Somebody to Love or Somebody to Hate

Decades ago, a rock band made a song called "Somebody to Love." It concerned a lonely person who was looking for somebody to love. 

They need to write a song that captures what some in the frum world are looking for - somebody to hate. I watched this over the High Holidays. Before shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah I listened to a speech decrying New York City’s informed consent ordinance that requires parents be given information on the association between mitzitzeh b’peh, herpes, and infant mortality. The speaker disparaged Orthodox Jewish proponents of the measure by referring to them as “so-called Orthodox” and portraying their efforts as a “war against bris milah.” No matter that the diatribe occurred in a building where the mareh d’atra is HaRav HaGaon R ’ Hershel Schachter who opposes mitzitzeh b’peh in our day and age (as did R’ Chaim Soloveitchik in his era) estimating that it kills a dozen babies in New York City each year.  

Now people have a right to argue for the continued practice of mitzitzeh b’peh, which does have Talmudic basis, even though the Chatam Sofer said that it is an non-essential part of the brit milah. However, what I observed was an attempt to portray shomer mitzvot people who rely on the Chatam Sofer and other great poskim in the hope to save lives of infants as some kind of ancient Greeks out to destroy the Jewish religion. This sends a certain message, and the message is this: if you are not a card carrying member of our particular camp then you are not Torah observant. You are the enemy. Woe to you on this day of judgement. 

And he did this on Rosh Hashana! We are individually getting judged on RH. It is not the time to point fingers. 
 

Then, more startling still, was the speech before Ne’ilah on Yom Kippur where a speaker also disparaged what he termed the ‘so-called Orthodox,’ - this seems to be the insult of the hour - for certain activities taking place in Riverdale. Now, it seems to me that Yom Kippur is a time for forgiveness and national unity. According to Rabbi Nathan (1780-1844), chief disciple of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, national unity is the essence of the mitzvah of Sukkah. Rav Avraham Kook finds a source for the connection to Succah and national unity in the Talmud:

"For seven days ... all who belong to the people of Israel will live in sukkot [thatched huts]" (Lev. 23:42). This teaches that it is fitting for all of Israel to sit in one sukkah."
 

As no single Sukkah can hold millions of people, the Gemara is intended to depict the concept of unity (Mo'adei HaRe'iyah, p. 96 in Silver from the Land of Israel, Chanan Morrison). According to Rav Kook, we arrive there over Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur by addressing our personal flaws. Polemics don’t get you there. Working on oneself does. On Yom Kippur, if you are going to judge anyone it’s yourself. I suppose when polemics are at the root of one’s approach to religion, it’s hard to turn off even at the holiest moment of the year, the moment when we each are supposed to cast our gaze in the mirror. 

Some people build their religion off of opposing others. I am not him! I am wonderful. He is horrible. Some people are looking for somebody to hate.