For more than two thousand years since the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash, Jews around the world have been asking themselves what we can do to bring Moshiach. When will we be able to return to Eretz Yisroel? Why are we still suffering in golus and living through tragedy after tragedy? When will all the suffering end? The answer to these questions is something we have all heard before, but still have not been able to implement as a nation.
The Gemara says that the second Bais Hamikdash was destroyed because of Sinas Chinam and Chazal teach us that it will not be rebuilt until we correct this problem. The Gemara says that the Jews learned an abundance of Torah, did mitzvot and had many amazing qualities at the time of the destruction of the second Bais Hamikdash. However, they did not respect each other and harbored baseless hatred toward one another, which is what ultimately led to the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash.
We live in a generation of unprecedented Torah learning and chesed. Yeshivas are full and there are countless chesed organizations operating in all aspects of life. But here we are still in golus still suffering at the hands of our enemies and still unable to bring the final redemption. The thought that the solution to all our problems is as simple as learning to love our neighbors as ourselves is both inspiring and frustrating at the same time. We have been in exile for so long and suffered so much all because we still have not learned to treat each and every Jew with the respect and honor they deserve. The answer to all of our prayers is in our own hands.
In order to fully eradicate sinas chinam from our midst, we as a nation must put all of our efforts and abilities into solving this problem. We must keep the goal of increasing our ahavat chinam central in our minds at all times. All of our focus has to be on learning to love our neighbors as ourselves and increasing our ahavat chinam. Improving our middos must become the most important thing in our lives and in our service of Hashem. The Jewish people have accomplished great things throughout our history and if we come together as a nation we can accomplish this as well.
This initiative aims to highlight the importance of middos and bein adam lechavero mitzvot in the hope that it will inspire people to put all their efforts into trying to improve their relationships with each other and by doing so bring moshiach in the process. We will explore all aspects of bein Adam lechavero including; the connection between bein adam lamakom and bein Adam lechavero, the underlying principles of bein Adam lechavero, the importance of learning mussar in correcting our middos and increasing our ahavat chinam. At the end of the day though, it is up to each and every one of us to take these messages to heart and try to bring them into our everyday lives.