Friday, April 25, 2008
Sympathy for our Enemies?
At the model seder we practiced spilling out ten drops of wine from our glass, which we do at our seders to indicate that even though the Egyptians were our enemies, they were still human beings, created by God. I even noticed that one student became upset when another student began to suck the juice off his finger, because he felt strongly that the point was for us not to gain any joy or benefit from it. What do you think is an appropriate way for us as Jews to react to the death of an enemy? If someone like Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebonese terrorist group Hezbollah, were to die tomorrow, how should we react?
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8 comments:
I think that if someone we hate or who hates us dies, we shouldn't be happy or celebrate or anything. I mean, this person was a human being, created by G-d, just like us, and I don't think that we'd like it if that same person was happy if you died. I think that the proper way to react to an enemy's death, is just sympathize toward that person's family and friends, and just continue on with your own business.
I disagree kind of. . . I mean if our enemy died like lets say back in WWII hitler randomly died I think that we had a right to be happy becuase (in my mind) there is a line where a person is so horrible and has commited so many cruel acts (such as hitler)that we have a right to be happy. Below that line I think that a persons death should not be celebrated for he/she was a human being also. Say if our President died, I would not be happy because he is a human even though I completely disargee with his opinions.
I agree with you Saul. I just feel like being happy that someone died is almost like wishing someone died and then they did. Like if you were mad at a friend and said I hope they fall into a pit and die, and then they did, you'd probably feel guilty or upset.
I remember in the Haggadah there was this quote thing that was like, if your enemy falls you don't be happy, if he trips, you don't celebrate. I agree with that. I agree with Saul though, because I know that if I was at the point of time when Hitler died, I would be VERYYYY happy and celebrate.
I think we should respect the people who new the man Hassan and pay or respects in front of the people we know but other times don't be sad or upset just be yourself.
After just reading Heathers thoughts (after writing my thoughts above)I agree with it and sauls.
There are Jewish sources that support Shifra's point of view, such as the one she mentioned, which comes from Proverbs:
"Rejoice not when your enemy falls, let not your heart be glad when he stumbles" (24:17). In addition, there is also the famous midrash about God scolding the angels for rejoicing when the Egyptians drowned in the sea.
But there are also Jewish sources that support Shaul, and recognize the natural reaction of being happy when our enemies perish. In the Talmud, it explains that King Hezekiah did not become the Messiah because he failed to do one important thing - he failed to sing praises when his enemy was defeated! This text is stressing that we should be happy when our enemies die (Sanhedrin 94a).
Like many things, there is a tension in the sources about how we should behave as Jews, just as you have described. It is up to us how we balance these points of view.
When the enemy falls, we should neither celebrate nor mourn their death. It is wrong to be happy at the death of others, and if you really don't like someone it is almost like a lie. I agree with hEATHER!!!!
I believe that we may be happy on some level, but it would still be wrong to rejoice. They were our enemies and did hate us, but, like Heather said, they were a human being. The only person who ever lived who I'm happy they died was Hitler. He was EVIL!!!!!!!!!! (I say he was evil because any good he had in him was overshadowed by his horrible deeds.)
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