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Yesterday, we noted the Gemara’s famous comments in Masekhet Yoma (9b) describing the generation of the Temple’s destruction as one which was loyal to Torah study and observance but failed in the area of interpersonal relations. Interestingly enough, as we discussed, the Gemara mentions that the people of the time were involved in gemilut chasadim – acts of kindness – despite being plagued by sin’at chinam (baseless hatred). This description gives rise to the question of how, and why, the people were on the one hand kind and generous, while on the other hand hateful.
One possible explanation is that the people of the time performed acts of kindness outwardly but without genuine, heartfelt feelings of love and devotion to one another. The Torah in Sefer Shemot (23:5) commands that we must assist even an enemy struggling with his overburdened donkey, and writes, “azov ta’azov imo.” Targum Onkelos explains this to mean that we are to abandon our inner feelings of resentment and hostility toward the person in need and come to his assistance. This might suggest that the Torah requires not that we assist our enemy despite our feelings of resentment, but rather that we eliminate those feelings and then help our fellow out of genuine love and concern. Accordingly, the Torah specifically commands us to work toward changing our feelings and emotions toward people whom we naturally dislike, and not merely to be kind to them in spite of those feelings. Gemilut chasadim performed with feelings of sin’at chinam falls short of the standards demanded of us. The internal feelings with which we engage in acts of kindness are a critically important component of the fundamental obligation of gemilut chasadim.
The Gemara tells us that the people at the time of the churban were outwardly involved in acts of kindness while at the same time harboring feelings of sin’at chinam internally They felt content going through the motions without embarking on the far more difficult task of changing their outlook and feelings toward other people. The Torah’s ideal of gemilut chasadim, from this perspective, requires not only acts of kindness, but feelings of kindness, harboring genuine emotions of love, concern and fraternity toward our fellow Jews.
(Taken from an article by Rav Ally Ehrman)
