24 May 2024
Question
When I first heard the news of President Raisi of Iran dying in a helicopter crash, my knee-jerk reaction was to smile with satisfaction. I was glad that such an evil man met his end. But then I felt guilty. Am I as bad as the other side who dance on the streets when Jews are killed? Of course it’s different, but what is the Jewish view on celebrating the death of our enemies?
Answer
There are contradictory sources in the Torah on this topic.
One verse in Proverbs says:
“Do not celebrate when your enemy falls.”
That clearly forbids us to feel any happiness at the downfall of our adversaries. And yet, another verse in the very same book of Proverbs seems to say the opposite:
“When the wicked are destroyed it is time to sing.”
So do we celebrate or not when a bad person dies? Does G-d approve of our happiness or condemn it?
A closer look at the subtle differences between these two verses will give us the answer.
The first verse refers to “your enemy”. This is a personal adversary with whom you have issues, like an unpleasant work colleague, a difficult neighbour, or an ex who causes misery. If they lose their job, their house gets flooded or they get sick, we should not celebrate their fall. Relishing the suffering of others, even those who may have hurt us, is malicious and vindictive. These are bad character traits that we should avoid.
But the second verse mentions “the wicked”. This means thoroughly bad people, who do evil not just to you but to society at large. It is good for all of us when such people are taken from the world. We are not happy at their suffering, but rather that justice has been done. If our gladness comes from a sincere desire for a better world, rather than personal feelings of revenge, we need not feel guilty about it.
This is why the first verse speaks of an enemy in singular who falls, while the second speaks of the wicked in plural who are destroyed. When one bad person who you don’t like experiences failure, the world may not get any better. But when the wicked as a group are destroyed, this is good news for the world.
This brings us to our case, the death of the President of Iran. When such a man dies - a leader who persecuted and tortured his own people, threatened death to all Jews, advanced a weapons program intending to wipe out our nation, and promoted terror and hatred worldwide - we don't need to shed a tear. It's nothing personal. He is not my private enemy. He is an enemy of good people everywhere.
So do we dance in the streets? No. Because the threat is not gone, and the evil he stood for has not yet been vanquished. But we should recognise the miracle of his most unnatural demise, and pray that it leads to further good developments for Israel and the world.
G-d says, “I do not desire the death of the wicked, but rather that they return from their evil ways and live.”
We celebrate life, not death. But we don't feel sad about the loss of an unrepentant murderer.
The world is a better place without him.
Sources
Mishlei 24:17
Mishlei 11:10
Yechezkel 18:23
Note:
The Talmud records that when the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea, the angels wanted to sing G-d’s praises for destroying the enemies of Israel. G-d silences them, saying, “My creatures are drowning in the sea and you want to sing songs?” Here G-d Himself forbids celebrating the destruction of the wicked.
And yet, the Israelites did sing songs of praise for the drowning of the Egyptians. Not only was this song not silenced by G-d, but it was written in the Torah and included in our daily prayers: “I will sing to G-d for… a horse and its rider He cast into the sea.”
We see that G-d Himself does not rejoice in the destruction of the wicked, and so the angels in heaven could not sing. But we humans down here on earth must acknowledge that we were saved and be thankful for it. We sing not just for our freedom, but also for the destruction of the wicked.
When it comes to Purim, we did not make a celebration for the day Haman was executed, because the enemy was still a threat. Once the threat was averted, we made a new festival. May that happen again soon.