Follow @StantonStShul on TwitterRabbi’s Corner – Spoiling the Victory Edition
When news broke of US military killing Public Enemy No. 1 Osama Bin Laden, crowds all over America broke into patriotic cheers of “U.S.A! U.S.A!” Whether at the Mets / Phillies game (ironically the news was announced in the 9th inning with the score tied 1-1) or at a WWE wrestling event, or at local bars and taverns, the majority response could best be described as celebratory.
To be sure, not everyone was in a joyous mood. On Salon.com, writer David Sirota observes:
For decades, we have held in contempt those who actively celebrate death. . . . But in the years since 9/11, we have begun vaguely mimicking those we say we despise, sometimes celebrating bloodshed against those we see as Bad Guys just as vigorously as our enemies celebrate bloodshed against innocent Americans they (wrongly) deem as Bad Guys.
Osama Bin Laden’s death has prompted a similar debate in the Jewish world over the appropriateness in celebrating the death of one’s enemies. To give just two conflicting examples, Mishlei 28:17 teaches, “Do not gloat when your enemy falls;when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice” yet Mishlei 11:10 states, “When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.”
There are of course other verses and teachings which would fall on either side, leaving at best a sense of conflicting ideologies. One possible solution would simply be to say that either approach is “correct” in the sense that both are valid emotional responses to the eradication of an enemy. Speaking personally, I found myself in agreement with R. Ovadia Yosef who recently made the following distinction:
The other verse does not deal with personal or national disagreement, but with an objective fact: there indeed are in the world wicked people. And when the wicked are destroyed, others should express their approval and their joy that some vicious object or person has disappeared from the world. Osama bin Laden created for himself a very clear position as one of the wicked, and therefore the world should be happy when at least one element of evil is no longer functioning.
In either case it is certainly proper to offer gratitude to the men and women of our military who constantly put themselves in harms way in order to make us safer.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Josh Yuter