By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

The events of today will go down in history as one of the most brilliant battle tactics ever conceived.  Four thousand hardened Hezbollah terrorists and murderers were near-simultaneously put out of commission by somehow being fooled with a shipment of Motorola paging equipment containing a hidden explosive device.  The miraculous success of this operation sparked such happiness and delight that students of Religious Zionist Yeshivos were dancing out of sheer joy.

There were, however, people that questioned the propriety of the dancing as well as whether Yeshiva World News should have posted these articles in the first place.  People commented and asked, “Doesn’t Shlomo HaMelech advise us not to rejoice at the fall of our enemy?“  How could this have been posted?

While keeping in mind that the 4000 were terrorists bent on murdering civilians, there is a verse in the 24th chapter of Mishlei written by Shlomo HaMelech. It is pasuk 18 and it states:  In the falling (death) of your enemy – do not rejoice.

We must also keep in mind another seemingly contradictory earlier verse. It was also written by Shlomo HaMelech – “In the death of evil-doers – exhuberance! (Mishlei 11:10). How are these two verses to be understood together?

THE RALBAG’S UNDERSTANDING – TOO MUCH IS NO GOOD

The Ralbag (1288-1344) in interpreting the pasuk just before pasuk 18 in chapter 24, writes that inappropriate rejoicing over the matter will lead to Hashem removing His Divine Anger against that enemy and placing it upon you. It is clear from this Ralbag that too much rejoicing is wrong and dangerous.  But what is too much?

It is interesting to note that the Alshich (1508-1593) in Megilas Esther (5:3) writes that this is exactly why Esther wished to make Haman rejoice at the party.  She did so in order that the Divine Will be turned against the evil Haman on account of his rejoicing at the fall of Israel.

APPROPRIATE REJOICING IS OKAY

We can infer from the Ralbag that although inappropriate rejoicing is wrong – appropriate rejoicing, where one is on the correct spiritual level, is fine.  This is the type of rejoicing that is indicated in Chapter eleven.

THE MAHARSHA’S AND RABBEINU YONAH’S VIEWS

But what exactly is the correct spiritual level?

The Maharsha (1555-1631)  in his comments to Megillah 28a understands the verse in Chapter 24 as referring to someone who is rejoicing because of his feeling of hate toward his enemy.

Rabbeinu Yonah (1180-1263) in his comments on Pirkei Avos 4:19 writes that that the high level in which rejoicing is permitted is if one does so in celebration of the Kavod Shamayim – of the honor due to G-d at the fall of this evil-doer. This may be very much in line with our Ralbag.

THE ALSHICH’S VIEW

The Alshich (1508-1593) in his comments to Tehillim 5:11 qualifies the verse in Mishlei to refer only to a personal enemy, but one whose evil is so much against G-d – the opposite feeling is in order – one should, in fact, rejoice. Thus, the Chapter eleven verse refers to one who is so evil in the eyes of G-d. The Alshich does not distinguish between our own levels, but rather the type of enemy that the pasuk refers to.

THE OTHER VIEW – THE MESHECH CHOCHMA AND GERRER REBBE

The Meshech Chochma in his comments to Shmos 12:16 writes that upright individuals do not rejoice at the death of others as do, say, some of the other nations. This seems to be across the board. Thus, on Passover, we celebrate the freedom of the Jewish people and not the fact that G-d punished the Egyptians. Similarly, on Chanukah, we celebrate the miracle of the oil lasting and not the fall of the Syrian Greeks.  However, we can certainly draw a distinction in that the Egyptians as a whole may not have been considered terrorist and murderers – just enemy combatants.

The Gerrer Rebbe on Sukkos 5658 also expressed this thought. He explained that even though Yom Tov’s must all have Simcha, the word is used only regarding Sukkos and not Pesach. Why? The death of the Egyptians that occurred on Pesach caused the use of the word “Simcha” in regard to Pesach as not appropriate.

The Yalkut Shimoni (Mishlei 960) also points out that we do not recite a full Hallel on Pesach except for the first day because of the notion of not overly rejoicing over the deaths of enemies. Also, the Midrash points out, that Noah refrained from marital intimacy during the time that the evildoers in the world were being destroyed on account of the notion of the verse in chapter 24. Seemingly, this Midrash is not in accordance with the distinctions made by the Alshich and the Ralbag.

PERHAPS NOT ALL AGREED TO

It may also be suggested that the notion was perhaps not necessarily universally adhered to by all of Israel. How so? In Pirkei Avos (4:19) Shmuel HaKatan says almost the exact same thing as King Solomon did in Mishlei. The Rambam and the Bartenura point this out but remark that Shmuel actually utilized and taught this approach. The fact that the Mishna singles Shmuel HaKatan out for this indicates that it may not necessarily have been kept so universally. In fact, it could be that King David himself, the father of King Shlomo may have erred in his reciting of joyful song at the fall of Kush Ben Yemini, as pointed out in Midrash Tehillim (7).

The conclusion? It seems that if one rejoices at the Kavod Shamayim – the honor that finally justice has been accomplished with the knowledge that the honor of Heaven has been further enhanced and uplifted with this man’s death – then one may certainly rejoice, but nonetheless, it should still be tempered.  All this is for enemy combatants, but rejoicing at the fall of terrorists and murderers would seem to be fully sanctioned by the meforshim.

Let us also realize that close to 1332 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 7^th, and undoubtedly the vast majority if not all of these students lost someone close to them.  It would be wholly insensitive to censure them for seeing the yad Hashem and appreciating this miraculous turn of events.

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