Thus it is that yeshus is the cause of sinas chinam, of a hatred that does not result from any past or present harm, interference or evil intention. An individual in this situation simply cannot tolerate another and hates him intensely, to the extent that he cannot speak to him nor join with him in doing anything, not even of a holy nature.

The cause of this is nothing other than his own yeshus. It leaves no room for anyone else and [consequently he feels that] the other person is his opponent. [This is so] notwithstanding the fact that the other caused him absolutely no harm. [In truth,] he has no particular opposition to the individual he hates, other than the fact that this individual simply exists, and this existence diminishes his own yeshus. He therefore cannot tolerate him and hates him, and it goes without saying that he cannot unite with him.

On account of our sins, we find this [state of affairs] during recent generations within all Jewish communities. Controversy is rife in all aspects of public affairs. Especially is this so with regard to sacred matters, [where people find that] it is impossible for them to unite. On the contrary, that which one says will be contradicted by his neighbor, and that which one builds, the other will destroy.

These differences of opinion are in truth mutual animosity (lit., "a separation of hearts") that results from sinas chinam. One person will contradict another not on intellectual grounds but because of an unreasoned desire to say the opposite of what the other person desires. So ingrained has this mutual antipathy become that it has almost become a rule that one man must desire and voice an opinion that is contrary to [the desire and opinion of] the other's.

There are those who cloak this conduct in the garb of logic and reason. In reality, however, their intellect too is prejudiced, and they fail to be sensitive at all to the underlying cause [of their contrary opinions], their long-accustomed habit having become second nature.

This means that it has become so ingrained that one no longer perceives the root cause for this behavior, namely, the enmity that results from sinas chinam: two individuals cannot tolerate one another, and therefore oppose each other. The main cause for this is haughtiness and yeshus, the source of irrational sinas chinam.

[A person thus affected] views his fellow only in the worst light, seeking out the worst within him. In truth, the other person may yet have to refine himself completely, and may indeed possess some unfavorable characteristics. However, his neighbor grossly exaggerates these faults and speaks constantly of them in order to denigrate and shame him. Ultimately, he may even make light of all the good the other person possesses as well. He disparages the other's spiritual service, and his performance of Torah and mitzvos, even though never in the past or in the present did the other person harm or plan to harm him.

It could indeed be that he does not share the other's pain, and is even prepared to justify his suffering by saying that he is deserving of whatever loss or distress he may have undergone (May heaven protect us from such behavior!). Nevertheless, he would never cause him actual harm: his heart is simply - and irrationally - out of harmony with the other's heart.

Summary: Sinas chinam does not involve causing mutual harm, but the inability of two individuals to tolerate one another, making light of each other and of each other's spiritual service.