Sing a Song of Vengeance

Sing a Song of Vengeance R' Binyamin Zev Kahane hy"d The falsifiers of Judaism, in their effort to prove that Judaism loathes the concept of vengeance, and that we should feel sad when our enemy falls, are fond of bringing the Talmudic quote concerning the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea: “the work of My hands are drowning in the sea, and you want to sing?” It is not only the secular haters of Judaism who quote this verse, but unfortunately, they are joined by so many tortured Moderdox types who cannot bear to accept the stark truth of authentic Jewish values. As usual, these distorters and perverters of authentic Jewish concepts, selectively and very partially quote the Talmud. The selection they bring down really begins with R. Yehoshua ben Levy starting his lecture on Megilat Esther with the verse “As the Lord rejoiced over you (“sas”) to do you good, so the Lord will rejoice over you (“yasis”) to cause you to perish.” (Dvarim 28) And the Talmud asks: Does the Almighty then rejoice over the fall of the wicked? To prove that he does not rejoice, the story of the angels asking to praise God for the drowning of the Egyptians is brought. And this is where the ignoramuses and falsifiers stop. But there is more. The Talmud continues and answers as follows: “Rabbi Elazar said: It is true that He does not rejoice, but he causes others to rejoice. (Megila 10b and Sanhedrin 39b) Ah, what a difference. And a clear answer to the obvious question: If God does not want us to rejoice and praise Him when our enemy falls, why in the world does it say in our parsha: “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord"…? (Shmot 14). Of course the Almighty, the totality of Compassion, the Father of all, grieves for His children -- all of them. He does not sing. His angels, who are not of this world, do not sing. But the Jews do. Not only are they allowed to, they are commanded to… It is true, that Hashem grieves. He grieves that those who were made in his image have so perverted and destroyed the greatness of that image. That those who were made in the image of good, were so evil. And so, He grieves for the perversion of His purpose in making the world, for His works have who have so gone astray. And in His grief He does not have pity: He destroys them: he knows that evil and He cannot share the same world, as our rabbis say: “As long as the wicked rule in the world, the Holy One Blessed Be He, so to speak, cannot sit on His throne.” (Talkut Tehilim, Ch 47) And so, because the arrogance of the enemy of the Jewish people, their brazen persecution of the people of God with no fear of God, is the very essence of Hillul Hashem, the Almighty in wrath destroys them and the Children of Israel must sing and glorify god. And thus do the rabbis declare (Shmot Rabba 23) “Then did Moses and the Children of Israel sing: this is what is meant by the verse (Psalms 9): ‘The Lord is known by the judgement He executes’ This speaks of Egypt whom God smote at the Red Sea.” And Shmot Rabba 23 continues: “Then did Moses and Children of Israel sing. This is the meaning of the verse (Psalms 93) ‘Your throne was firm from then.’ Even though you exist from time immemorial your throne was not made firm and You were not made known in the world until your children sang. When You stood at the sea and we sang before You, with that “az” (then) were Your Kingdom and Throne made firm. This is the essence of Judaism. A world made for good and that cannot abide evil. A world that, when the works of God – as Pharaoh declaring: “Who is the Lord”, the Almighty destroys them, no matter how sad He feels and the Jew is ordered to sing the song of the Red Sea each and every day of the year in his morning service! It is an incredible perversion of Judaism by the confused and guilt-ridden Jews, ignoramuses and learned alike, to claim vengeance against our enemy is not something to rejoice in. We can really go on and on bringing Jewish sources, but space is limited, and we hope the lesson is clear. We conclude with the following from Midrash Avkir: “And Israel saw the hand of God”. When the Almighty wished to drown the Egyptians, the Archangel of Egypt (Uza) said: Sovereign of the Universe! You are called just and righteous… why do you wish to drown the Egyptians? At that moment Gabriel rose and took a brick and said: Sovereign of the Universe! These who enslaved your children such a terrible slavery as this, shall you have mercy on them? Immediately, the Almighty drowned them”.

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