[Avodah] N'kom L'aynaynu

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Thu, Oct 06, 2016 at 05:23:16PM +0300, Lisa Liel wrote:
: I know it goes against modern cultural mores, but being able to see
: God take vengeance on one's enemies can be a great comfort.  I know
: that we're supposed to say "I want justice; not vengeance", but the
: Torah is pretty clear that wanting vengeance is natural, and not to
: be condemned...

What about the Rambam, Dei'os 7:7, that I cited WRT whether neqimah
is only a problem WRT ".... es benei amekha"?
    Ra'ui lo le'adam liyhos ma'vir al midosav
    al kol divrei ha'olam.
    Shehakol eitzel hamevinim divrei hevel vehavai.
    Ve'einan kedai linqom aleihem.

It does appear that a wise person doesn't think anything is worth
neqamah.

At 10:35 am EDT Lisa replied to me:
>> You shifted from Divine Vengence to what we are commanded to do.

>> C.f. "Hashem yi[n]qom damo".

> I'm not convinced that this is a legitimate distinction.  Hashem refers
> to our attack on the Midianites as nikmat bnei Yisrael. Moshe refers to
> it as nikmat Hashem.  I think there are times when we are the vehicle of
> Hashem's vengeance.

Sure, when the victory is part of the nissim giluyim of Yetzi'as Mitzrayim,
each can point to the others' role in the victory.

Still, the attitude expressed by Hil' Dei'os appears to me to be the
ideal we should be striving for. I think there is no motivation for
the argument you're making.

GCT!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Between stimulus & response, there is a space.
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