realize that he is mistaken in his thinking. He thinks the other who is “better” than him has taken his rightful place, and therefore he feels that the other person is putting him into a wrong place. But if the person realizes that he is in his right place – for he is supposed to be wherever he is supposed to be – by the same token, he can realize that the other person is also in his rightful place. Of him it can be applied the statement of Chazal, “Who is wise? The one who recognizes his place.”

With this change of attitude, the person will no longer feel that he is “lower” than the other, because he understands that they are both in their rightful places; they are both where they need to be. With this mentality, he will not feel that the other is apart from him, because he has uprooted the source of his grievances against the other person.

Compare this to a ten-story building. If a person who lives on the first floor, does he feel “lower” than the one who lives on the tenth floor? Certainly not. Each person feels that he is living in his rightful place. (In fact, the person who lives on the first floor probably enjoys his floor much more than if he would live on the highest floor, because he doesn’t have to walk up so many stairs.)

So a person needs to adopt an attitude that there is no such as thing as being “lower” than another person’s place in life, since we are all in our rightful place that we are each meant to be in. This will eliminate hatred to others whom we feel have it “better” than us in life.

Fixing Hatred that comes from Water

Another kind of hatred comes from the element of water in the soul. This is when one hates whatever he doesn’t like. Here we come to the following subtle point.

The Maharal brings two different philosophical viewpoints if a person likes what is similar to him and he naturally dislikes what is different from him, or if it is really the opposite: that a person likes what is different from him, and dislikes what is similar to him. On a deep understanding, however, they are not really two different opinions, because both are really true; we will explain.

If a person only likes something that is similar to him, he will not be able to fix his hatred for others. But if a person is able to get himself to like even something that is different than him, than he will be able to love even those whom he previously hated.

When a person only loves someone or something that is similar to him, he hates what is different than him. (This is the idea we mentioned earlier, that sinah, hatred, comes from the word shoneh, “different”). But if a person learns how to love something that is different than his normal tastes, he will begin to find that he won’t hate others who are different from him.

The sefer Tanya wrote that a person hates whatever is the opposite of what he doesn’t like, but that is only for one who only likes what is similar to him. If one likes things that are different from him, he doesn’t hate that which is different than him. He becomes more flexible.

On a more subtle note, really we all have two different kinds of love for others[8]. We can love what is different than us and love what is similar to us. If a person has only revealed from within himself a love for what is similar to him, he hates anything that is different from him. But when a person reveals from within himself a love for what is different from him, he won’t hate that which is different from him; instead, he learns how to get used to something that is different from him, and he will actually come to love those differences.

How can a person uproot his hatred for what is different than him? He can realize that he doesn’t have to hate everything that is different from him. He can become more flexible, getting used to things that are different from his initial tastes, and learn how enjoy different things from what he’s used to.

If a person wants to work on this idea practically, he can do the following. He knows that there are some things he’s not that fond of, but he also doesn’t hate those things so much either. A person should get used to enjoying those things that are a little different from what he’s used to enjoying, and with time, he will discover that his hatred for things that are different to his taste have lessened. He will learn how to like things that are very different from him.

A person should not try getting himself to like things which he doesn’t like at all, though; this is impractical. Instead, a person should try getting used to things he doesn’t like that much, which also doesn’t bother him that much either.

Just like something different from a person’s tastes can be a cause for his hatred, so can it be a cause for him to love it! By getting used to enjoying things that are a little different from you, you become more flexible, and then you will find that not only has your hatred gone down for the things you never enjoyed, but that you can even enjoy those things you used to hate.

This doesn’t mean that a person has to try to overcome his Yetzer Hora totally and force himself to love things he hates. We just mean that something different can also become a cause for why the person loves it. We mean that a person should get used to liking things that he doesn’t hate so much in the first place, and this gets him used to enjoying something different than what he’s used to. The point is to get used to enjoying something different.

Overcoming Hatred For An Enemy

We can see this concept from the following halacha brought in the Gemara[9]: If a person sees two people unloading packages, and one of them is his friend and the other is his enemy (who is a wicked person, whom one is required to hate) – there is a special mitzvah to help one’s enemy unload, “in order to overcome his evil inclination.”

Why is one required to overcome his evil inclination toward a sinner, if we are required to hate him? Tosafos[10]answers that since the onlooker hates him, the other one will naturally hate him too, for it is written, “Just as water reflects a face to another face, so does the heart of a man reflect to another.” Therefore, the onlooker comes to hate him personally, because now he knows that other hates him; the hatred now becomes personal. Thus, it is his evil inclination telling him now to help the other, and so he must overcome his evil inclination and help him instead.

