When hatred has nothing to do with hating

Pirkei Avot has plenty to say about love, respect and kindness to others. In contrast, through the entire tractate, the word sina, “hate”, is mentioned only once when Shamayah says (at 1:10):

אֱהוֹב אֶת הַמְּלָאכָה וּשְׂנָא אֶת הָרַבָּנוּת, וְאַל תִּתְוַדַּע לָרָשׁוּת

“Love work, hate mastery over others, and avoid intimacy with the government”.

What does the verb sina mean? English translations offer us several synonyms:

·         Abhor (R’ Eliyahu Touger);

·         Despise (ArtScroll Publications; R’ Yaakov Hillel; R’ Avie Gold and R’ Nahun Spirn).

·         Hate (Hirsch Pirkei Avos; Lehmann-Prins Pirkei Avoth; R’ Lord Jonathan Sacks; R’ Chanoch Levi; R. Travers Herford).

·         Loathe (chabad.org; Me’am Lo’ez).

Commentators are unanimous in their conclusion that this sinah is to be directed at the holding of office as such, not at those people who hold it. There are other mishnayot that deal with them: in short, we should pray for the welfare of the government (3:2) but should remain cautious when it comes to dealing with those who hold the reins of power (2:3).

R’ Anthony Manning challenges the assumption that sinah means hatred or indeed any of the words listed above. In Reclaiming Dignity, pp 261-3, he argues forcefully that the word has been misconstrued. It does not indicate hate; rather, it means “rejection”.

R’ Manning bases his case on the mitzvah of lo tisna (Leviticus 91:17). Usually rendered “You must not hate your brother in your heart”, it really means that you must not reject him. In Tanach it is not sinah that means hate but sitmah. On this basis, we understand that God did not view Leah as being “hated” as much as rejected—Jacob’s second-best option (Genesis 29:31).

If sina in Shamayah’s mishnah means “reject”, we see that his teaching dovetails neatly with that of R’ Nechunya ben Hakanah at Avot 3:6. There he explains that there is a negative correlation between taking up civic and governmental responsibilities and learning Torah, the implication being that one should reject positions of authority if one wishes to enhance one’s Torah commitment.