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DEUTERONOMY | 13:7 death — DEUT617 The Talmud describes three types of indiv...

DEUT617 The Talmud describes three types of individuals that God hates (and by extension, we, who are supposed to imitate God's ways, should also hate) (Pesachim 113 with Rashi commentary): 1) a person who is a hypocrite (who speaks one way but feels differently in his heart), 2) a person who has knowledge to exonerate someone in a court of law, but refuses to testify, and 3) a person who sees someone commit a terrible sin but cannot testify, since the testimony of one person has no validity in a Jewish court. Although nothing can legally be done to this person, it is permitted to hate him or her for this action. Another type of individual who may be hated is a person who tries to uproot Judaism and its values through his or her actions. The Torah speaks about this person in the parlance of the time, for what was common then--he who tries to get others to worship idols. This Jew may be hated and is not subject to the obligation to "love every Jew as oneself" (Deuteronomy 13:7-9 with Rashi commentary). Maimonides codifies this Jewish law regarding anyone who tries to uproot Judaism, and says that not only is a Jew not obligated to love this person (as every other Jew), but he or she may even hate this person (Maimonides, Sefer HaMitzvot, negative Mitzvah 17-18). Chinuch stresses the "importance" of hating such an individual even more than Maimonides does (Sefer HaChinuch, Mitzvot 457-8). Chafetz Chaim brings as examples of this idea two individuals in the Torah, Datan and Aviram, who continually try to undermine Moses and the Jewish people (Chafetz Chaim, Be'er Mayim Chaim 9).

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Source KeyAMJV
Verse13:7
Keyword(s)death
Source Page(s)132
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