“THE VIRTUE OF HATE”: That’s the title of an excellent article in the current First Things, by Rabbi Meir Y. Soloveichik. The article is by far the best thing in the issue, and highly recommended; it’s about the difference between Christian and Jewish beliefs about forgiveness and the attitude toward unrepentant sinners. There are a couple things in the article with which I take issue–I think Rabbi Soloveichik is glossing over some relevant similarities between the two religions, sometimes by missing aspects of Christianity and sometimes by neglecting aspects of Judaism (and at one point he does both at once! It’s the bit about how the Jews freely accepted the Covenant, which IMO wrongly neglects to discuss either the Mary/Israel parallel or the fact that Jews born after that initial acceptance are born into the Covenant)–but the article is an illuminating, sharp challenge to Christians and a punchy statement of an aspect of the Jewish worldview. I may blog more about this article, the nature of the Covenant, and the differences between Jewish and Christian varieties of alienation next week.