The Chofetz Chaim's Wonderful Advice: How to Save Yourself from the Terrible Sin Equal to Eating Pork

The Chofetz Chaim in his book "Ahavat Chesed" Chapter 4 gives excellent advice for those who want to guard their hearts from baseless hatred.

According to him, "The wise person, if the evil inclination comes to tempt him to hate his fellow, should rebuke it to its face and say: 'What do you want from me, my evil inclination, that you always pursue me and tempt me to hate my friend? Don't you know that every moment you put hatred in my heart toward my friend, it's exactly like putting actual pork meat into my mouth!

"And what you're inciting me to hate him for, I cannot understand in any way why I should hate him, as it's clear to me that he is not guilty of anything at all, and you wish to cause me to wrongly suspect innocent people.

"On the contrary, I have great complaints against you, and I should hate you with complete hatred, for you are a greater enemy to me than he is," the Chofetz Chaim continues to write from the depths of his heart, "because you cause me to be hated and abhorred in the eyes of Hashem, and every single moment I transgress the prohibition of 'Do not hate your brother in your heart,' which is a very grave sin.

"I have already recognized you as a liar, seeing that for every commandment of Hashem that I wish to fulfill, you come with various arguments and tempt me to nullify it. Or the opposite: if an opportunity to sin comes my way and I don't want to transgress, you come to me with various arguments, showing me ways to permit the transgression. And if I hadn't overcome you, with Hashem's kindness, many times, you would have caused me to be immersed in sins beyond measure.

"In summary, after much experience, and after examining the evil deeds I have done, I find that you yourself are the cause, and from today forward I have no complaints or hatred toward my friend—may Hashem bless him in all his affairs."

In conclusion, the Chofetz Chaim's advice is to address the evil inclination with 4 points:

1. Attack the evil inclination that tries to cause a person to commit an enormous sin – comparing the sin of hatred to actually eating pork.

2. Remind the evil inclination that it is trying to make the person hated and abhorred by the Creator.

3. Recount to the evil inclination its history – how it tries to dissuade a person from commandments and cause him to sin.

4. Say: I have no hatred for my friend, and bless the friend with the wish: "May Hashem bless him in all his affairs."

The Chofetz Chaim concludes his remarkable words with a promise: "And certainly, if a person keeps these things before him, he will not be caught in the net of his evil inclination and hatred will depart from his heart, because the speech with which he blesses his friend will nullify his previous thoughts."