I find it disturbing that many of my friends, and often myself, find pleasure in hearing of catastrophies, such as an earthquake, in countries where anti-Semitism is rampant. Is it permissible to rejoice over the deaths of one’s enemies in such a situation? Thank You
Your question is a very sensitive one and please try to understand my answer in a similar manner.
When one hears of human tragedy and suffering it is wrong to rejoice for two reasons that immediately come to mind:
1. Even if we were justified in feeling glee for whatever personal reasons we might have, and I’ll discuss a possible reason below, in doing so we run the risk of training ourselves to dismiss human pain and suffering even in areas in which we should feel the pain.
2. One of the reasons we do not recite a complete Hallel (a liturgical song of praise) on Passover night over the drowning of the Egyptians in the sea is because the Midrash tells us that when the Angels sought to sing “Shira” over the great event, God reprimanded them saying, “My handiwork drowns in the sea dn you wish to sing a song of praise?” – This would indicate that even where the victims are fully deservant, it should be viewed as a catastrophe in the sense that God created these individuals in His image with all the potential greatness that it encompassess and they squandered their lives and opportunities over wickedness. The sorrow we feel is for God in that His works did not take advantage of the opportunities He offered them. A similar point is made in Jonah where God reprimanded Jonah for being eager to dispense of Ninvei for their sins. God used a tree that grew overnight and provided shade for Jonah and then withered and died to Jonah’s great consternation, as an analogy for how tragic it is when He must liquidate sinners.
Conversely, we do find that although God silenced the angels, the Jewish people were permitted to sing “Oz Yashir” and we continue to recite it until today which implies that it is okay to exult in the suffering of our enemies?
The commentaries explain that the rejoicing and singing of the Jews was not over the suffering of the Egyptians but rather, it was an acknowledgement of their new-found appreciation for God’s might and sense of Justice. Seeing the wicked Egyptians drown and not get away with their blasphemy and sins is the greatest affirmation of God’s power and restores a sense of balance to the universe. The joy was over this rectification, not suffering.
Similarly, when we hear of tragic events in anti-semitic countries, we must feel sorrow on the one hand for the human suffering and the wasted opportunity to live a morally upstanding life, but we must also derive from these events a certain feeling of security in God’s ways when we see that he punishes the wicked for their misdeeds.