“Moshe commanded the people on that day, saying”( Deuteronomy 27,11)
The Chida points out that the acrostic of this verse spells the Hebrew word “me’ahava”, which means “out of love”. The implication of this acrostic is that the verses that follow, which discuss the curses that will befall the Jewish people if they disobey the statutes of the Torah, will not affect them if they live with each other in love and peace. In fact, they will only be deemed worthy of the divine blessings when they love each other. It is interesting to note that the Kabbalists state that these curses befell the Jewish people during the era of the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash (Zohar Chadash). This is consistent with the opinion of the Sages (Yoma 9b) that the second Beis Hamikdash was destroyed on account of the unprovoked hatred that was so prevalent at that time. A fascinating allusion to this is the fact the Torah lists here a total of 98 curses that will befall the Jewish people if they do not observe the Torah. The Hebrew word “chinam”, meaning unprovoked, is numerically 98 as well, implying that because of the unprovoked hatred prevailed during that period, the Beis hamikdash was destroyed.
