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1 One Above and Seven Below
The Root of all Hatred
Book One of 
One Above and Seven Below
contains 320 pages and I spentevery one of those pages discussing the
what 
, the
who
, and the
why
of thechareidi beast. I should hope that by now I have successfully addressed thequestion posed in the Introduction to Book One: “Who is a chareidi and whoare their brethren?” It is now time to turn our attention to the other primaryquestion that was posed in that chapter: “Why are the chareidim hated andshunned?” Let us take a closer look at hating and shunning (just try not to gettoo close).Many of us are familiar with the following Jewish Folklore joke:
A Nazi soldier confronted a Jew on the street. “Tell me, Jew, who is to blame for this war?”, he asked in a menacing tone.The Jew was no fool. “The Jews”, he said, “and the bicycle riders.”The Nazi was perplexed. “Why the bicycle riders?”“Why the Jews?”, answered the Jew as he hurried off.
Sadly, hatred was not vanquished along with the Nazis. There is no doubtthat this joke can be updated to modern Jewish society (at least, here in EretzIsrael):
A secularist confronted a chareidi on the street. “Tell me, Yankele, who is to blame for our rotten economy?”, he asked in a menacing tone.The chareidi was no fool. “The chareidim”, he said, “and the falafelvendors.”The secularist was perplexed. “Why the falafel vendors?”“Why the chareidim?”, answered the chareidi as he hurried off.
 Now, some readers may look at what I just wrote and say, “Yeah, I guessHirshman’s right. Same old game, just new players.” Yet, I have no doubtthat other readers are thinking, “Hold on, there! The Nazis were a motleycrew and they persecuted the Jews for no good reason. But here, there is probably some truth to it. If the chareidi hadn’t hurried off, he would havegotten an earful from the secularist on ‘why the chareidim’.”I suppose he would. Accordingly, these readers may feel that the secularistwas within his bounds. Is this true, or is he no more justified than the Nazi?I would say that this depends on what he is trying to achieve. If his aims arethe same as the Nazi’s, then it carries the same justification – no more, noless. If they are of a more noble intent, then, perhaps, there is just cause. Iexpect that most readers would agree that the Nazi was motivated by feelings© 2007-9 Yechezkel Hirshman
 
The Root of all Hatred 2
of hatred. He wanted to display this hatred to the Jew. Additionally, hewanted to get the Jew to acknowledge that he is accountable for being hated.On this note the Jew was a bit less than accommodating. My guess is that the Nazi did not walk away with a sense of satisfaction.What are we to think about our secularist friend? What is his intent? If thiswas his motivation as well, then, to justify it at any level is a justification for fueling and fanning the flames of hatred. One thing is certain – the secularistin this story did not initiate this exchange because he felt like discussing thefalafel vendors.Hatred is a contagious disease (and it can be hereditary). It is alwaystreatable, but the uncooperative patient usually does not respond to treatment.Like all diseases, in order to treat it, we must first be able to identify it anddiagnose it properly and we must understand what causes it. In short, wemust know:
•
What is hatred?
•
What are the symptoms of hatred?
•
What are the causes of hatred?And finally:
•
What are the possible remedies?Shall we begin?
What is hatred?
Psychologists tell us that hatred is a feeling of loathing toward another entitythat comprises one or more of the following emotions: anger, jealousy, fear,and prejudice. This means that if somebody hates chareidim (or anybodyelse), it must be because the chareidim cause him to be angry, jealous,frightened, or – the venom of prejudice – the chareidi is truly not doing anyof the first three but the hater thinks he is.In truth, we don’t need psychologists to tell us this. The Chumash tells us theexact same thing. Let us learn about hatred from a real legend, one of the all-time all-star professional Jew-haters, Pharaoh, King of Egypt:
And he said to his nation, “Behold, the nation of the Children of Israel aremore numerous and powerful than are we. Let us outsmart them, lest theymultiply, and it shall be when a war should befall us and they will joinforces with our enemies and battle against us and we will be banished from
 
3 One Above and Seven Below
the land.”
1
…and they were in loathing on account of the Children of Israel.
2
And what initially triggered this hatred?
And the Children of Israel were fruitful, and they scurried about, and theymultiplied, and they gained strength to a great extent and the land becamefilled with them.
3
Pharaoh and his nation hated the Jews. This hatred was fueled by the two
4
 primary emotions that I mentioned above:
Jealousy
-
 Behold, the nation of the Children of Israel are more numerousand powerful than are we.
Fear
-
 Let us outsmart them, lest they multiply, and it shall be when a war  should befall us and they will join forces with our enemies and battle against us and we will be banished from the land 
.I might add that there are indications of prejudice, as well. Prejudice meansopinions that are formed based on unsubstantiated ‘facts’.
5
 Pharaoh ‘justified’his hatred by declaring that the Israelites are “
more numerous and powerful than are we
”. This is hard to substantiate for if one population is both “morenumerous”
and 
“more powerful”, how can a smaller and weaker populationenslave them?Obviously, Pharaoh’s imagination was running amok and, as is often thecase, once one’s imagination loses its grip on reality, there is no limit to howfar it can go. Thus, the unfounded doomsday prediction, “
and it shall bewhen a war should befall us and they will join forces with our enemies and battle against us and we will be banished from the land 
”.Traditionally, Jewish citizens of the various nations have proven to beexceedingly loyal to their host countries and to serve as the most patriotic of soldiers. There is no basis to assume that this would not have been the case if ancient Egypt was facing a national crisis. Furthermore, logic dictates that if a given population is disenfranchised and persecuted by its host, it is that
1
Exodus 1:9,10
2
Ibid. 1:12
3
Ibid. 1:7
4
In this example we do not encounter the anger component. I believe that jealousy and fear aremuch more prevalent in general. Notwithstanding, we do not have to search too far to find aBiblical precedent for hatred based on anger. This is the driving force of Esau’s hatred as theverse says (Genesis 27:41)
 And Esau begrudged Jacob on account of the blessing that his father blessed him; and Esau said in his heart…and I will kill Jacob my brother 
.
5
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (www.merriam.com) says: Prejudice - An adverseopinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge.
© 2007-9 Yechezkel Hirshman
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