[Aspaqlaria] Aspaqlaria

Thu Jul 26 02:28:09 PDT 2007

Aspaqlaria

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Compassion for Our Enemies

Posted: 25 Jul 2007 01:07 PM CDT
http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2007/07/compassion-for-our-enemies.shtml

We have a minhag to pour out 16 drops of wine, once at each mention of a makah that befell the Egyptians. The earliest mention of this custom is in the Maharil (according to R Joseph Tabory, on Avodah), who says the reason is that we are promised any distress which I placed upon the Egyptians I will not place upon you. As the cup of wine represents Jewish redemption, thus the drops are us asking Hashem to spare us these troubles and send them to our enemies. It is also documented in numerous places that those who remove the wine with their index finger are commemorating the Egyptian mages description of the plagues, it is the Finger of G-d.The most common reason we pass around, however, is that were diminishing our joy out of compassion for the suffering of other human beings, even the Egyptians. This reason is relatively new, but it is found in such authoritative locations as the hagaddah of R SZ Aurbach and appears as a yeish lomar (it could be said) in that of R Elyashiv (pg 106, dam vaeish).

So the question arose on both Avodah and soc.culture.jewish.moderated whether the value of compassion for our enemies is authentically Jewish, and more relevant for those who saw the references to these hagados, the origin and history of it.

The search seems to center on the question of why we say Chatzi Hallel (an incomplete Hallel; hereafter CH) on the 7th day of Pesach.

The gemara (Eirukhin 10b) gives the reason that from the second day onward, the qorban for that day was the same as the one before. The days of Pesach lack a newness that those of Sukkos have, and therefore there is CH on all but the first day of Pesach, but full Hallel on every day of Sukkos.

The Pesiqta deRav Kahane (Mandelbaum Edition, siman 29, 189a) gives us a different reason. It tells the story of the angels singing/reciting poetry at the crossing of the Red Sea, which was on the 7th day of Pesach, and Hashem stopping them saying Maasei Yadai tovim bayam, vaatem omerim shirah  the work of My Hands is drowning in the sea, and you say shirah?

The Jews, on the other hand, sang Az Yashir unimpeded. It would seem to me therefore that we were allowed to rejoice, but there is a limit or a sadness mixed into that joy.

This is midrash is quoted by the Midrash Harninu and the Yalqut Shimoni (the Perishah points you to Parashas Emor, remez 566).

The Midrash Harninu or the Shibolei haLeqet (our only source for the Midrash Harninu) associate this midrash with binfol. This is despite the fact that the pasuq of binfol would literally mean not rejoicing at all, and here its being used to argue for ambivalence  merging the joy of the neis with the sorrow of what was necessary to be done to the Mitzriyim.

The Beis Yoseif  (OCh 490:4, Kol) cited the gemara, then quotes the Shibolei haLeqet as a second reason.

The topic of CH was discussed in a column in Jewish Action by R Ari Z Zivitofsky. Here are some of the sources he identified.

The Taz gives this diminution of joy as the reason for CH on the 7th day (OC 490:3), as does the Chavos Yair (225).

The Kaf haChaim (OCh 685:29) brings down the Yafeh haLeiv (3:3) use this midrash to establish the idea that we mourn the downfall of our enemy in order to explain why there is no berakhah on Parashas Zakhor (remembering the requirement to destroy Amaleiq).

R Aharon Kotler (Mishnas R Aharon vol III pg 3) says that the gemaras reason for CH (that the qorbanos are the same as for the previous day) is meant to address only chol hamoed, and our medrash is the primary reason for the 7th day of Pesach.

Which exhausted what I found on CH and R Zivitofskys column.

Back on Avodah,  R Jacob Farkas found the Meshekh Chokhmah (Shemos 12:16 uveyom), who uses binfol and our medrash as an argument for disassociating Purim and Chanukah from their military victories. We celbrate our salvation, not their downfall. He also cites R Shelomo Alkabetz (Manos haLeivi 9:20 Vayikhtov Mordekha) who writes that because HQVH does not rejoice in the downfall of the evil, we too should not rejoice at their downfall  imitatio dei. We therefore celebrate Purim only for our deliverance.

R Dov Kay points us to the Netzivs into to HaEimeq Davar, Bereishis. He defines Seifer haYesharim as the book about those who showed concern even for the wicked, that this quality is what defines being yashar. He holds up Avrahams atittude toward the people of Sedom as an example for us to follow.

So, regardless of whether this is the reason for CH on Pesach day 7 or for spilling wine at the seider, or just a lesson one can learn post-facto from one or both of these, I think we have succeeded in well establishing the Jewishness of the idea that we have compassion for the death of even evil people.

(In an earlier devar Torah I suggest that this mixture of emotions is a necessary element before an event is called a yeshuah in Tanakh. That it is in common between Noach getting saved, and why the rainbow is a mixed message, why Lots wife was punished for turning back when she was saved, and our case of the malakhim at Yam Suf, who had no right to sing praises since people had died and it wasnt they who were saved.)

Similarly, this recognition of the role of ambivalence is found in the halakhah that someone who is left a large inheritence must say both the berakhah of Dayan emes, mourning the death, and hatov vehameitiv on becoming wealthy.

Here, the balance must be struck between two verses: when your enemy falls do not rejoice (Mishlei 24:17) and with the destruction of evil there are shouts of happiness (11:10). The Zohar writes that the happiness is only when the destruction is to cure the evil, and therefore comes with their atonement. When they die because they are oyevim, enemies, who need to be eliminated to save the good rather than in the right time for their own sake, there is no joy. The gemaras resolution (Sanherin 39b) is that while Hashem does not rejoice, He does call upon man to rejoice. However the Maharsha relates this back to the story of the work of My Hands is drowning One should rejoice at being the beneficiary of G-ds good, even while recognizing the loss necessary for you to obtain that.

One cant say its an assimilated liberal or Christian value that was brought in through liberal Judaisms, or promoted by kiruv workers who want a more palatable Judaism to sell.

So why doesnt mi shemeracheim al haachzarim  one who is merciful to the cruel will in the end be cruel to the merciful apply? Perhaps it is because we arent talking about ignoring the very real need for their destruction. Unlike Shaul, who inappropriately saved Agag, we are not saying the Mitzriyim should have been spared. Rather, that its sad that things had come to this.

Someone who rl needs to have a leg amputated should have it removed. Hell mourn its loss and the loss of everything he could have done with it, but will still give his okay for its removal. Mi shemeracheim is the doctor who lets the patient die because he had pity on the leg.

This posting includes a media file: http://www.ou.org/publications/ja/5760spring/legalease.pdf

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