What was your initial reaction when you turned on your computer Monday morning and saw the banner headline emblazed across the screen: “Bin Laden Dead!?” What was your subsequent reaction? Many American citizens streamed into Ground Zero and laid wreaths in sober commemoration and reflection. Others partied wildly in front of the White House, passing out cigars and shouting “USA! USA!” Time magazine featured the face of Bin Laden with a bloody red X scrawled over it. The last time the magazine exhibited the same layout on its front cover was 1945—and the face was Hitler’s. (In an ironic twist, Bin Laden was killed on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.)
Because of the supreme sanctity of human life, Jewish tradition generally condemns victory celebrations over slayings, even necessary slayings. “Do not exult when your enemy falls; do not let your heart rejoice when your enemy stumbles.” (Proverbs 24:17) However, there is one notable exception: Amalek. With regard to Amalek, the Biblical paragon of pure evil, the Torah commands obliteration: “You shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.” (Deuteronomy 25:19) For this reason, we drown out the name of Haman with the blare of groggers on Purim—because Haman descended from Amalek. Indeed, Amalek is said to reappear throughout history: “in every generation, they rise up against us and seek to destroy us.” (Vehi She’amdah, from the Passover Haggadah) For many in the middle of the 20th century, the incarnation of Amalek was Hitler. Perhaps in our day, the incarnation of Amalek is Bin Laden. If that is the case, we are not only permitted to rejoice over his death, we are commanded to do so.
Does unadulterated evil actually exist in the real world, any more than unadulterated good? A well-known Midrash describes the scene in heaven at the same time that Moses and Miriam led the Children of Israel in their victory dance at the shore of the Red Sea, after the defeat of the Egyptians: “At that time, the angels wanted to sing a song of hallelujah, but the Holy One rebuked them, saying: ‘My children are drowning in the sea, and you want to sing praises??’” (bSanhedrin 39b) Now, I have read this Midrash dozens of times, and I have always taken it to mean one thing: “Do not exult when your enemy falls.” This time, however, I noticed something obvious, which I had nevertheless always overlooked. God rebukes the angels for their merrymaking, not the human beings in the story (i.e. not Moses and Miriam). Taking angels as a symbolic representation for moral conscience,* my new observation leads to a subtler lesson. Exultation over the downfall of our enemies is an understandable human response, and we should not blame ourselves for indulging in it. However, if we are to reach for higher ground, if we are to rise above our baser instincts, if we are to take the path of the angels, as it were, then we must reject the natural tendency to rejoice. Instead, we must reflect with sadness on the necessary evil of slaying the enemy. Ultimately, we ennoble ourselves by reacting from a place of compassion, rather than from a place of revenge.
*In the story of the Binding of Isaac (Genesis 22), I have always interpreted the angel, who descends from heaven to stay Abraham’s hand just as Abraham is about to slay his son upon the altar with the sacrificial knife, as a symbol of Abraham’s higher moral consciousness.
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