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teaches us that evildoers always sought company for their ideas, since
it is difficult for a person to sin on his own, as is explained in the sefer
Ohr Chadash (parshas Korach).
Human nature seeks to avoid being isolated and being different to
everybody else. If a person ends up in such a position, of being alone
among other people who have complaints against him, either because
his behavior is undesirable or because his views are unpopular with
other people, he looks around, seeking a way to get colleagues to join
him and cooperate with him, or even simply for company, as friends
who will come to his defense and who, just by keeping him company
will banish his isolation, as though agreeing thereby that he is not a
loner but that there are others who endorse his conduct or his opin-
ions and his approach.
Chazal said, “Yerushalayim was destroyed on account of Kamtza
and Bar Kamtza” (Gittin 56a). The Maharal of Prague (Chiddushei
Aggados, Gittin 55b) writes: “It is worthy of reflection – what did
Kamtza do? Of what was he guilty, leading to responsibility for the
destruction of Yerushalayim being attributed to him? However, you
should be aware that because there was baseless hatred and discord
among that generation – and usually in a place where there is baseless
hatred one party to a quarrel takes himself a friend to quarrel with
the person who that hates him – he whose friend was Kamtza, their
very friendship [having been contracted with the object of isolating
Bar Kamtza,] was essentially discord. That friend was therefore
called Kamtza, for their only intention was to bond together in order
to quarrel with others.”
From the Maharal’s comments we learn that had the person
hosting the event not had a friend called Kamtza, he would never
have dared do such an outrageous thing, throwing his enemy – Bar
Kamtza – out of his house and embarrassing him in public, because
he would have been concerned that his guests would criticize for such
cruel behavior and all those close to him would have criticized him.
The celebrant was only able to be so bold and resolute because of
his evil friend Kamtza, who empowered him in his brazenness and
obstinacy.
424 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein