I've always loved this prayer written by R'Elimelech of Lizhensk, one of the founding Rebbes of the Hasidic movement. My translation of the prayer reads:
God, rather, instill in our hearts the ability to see the positive attributes of our friends and not their faults. Let every person address his neighbor in a manner that is proper and desired by You. Let us not, God forbid, bear any hatred toward another individual. Strengthen us in our love towards You, as is apparent and known to You. God, let everything be pleasing before You. Amen, let it be Your will.
I translated the word Adaraba as "rather," which makes me wonder if there's a paragraph that precedes this well known prayer that says something along the lines of, "the baseless hatred that exists in our hearts is tearing our people apart. Rather than this be our reality let us see the beauty in our fellow Jew and talk kindly to one another."
If there is no preceding paragraph maybe it was just R' Elimelech responding to the fighting going on between misnagdim and Chasidim. Or perhaps it wasn't ideological fighting that R' Elimelech was referring to but rather a general call for Jews all over to not be petty and contentious but rather see the positive in each Jewish soul, love every Jew and use that love in the service of God. Today, with all the different camps of Jews, protests and counter protests, maligning and name calling that sadly goes on within the Jewish world, I couldn't think of a more appropriate blessing and prayer to keep in the forefronts of our minds and hearts as we go about our day.
What exists now doesn't have to be our reality...adaraba.
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