Baseless Hatred

What is hatred? What is baseless hatred? And how does this basic human emotion affect our relationships, our communities, and our world? In this fascinating study, pharmacological researcher Rene H. Levy looks through a scientific, sociological, and religious lens at the causes and effects of baseless hatred, and offers a prescription for preventing and repairing its damaging consequences. Levy examines the psychological and neurobiological bases of baseless hatred, and shows how it destroys interpersonal relationships. Baseless hatred is understood within Jewish tradition to have been the cause of the longest exile of the Jewish people from the Land of Israel; Levy discusses the impact of baseless hatred both from without and from within on the State of Israel, including an analysis of Islamist anti-Zionist hostility and the more recent Western antisemitic opposition as well as the new existential questions posed by the post-Zionist movement. Finally, Levy shows how the cement that has kept the Jewish people united as a nation, known as arevut, mutual responsibility, proves to be the remedy for the devastating problem of baseless hatred.

Rene H. Levy holds a BS in Pharmacy from the University of Paris, and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of California, San Francisco. He is Professor Emeritus of Pharmaceutics at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, where he served as chair of pharmaceutics for twenty-six years. He recently received a lifetime achievement award for his work on antiepileptic drugs. He has published hundreds of articles and co-edited several books, including Metabolic Drug Interactions and Antiepileptic Drugs. He is married with three children and lives in Seattle.