The Jewish tradition has much to say on the killing of our vicious and even murderous enemies.
When Pharaoh’s troops were drowning in the Red Sea as they sought to re-enslave or kill the Israelites, the angels began to sing praises (the Hallel prayers: Psalms 113-118). According to the Talmud, God chastened them: “My children (the Egyptians) are sinking in the sea, and you are singing praises?”
Yet God did not silence the Israelites, knowing that at that moment it would be hard for humans not to celebrate the death of an oppressor.
Nevertheless, the Jewish tradition then instituted two practices in accord with God’s response: first, that the Hallel prayers would be cut down to a partial saying of some of the psalms on the last six days of Passover; and second, that when we do the Seder on Passover and recite the plagues that were used against the Egyptians to get them to free the Jews, we put our finger in the cup of wine, symbolic of our joy, and dip out a drop of wine for each plague — this symbolizes that our cup of joy cannot be full if our own liberation requires the death of those who were part of the oppressor society.
It is the loss of this consciousness by almost every society on the planet that is a real source for concern and mourning. For far too many people, the war on terrorism seems to be an extension of the football games where we cheer on our team: “USA! USA! Hey, you are tough!”
The task of spiritual progressives at this moment is to reaffirm a different consciousness — to remind ourselves that we are inextricably bound to each other and to everyone on the planet.
The struggle against terrorism will not be won through killing, no matter how many people we assassinate. You don’t fight malaria by seeking to kill every mosquito on the planet, but rather by draining the swamps. Similarly, you can’t eliminate terrorism by seeking to kill every terrorist (and in the process killing a lot of innocent others as well), but only by draining the swamps of hatred that have been built up as a response to the suffering generated by global inequities and injustices. So the struggle to eliminate terror will only be won when we in the West can show genuine love, caring, and generosity toward everyone else on the planet. A strategy of generosity, not a strategy of domination, is the path forward.
Now that Osama is dead, let’s get our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan now! The money saved from that alone would make a great down-payment on the Global Marshall Plan we badly need (and we could start it in the Middle East). Congressman Keith Ellison has already introduced this plan as House Resolution 157. If the U.S. took the leadership in getting a consortium of advanced industrial societies to dedicate 1-2% of their gross domestic product each year for the next twenty years to funding a Global Marshall Plan such as the Network of Spiritual Progressives has designed to once and for all end global poverty, hunger, homelessness, inadequate education and inadequate health care while repairing the global environment, we would defeat terrorism in the only way possible (download the full version at SpiritualProgressives.org/GMP).
I understand very well the need for self-defense in a violent world, as well as the rage and upset felt by many, including me, at the murder of innocent civilians on September 11 and on many other occasions. Within the current distorted framework of military conflict in which we are to some degree entrapped, I also understand the strategic importance of capturing or, if there is no other way to stop them from sending more murderers to kill innocent civilians (and every other possible route has been tried), then self-defensively killing the leaders of those who seek to kill or terrorize our own people. But the fact remains that it is through new policies of generosity and caring for others, not through killing the bad guys, that we will create a world of peace. To the extent that Americans celebrate the death of bin Laden because they believe that it will bring peace to the world, I want to acknowledge the goodness and decency of that aspiration. Yet we as spiritual progressives must simultaneously help our fellow Americans, indeed, our fellow human beings in every society, see that it is the path of nonviolence and the Strategy of Generosity that is the only path toward lasting peace on our planet.
So this is a moment to pray that this new consciousness will spread quickly through our planet, and a moment when all of us can and should renew our dedication to promoting a spirit of love, caring for others, and true generosity. Let us pray that that becomes the path of all countries on our planet.
I must say that just discarding Bin Laden’s body in the sea like that shocked me. As if his body was trash.I say this as someone fundamentally in opposition to everything this murderous sexist homophobic fundamentalist stands for.
Rabbi Lerner again writes a brilliant article!!!
I merely quote a bumper sticker:
“Only when the power of love overcomes the love for power will there be peace.”
Am grateful to be connected to a community which voices the concern for peace and love when the world is blindly celebrating this death… thanks for being there.
The Jewish tradition of not rejoicing over the death of our enemy transcends liberal and conservative politics. All Jews who observe Passover Seder remove wine from their cups to deminish the joy of the occasion of our exodus from Egypt. The fact that the exodus from Egypt came at the cost of the death of our enemy brings us no joy. The death of Osama Bin Laden was necessary for both justice and for the safety of his future victims, but it is not something that should bring happiness to Jewish people.
thank you, rabbi lerner for saying so eloquently what many of us feel. while i understand the celebration of bin laden’s death, as well as its manner, i’d’ve much preferred his being taken captive & held for trial, much like what was done in Nuremberg for those who carried out the Holocaust. i’ve wondered since reading about bin laden’s death–was it an execution (he/others weren’t armed, apart from a guard), or perceived self-defense? how would Israel have been treated had its army been the one involved: would there be the same level of acceptance? not only with how the raid was handled, but w/the subsequent celebration in streets, “burial” of bin laden at sea? what we accept, in large part, seems to depend on who’s involved, & this is troubling.
Thanks Rabbi Lerner. You speak with wisdom. Assassination is not the way to deliver justice or to end violence or win the struggle against terrorism. No, there is a different path to justice just as there is a different way to end violence.
But please let us not try to do it by ‘draining the swamps’ literally or metaphorically because ‘the swamps’ might teach us a valuable lesson. As you say we are inextricably bound to each other and to everyone on the planet. Might I add that we are also inextricably bound to every other thing especially every other living thing on the planet.
I live in a part of Australia that was once predominantly wetlands, ‘swamps’ vibrant with life, birds, animals, plants. During the early part of last century settlers employed the strategy of domination to drain the swamps to eliminate the mosquitos and everything else to gain for themselves productive farmland. They pretty much failed and caused much destruction and death to the lesser creatures and the land itself by their efforts. Therein is a lesson, I suggest and it is the lesson that you have articulated except that you left out the greater part of creation, the part we seem to have forgotten. Surely our efforts, our struggle must focus on more than people. We have to learn first to show genuine love, care and generosity toward the other living things on the planet indeed toward the planet itself, then we will be much better placed to show love, care and generosity to other people.