By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
SAN DIEGO–Shortly after the death of Osama Bin Laden by American Special Forces, Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles posted the following comment on his Facebook page: “Yesterday, Yom Hashoah, Bin Laden was killed. The proper reaction is sobriety, not revelry. This is a time to remember those who died, pray for those who fight, meditate anew on wickedness and redouble our dedication to justice.”
Rabbi Wolpe, no doubt, had in mind the famous midrash we recall on Passover as we remove drops of wine from our Kiddush cups (thereby diminishing our joy) as we recite the Ten Plagues. After the Israelites miraculously crossed the Red Sea on dry land, the Egyptians pursued them. With the Egyptians in the middle, God caused the sea to return to is proper place, drowning them. As soon as the angels in heaven saw the Egyptians perish they began dancing, singing, and celebrating. God stopped them. “The death of the Egyptians is not a cause for celebration,” said God, “They, too, are my children.”
“I am well aware of the midrash but I would not be truthful if I said that I did not greet the death of Osama Bin Laden with great satisfaction. Although Bin Laden was one of God’s children, his theology and murderous activities were a chillul Ha-Shem, a desecration of God’s Holy Name. He stood against everything that most of us believe is holy and good.
All I could think about when I heard some Muslims protesting the way he was buried (at sea instead of in the ground), were his victims who perished on 9/11 who can never receive a proper burial because their bodies were consumed by jet fuel.
Many have spoken about Bin Laden’s death as his being “brought to justice.” If we equate justice with retribution, I supposed that is true. When talking about Bin Laden’s death, one of my Community Jewish High students (unknowingly!) quoted this week’s Torah reading: “If anyone maims his fellow, as he has done so shall it be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The injury he inflicted on another shall be inflicted on him.” (Lev. 24:19-20)
If we take the Torah literally, then Bin Laden received the punishment he deserved. However, it is not that simple. While “eye for eye” may appeal on some level to our primitive and punitive urges, a world that operated this way would be neither just nor viable. The Talmudic rabbis understood this and reinterpreted the strict Biblical law to mean not literally an eye for an eye, but rather that a monetary compensation should be paid to the victim for the loss of an eye.
Normally when we talk about “justice” we talk about bringing someone to trial and impartially weighing the evidence before deciding guilt or innocence and imposing sentence. Bringing Bin Laden to trial, however, would have created innumerable problems. Minimally, it would have given him a platform to espouse his hatred and his followers a cause around which to rally. There would have been no end to the circus.
For the good of all of us it is better that he was killed. After the cheering has died down, our subsequent response defines who we are. I hope that the celebrations are short lived, because Bin Laden’s death revives the pain and anguish we felt on 9/11, and nothing can bring the victims back nor compensate their loved ones for their loss. We are still in mourning for those who perished, their families and friends, for our country, and for us.
We also know that Bin Laden’s death is not a death blow to Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, including Hamas, who condemned rather than congratulated the United States for the death. (Hamas lawmaker Ismail al-Ashqar called the killing of Bin Laden an example of “state terrorism that America carries out against Muslims”).
Bin Laden’s death is a milestone in the war against terror, but the “finish line,” the day on which we will not have to fear walking onto an airplane or being in public spaces, seems farther away than ever.
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Rabbi Rosenthal is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego. He may be contacted at leonard.rosenthal@sdjewishworld.com