"Why was it called Sinai? Because hatred towards Jews descended from it." The fact that the Torah gave this name of all names to the mountain teaches us that it is a purpose, it was intentional, and not merely something by default. This matter of fact is bound up very strongly with the quintessence of Torah, which can never reside alongside the cultures of the nations of the world. Any attempt to create an amalgamation will only result in the opposite reality, which comes to teach us that wherever there is such a so-called merger of Torah and world culture, there must necessarily be a lack of Torah or a counterfeit form whose end purpose and result will be abandonment of Torah.
Many regard this sign as directed at the world nations, while HaRav Elchonon Wassermann wrote that this antipathy which descended at Sinai has an internal parallel; just as hatred from the nations towards Israel descended at Mattan Torah, so did a similar hatred descend into the hearts of sinful Jews towards Torah scholars.
HaRav Elchonon quotes the teaching of Chazal that whatever happened to Yaakov Avinu, also happened to Yosef Hatzaddik. "He was hated and he was hated. He was exiled from his home and he was exiled from his home. The brother of the one sought to kill him and the brothers of the other also sought to kill him." We have been aware of the persecution of Yaakov [and his descendants] by Esav as a sign for the coming generations, which is a portent to his children for that hatred on the part of all of the nations descended from Edom. But it is important for us to understand as well what happened with Yosef and his brothers.
He explains that this detestation indicates the hatred that can manifest itself within the Jewish people itself towards the Torah scholars in its midst. The great Tana, R' Akiva ben Yosef, transmitter of Torah who in his early years was a boor, later testified, "Had I [then] met up with a talmid chochom, I would have sank my teeth into him like a donkey."
"In our generation," concludes HaRav Elchonon, "we saw that the hatred of Jewish sinners towards talmidei chachomim was even greater than that of the nations' hatred towards Jewry!"
"Why was Sinai called thus? Because hatred, sin'a, descended from it to the world." Along these lines, one can say that wherever one sees Torah melding together with the spirit of Jewish apostates, know that this cannot be Hashem's Torah but a forgery which can only end up with a total severance with Torah.