From here we learn that there are two kinds of hatred: One kind of hatred is to hate another person for being evil, and a second of hatred is to hate the other because one feels, “He hates me, therefore I hate him as well.” What is the difference between the two kinds of hatred?

When a person hates a sinner for being wicked, it is still possible for him to love him at the same time. (This we explained before: to hate the evil he does, but to love him as a person). But when the hatred becomes personal – “I hate him, because I know that he hates me for hating him” – such hatred creates a separation and distance between them, and such hatred is the kind that one must try to overcome.

If a person does succeed in overcoming his evil inclination not to help his enemy, he will find that he both loves him and hates him at the same time. He hates the evil in the sinner – but it won’t be personal. It is like what Chazal say of Moshe Rabbeinu and Dovid HaMelech had enemies, but they did not hate any of their enemies on a personal level.[11]

This is how we fix the kind of hatred that comes from our element of water – by revealing love towards the one we hate.

Fixing Hatred that comes from Wind

The third kind of hatred a person can have comes from the element of wind in the soul.  We explained that this kind of hatred is when a person hates another person who is different from him, because he feels challenged by another person’s different way of life. How can a person fix such hatred?

The sefer Tanya[12] says that the way to uproot such hatred is by being compassionate to the other person. We will explain how this solution.

The Gemara[13] says that a father cannot hate his child. Why doesn’t a father ever hate his child? The simple answer one would say is that because a father loves his child, he cannot hate him, because love and hatred cannot co-exist.

But there is more depth to this. It is written, “Like a father has compassion on his son.”[14] A father doesn’t hate his child, not just because he loves him, but because as soon as he thinks of a possibility of hating him, his fatherly compassion is immediately aroused. Once his compassion is aroused, he cannot hate his child.

This doesn’t mean that a father cannot have a reason to hate his child. It is very possible that there is good reason for the father to hate the child, such as when the child is acting very improper, to the point that he can get his father to feel hatred to the child. But as soon as the father thinks of hating his child, he feels compassion toward him.

Why does compassion on another person take away our hatred for him?

The entire idea of love is to be one with another. By contrast, hatred is to be apart and separate from another. When a person hates another person, how can he become one with him? Obviously, he has to try to love the person, but how? How can a person become one with someone whom he is apart from?

The answer is that really, it isn’t possible at this point to love the other person. You cannot love someone whom you feel apart from. But what you can do is to feel sorry for him, in spite of the fact that you do not love him. And if you feel sorry for him, your hatred towards him will be eliminated.

Although it is only a father has true compassion on his son, we all have the ability to have compassion on others, just like Hashem “has mercy on all His creations.” Compassion on another is possible even when one doesn’t love the other!

Even if a person hates another because the other “turns him off”, the very fact that the other person acts so differently can be a catalyst to awaken one’s compassion on him. The trait of compassion, which is called rachamim, is called the “middle line” that runs between the point of love and hatred. Compassion\rachamim serves as a bridge between love and hatred, so it can connect them.

The holy sefarim indeed describe compassion (rachamim) as the “middle line” - love is the called the “right line”, while hatred is on the “left line”, as they are the two extremes, and compassion is the bridging point between them.

The opposite of hatred is either love, or it can be compassion, without love. How do we see this?

The Gemara[15] says that “Anyone who doesn’t speak to his friend out of enmity for three days is his enemy.” Why three days? The Maharal writes that we always find that the number “three” is associated with connection. Chazal say that a person has compassion on his descendants – for up to three generations. This is how we see that compassion erases one’s hatred for another. When there is compassion on another person, his hatred goes away; even if the person feels a hatred towards the person, his compassion will immediately awaken and overcome the hatred.

Being compassionate on another can only be a solution for the kind of hatred that comes from wind, which is to hate someone who is different than you. It cannot work for hatred that comes from fire, which is when one hates someone whom he feels is better than him.

Sinas Chinam: Baseless Hatred

Finally, there is a fourth kind of hatred, and it is rooted in the element of earth in the soul. It is called “sinas chinam” – “baseless hatred”. What is baseless hatred?

Rashi[16] says that this is to hate someone even though the other has committed no sin.

What we can learn from his words is that even if a person acts improperly and one feels a complaint toward him, still, it is unjustified to hate the other person, because the other person did not commit any sin which makes him deserving of being hated. When a person hates another and there is no mitzvah to hate him, this is called baseless hatred, even if the other person is acting improper!

But there is even more depth to this matter: Baseless hatred is to hate someone for no reason at all.

