Between Mourning and Rejoicing: On Dealing with our Enemy

Seven times the righteous man falls and gets up,
While the wicked are tripped by one misfortune.
If your enemy falls, do not exult;
If he trips, let your heart not rejoice, Lest the LORD see it and be displeased,
And avert His wrath from him.

(10) When the righteous prosper the city exults;
When the wicked perish there are shouts of joy.

But the Israelites had marched through the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. Thus יהוה delivered Israel that day from the Egyptians. Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea. And when Israel saw the wondrous power which יהוה had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared יהוה; they had faith in יהוה and in God’s servant Moses. Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to יהוה. They said:
I will sing to יהוה, for He has triumphed gloriously;
Horse and driver He has hurled into the sea.

Rav Acha bar Chanina said: “When the wicked perish, there is song;” [thus] when Ahab ben Omri perished here was ‘song’. But does the Holy One, blessed be He, rejoice over the downfall of the wicked? Is it not written, [That they should praise] as they went out before the army, and say, “Give thanks unto the Lord for His mercy endures forever;” concerning which R. Yonatan asked: Why are the words, “He is good” mitted from this expression of thanks? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, does not rejoice in the downfall of the wicked. For R. Shmuel bar Nahman said in R. Yonatan‘s name: What is meant by, “And one did not come near the other all night?” In that hour the ministering angels wished to utter the song [of praise] before the Holy One, blessed be He, but He rebuked them, saying: My handiwork [the Egyptians] is drowning in the sea; and you recite a song before me!

Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! This is the day on which GOD will deliver Sisera into your hands: GOD is marching before you.”...Jael came out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord, come in here, do not be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. He said to her, “Please let me have some water; I am thirsty.” She opened a skin of milk and gave him some to drink; and she covered him again. He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent. If anybody comes and asks you if there is anybody here, say ‘No.’” Then Jael wife of Heber took a tent pin and grasped the mallet. When he was fast asleep from exhaustion, she approached him stealthily and drove the pin through his temple till it went down to the ground. Thus he died.

On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang: When locks go untrimmed in Israel,
When people dedicate themselves—Bless GOD ! Hear, O kings! Give ear, O potentates!I will sing, will sing to GOD,
Will hymn the ETERNAL, the God of Israel.

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Through the window peered Sisera’s mother,Behind the lattice she whined:“Why is his chariot so long in coming?Why so late the clatter of his wheels?”The wisest of her ladies give answer;She, too, replies to herself:“They must be dividing the spoil they have found:A woman or two for each man,Spoil of dyed cloths for Sisera,Spoil of embroidered cloths,A couple of embroidered clothsRound every neck as spoil.”So may all Your enemies perish, O GOD !
But may Your friends be as the sun rising in might!And the land was tranquil forty years.

After Haman trimmed his hair, Haman dressed Mordecai in the royal garments. Haman then said to him: Mount the horse and ride. Mordecai said to him: I am unable, as my strength has waned from the days of fasting that I observed. Haman then stooped down before him and Mordecai ascended on him. As he was ascending the horse, Mordecai gave Haman a kick. Haman said to him: Is it not written for you: “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls” (Proverbs 24:17)? Mordecai said to him: This statement applies only to Jews, but with regard to you it is written: “And you shall tread upon their high places” (Deuteronomy 33:29).

There were these hooligans in Rabbi Meir’s neighborhood who caused him a great deal of anguish. Rabbi Meir prayed for God to have mercy on them, that they should die. Rabbi Meir’s wife, Berurya, said to him: What is your thinking? On what basis do you pray for the death of these hooligans? Do you base yourself on the verse, as it is written: “Let sins cease from the land” (Psalms 104:35), which you interpret to mean that the world would be better if the wicked were destroyed? But is it written, let sinners cease?” Let sins cease, is written. One should pray for an end to their transgressions, not for the demise of the transgressors themselves.Moreover, go to the end of the verse, where it says: “And the wicked will be no more.” If, as you suggest, transgressions shall cease refers to the demise of the evildoers, how is it possible that the wicked will be no more, i.e., that they will no longer be evil? Rather, pray for God to have mercy on them, that they should repent, as if they repent, then the wicked will be no more, as they will have repented. Rabbi Meir saw that Berurya was correct and he prayed for God to have mercy on them, and they repented.

“The Lord God” – this is analogous to a king who had empty cups [of very thin glass]. The king said: If I pour hot water into them, they will shatter; [if I pour very] cold water, they will crack. What did the king do? He mixed hot and cold water and placed it in them, and they endured. So, the Holy One blessed be He said: If I create the world with [just] the attribute of mercy, there will be many sinners; if [just] with the attribute of strict justice, how will the world endure? Rather, I will create it with [both] the attribute of justice and the attribute of mercy, would that it will endure.

The Gemara asks: But is the Holy One, Blessed be He, gladdened by the downfall of the wicked? Isn’t it written in the verse describing the victory of the Jewish people in battle: “He appointed them that should sing unto the Lord, and praise in the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and say: Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy endures forever” (II Chronicles 20:21). And Rabbi Yonatan says: For what reason is it not stated in this praise: “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever,” as is stated elsewhere, e.g., Psalms 118:1? This is because the Holy One, Blessed be He, is not gladdened by the downfall of the wicked.