Kedoshim - Forethoughts And Afterthoughts (3085)

19:17 Do not hate your brother in your heart. Admonish him thoroughly but do not bear sin upon yourself because of it.

The Torah states in Exodus 23:5, "When you see the donkey that is collapsed because of its (heavy) burdon that belongs to a person that you hate, shall you not come to his asistance? (Rather, ) you shall give him every assistance."

How can this verse in Exodus assume that there is someone who is hated if our verse in Leviticus forbids us to hate our brother?

Now, the Talmud (Pesachim 113b) says that in Exodus 23:5 is talking about a person who committed an incestual act and it was witnessed by another Jew. If the transgressor has not repented then the person who witnessed the immorality is permitted to hate him/her. The Talmud cites a view that the witness has a mitzvah (commandment) to feel hatred towards that individual.

There is another Talmudic teaching in Bava Metzia 32b that poses the case of a person coming upon two donkey owners who are in distress. One is a hated person and he/she has a donkey that needs to be re-loaded. The other is not a hated person and he/she has a donkey that collapsed because of its burden and urgently needs to be unloaded. The Talmud says that it is a mitzvah to assist the hated person because doing so will curb one's inclination.

The Tosfos commentary questions the benefit of this curbing because the Talmud in Pesachim says that it could be even a mitzvah to hate the sinner. Tosfos answers that it is likely that the hatred of the witness against the sinner will evoke the hatred of the sinner against the witness. This reaction can bring the witness to feel a complete hatred against the sinner and this is what needs to be curbed.

How do we understand these teachings? How do we understand the mitzvah to hate the sinner?

Obviously, a sinner must assume responsibility for any damage that is caused by his/her actions.

The Be'er Yosef commentary explains that immorality is naturally repulsive to a human being. The sight of another person's indecent behavior serves to desensitize these feelings and increases the observer's vulnerability. The Torah either permits or mandates the observer to feel hatred towards the sinner so that he/she can restore the natural resistance that was damaged.

But in actuality, the real target of the hatred is the sin, not the sinner. Only, since it is hard to separate the sin from the sinner, we are permitted or even commanded to feel hatred and the sinner must endure this.

Therefore, when there is an opportunity to come to the sinner's assistance, we are encouraged to do so, because it will help us focus on hating evil, not people who do evil. Tosfos is saying that if the sinner takes the hatred personally then the witness will come to do the same, which must be avoided. ========================= Courtesy of JewishAmerica http://www.JewishAmerica.com