Until now we mentioned three different causes for hatred: either because the other is of higher statues than me (fire), or because he isn’t to my taste (water), or because he is different from me (wind). But the fourth kind of hatred, baseless hatred, which is rooted in the element of earth, is the total kind of hatred. It is an illogical kind of hatred.

Just like a person is able to love another without having a reason – like when the other person finds favor in his eyes (“chinam” comes from the word “chein”, which means finding favor[17]), so is a person able to hate another for no reason.

Why do people hate others for no reason? The person with sinas chinam thinks: “I am not him, and he is not me.” That is his only “reason” to hate him. A person with a tendency towards egotism is likely to hate anyone, simply because no one else is him. This is the depth behind sinas chinam. The person with sinas chinam feels that anyone who isn’t “him” is apart from himself, so he can come to hate anyone.

This is actually the same kind of hatred as Anti-Semitism. The Sages said that when Hashem gave us the Torah, “a hatred descended upon the world on the non-Jews” toward us.[18] What is the root of their Anti-Semitism, and why did they begin to hate us only after Hashem gave us the Torah? It is because they now realized that we are “apart” from them: We are a “nation that dwells in solitude, and with the nations we do not think.” The fact that they see us as apart from them is the reason for their hatred.

Another example of baseless hatred is the hatred that ignorant people have for Torah scholars: “The hatred that the ignorant have for Torah scholars is greater than the hatred that the other nations have for the Jewish people, and the wives of ignorant people hate them even more.”[19]

An ignorant person’s hatred for a Torah scholar makes no sense. An ignorant person hates a Torah scholar simply because they are not the same; because he sees the Torah scholar as his opposite. That is true; a Torah scholar and an ignorant person are exact opposites. An ignorant person is materialistic, while a Torah scholar is totally intellectual and non-materialistic. The wives of ignorant people hate Torah scholars even more, because a woman is more materialistic than a man. They are the perfect opposite of everything that a Torah scholar represents, which is total non-materialism. Their hatred for Torah scholars is thus total – and it is baseless.

To have baseless hatred for someone else is to simply feel apart from the other, even though when there is no logical reason to hate the person.

Fixing Baseless Hatred

Baseless hatred requires a lot of work to fix. It requires us to reach very deep into ourselves, if we want to uproot it.

We know that the Second Beis HaMikdash was destroyed because of baseless hatred.[20] Why did baseless hatred destroy the Beis HaMikdash?

The Beis HaMikdash was a structure made up of many stones unified into one piece. The idea of baseless hatred is the opposite of the Beis HaMikdash – it is all about feeling separate from others, the opposite of unity. Thus, baseless hatred and the Beis Hamikdash could not co-exist.

So how do we fix sinas chinam\baseless hatred? Through ahavas chinam, baseless love – to love the other without a reason!

The pure kind of love we need to have for others is to love others even when there is no reason to love the other person! It is to love another because a person recognizes that we are all one unit. Just like you don’t get angry at your hand if it accidentally bangs into your other hand - because both of your hands are part of one unit, yourself - so are we supposed to look at others as those whom we are “one” with. We have no logical “reason” that we need to unify with others – rather, it is because in essence, we were all originally one unit.

Of a man who gets married, it is written, “Therefore a man shall abandon his father and mother and cling to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” What is the depth behind the unity of a husband and wife? It is because they were all always one unit. If it would be that man and woman would be previously separated and now they have to unite, then they would have to need a reason to unify with each other. But because they were always one to begin with, they don’t need any other reason to unite as one.

To hate others for no reason is essentially when one forgets his roots. He forgets that we, the Jewish people, are all really one unit; he thinks that we are just a bunch of branches without a root. But when one loves others for no reason, it is because he realizes that we all have one root, and that we are not all just random branches.

To hate another person is to feel apart from him. A person feels apart from another either because of the elements of fire, water or wind in his soul. These are all reasons that make a person feel apart from another, and thus these are only being affected by the branches of hatred. But when a person has baseless hatred, it is hatred itself! Such hatred comes from the element of earth in one’s soul, because earth tends to be separate and be on its own; this we can see from earth, in that each seed planted in the earth has nothing to do with the seed next to it.  

When a person reaches an inner place in his soul and he and realizes that every soul of the Jewish people has one root – and on a more subtle note, all of Creation is really also one root – he reaches his ability to love other Jews for no personal reason. Just like a person has no reason why he loves himself – he just simply loves himself - so can he love others for no reason at all. He can just love others in the same way that he loves himself.

This is the depth of fixing baseless hatred: leaving our feelings of being apart and separate from others, and instead realizing that we all are one, because at our root, we are all echad – “one”.