Let’s get back to sinas chinam and figure out why it caused the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash.
What is sinas chinam?
There’s two people, Reuven and Shimon. They hate each other. Why? There is a certain reason. Perhaps Reuven disregarded Shimon, or the other way around. Maybe there was another incident between them. This is not sinas chinam.
Sinas chinam is like this: Reuven has an old, clunky car, and Shimon has a nice, new one. Reuven doesn’t get it. Why does the old car have to be mine, and the new one his? Why not the other way around? The answer is because I am I and you are you. And this, as far as Reuven is concerned, is an outrageous chutzpah.
Here's another case: Reuven has in his pocket two thousand dollars, and Shimon has in his pocket a notice from the bank about a deficit of two thousand dollars.
Yet another: Shimon knows how to learn, and Reuven doesn’t.
In all these cases, the one with less sees it as an outrageous chutzpah. What are those two thousand dollars doing specifically in Shimon’s pocket? Does the money feel more comfortable there?
This is something that no person can avoid feeling. No one in the world is capable of freeing himself from sinas chinam.
That is, assuming he looks at it as I am Reuven and you are Shimon. If that’s the outlook, sinas chinam is simply inevitable, because the aggravating feeling will always surface: Why should the better head be on Shimon’s shoulders?! Why should the money be in Shimon’s pocket?! Etc.
But if I am not Reuven and you are not Shimon, rather I am a Jew and you are a Jew, in other words, there’s nothing personal involved, there’s no Reuven and Shimon, because I am just serving Hashem’s purposes in the world, I am one leg of the table and you are a second leg of the table, I am a tire of the car and you are the steering wheel, then things are different. I don’t go by a name and you don’t go by a name. So what does it even matter what each one has? The main thing is that the greater edifice of kevod Shamayim should be built up by all of us together.
The moment a person accepts upon himself Heaven’s Kingship, that Hashem is King, and there’s no Reuven and Shimon and Levi over here, then everyone is automatically at peace with each other. No sinas chinam. In such a situation, Beis Hamikdash can be built.
But when baseless hatred arose between Jews, when Reuven said, “I’m Reuven,” and Shimon said, “I’m Shimon,” this did away with the acceptance of Heaven’s Kingship. And it has the potential to take apart the Jewish people. This is not where we want to be. This is Churban.
