Does God Celebrate the Demise of the Wicked?

In the wake of the assassinations of two of Israel’s most fierce and destructive enemies, it is fitting to consider Torah’s guidance on how we are to respond to the demise of those who have caused us harm. Various sources provide seemingly contradictory approaches. In Proverbs, it is written “when the wicked perish there is gladness” (Proverbs 11:10). Yet elsewhere in the same book of Scripture, we find “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls” (Proverbs 24:17). Which then, is the proper approach, and how should we react to these recent assassinations?

As nothing in Torah or in life is coincidence, today’s Zohar reading in the annual cycle known as Hok L’Yisrael directly addresses God’s “feelings” when judgment is meted out to the wicked:

“There is no greater joy for G‑d than when the wicked of the world who provoke Him are removed from this world” (Zohar Noah 61b).

Yet as the Zohar continues, it questions this joy: “we learned that there is no joy before G‑d when He passes His judgment on the sinners…. But, when is there joy? When the time that He has waited for them is over, and they have not returned from sinning to Him. But if judgment is delivered on them before their time has come, and the measure of their sins has not yet been completed… there is no joy. And there is grief before Him because of their destruction” (ibid).

What does this mean, and how does it instruct us to react? Is God “joyous” in response to these assassinations and should we therefore celebrate? Or is there “grief before Him because of their destruction,” and should we therefore be more sober and less jubilant in our response? Furthermore, what is this “time that He has waited for them,” and how does it influence God’s reaction?

The Zohar goes on to explain that God waits patiently for His creations to return to Him, allotting each person ample time to correct her/his errant ways. If that time expires, then the one who has refused to mend her/his ways is removed from the world. To reconcile the contradictory divine responses, we can suggest from the specificity of the Zohar’s language that it is not the punishment or judgment of the wicked that results in God’s joy, but rather their removal from the world – “when judgment is delivered on the wicked, there is joy and exultation before Him BECAUSE THEY ARE REMOVED FROM THIS WORLD.” In removing the soul from the realm of conflict and concealment, it is no longer subject to the darkness that corrupted it and no longer able or liable to adversely impact the creation.

What about the soul that has not yet exhausted its allotted time? The Zohar continues: “If their time has not come yet, then why should judgment be delivered on them? …Because they approach Israel in an effort to harm them, He passes His judgment on them and entirely removes them from the world before their time is up. And this is when there is grief before Him.”

The grief here is perhaps a result of the fact that the soul has not availed itself of the opportunity it has been provided to correct itself. Instead it has threatened God’s children, and it must therefore be extracted from the world prematurely. Hopeful that each of His creations will fulfill its Godly potential, God is saddened, so to speak, when this is not the case.

The lesson for us is that God is concerned for all of His creations. He grants us all free will and roots for each one of us to choose properly. He is patient with us, but there is only so much time allotted and only so far that we can stray before we are shepherded back in. Our response then to the demise of our enemies can simultaneously be gratitude and sorrow. We can celebrate the elimination of a very real threat, and concurrently mourn the fact that there is so much violence and hatred in the world which must be combated.

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