No Place For Slander In Jewish Discourse by Ira N. Forman of the National Jewish Democratic Council warns against sinat chinam, or baseless hatred. History abounds with examples, such as anti-Semites attempting to blame problems like bad harvests and plagues on Jews, Nero blaming Christians for the fire that destroyed Rome, Inquisitors and witch-hunters inventing heretics and witches to justify their existences along with the worst atrocities in history, and so on. Orwell’s 1984 includes a fictional example of a subversive named Goldstein, who may or may not even exist. Sinat chinam, or baseless hatred, also has an opposite: the...
