There’s nothing new about vengeance. It’s been with us since the birth of humanity, and the earliest record of murder in the Bible is an act of revenge. Cain kills his brother Abel as an act of fury at both his sibling and the God who favoured him. It’s a basic, primaeval human impulse understandable in the hurt that it springs from and the satisfaction that it brings to a troubled human heart. Nietzsche wisely recorded ‘a small revenge is more human than no revenge at all’. Yet, for all this, the cost of exercising revenge can be so costly and immensely harmful.
Since 7th of October, nekamah or vengeance has emerged as one of the key words in Israeli public life; not only in popular culture like social media and synagogue publications, but in the media, the military, the government and the Knesset. Shortly after October 7th, Benjamin Netanyahu put it bluntly: “We will strike them until they are crippled, and we will avenge with full force this black day they inflicted upon the state of Israel and its citizens”.
As I write this piece, the world is anxiously awaiting Iran’s retaliation for Israel’s retribution – it’s targeted assassinations of some of its most deadly enemies in the leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Revenge can be seen as an act of justice and as a way of stopping violence. It sends a message of strength to one’s enemy. Israel’s capacity to strike at the very heart and the capitals of terror has restored some of its battered pride and reinstated the importance of deterrence to its opponents. Many analysts of the Middle East suggest that the only way to win a conflict in this part of the world is by powerful displays and acts of strength. They would probably approve of the fabled Mohammed Ali’s remark: “I’m a fighter. I believe in the eye for an eye business. I’m no cheek turner. I got no respect for a man who won’t hit back. You kill my dog, you better hide your cat”.
On the other hand, vengeance can perpetuate a cycle of tit for tat, an endless pattern of attack and reprisal, violence and suffering. Righteous indignation can lead to very inhuman and unrighteous behaviour. Even if justifiable, should there not be limits to the scope of one’s retribution, after all even measure for measure should be measured?
Jewish wisdom has long pondered the value and virtue of revenge. In the Bible, God both approved and disapproved of it. Early on in Jewish history, He calls on Israel to take revenge on its enemies be they the Amalekites or the Midianites. King David called on God to avenge his adversaries. Yet, alongside these sentiments, God forbids vengeance (Leviticus 19,18) and commands forgiveness as Joseph forgave his brothers who sought to kill him. Maimonides emphatically warns us not to bear a grudge and pursue harmony, stating that this is what creates a good society and makes human interaction possible.
Some thinkers argue that it is only God, not man, who exercises vengeance and only in the past appointed human agents for this as in the case of Amalek. Since the destruction of the Second Temple, says Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Jews may and perhaps should appeal to God for justice and retribution, but not become advocates of revenge. You can’t simply equate all haters of Jews as contemporary Amalekites or Hamman-ites. This is not to say we should not seek to destroy the enemies who seek to annihilate us. Jewish Law states that it is just and right to pre-emptively kill those who want to kill you; it’s called Haba Le Hargecha.
On the 9th of Av next week we will recall the Jewish communities through the ages who were helpless in the face of their murderers and marauders, cried out in their fear and agony and etched onto the walls of their gas chambers – take revenge for our deaths. In the collective Jewish psyche and especially Israeli psyche, October 7th channelled the collective trauma of the Holocaust as the Shoah had animated many in the early days of the State; Abba Kovner, for example, led a group called The Avengers.
The mood of so many, if not most, in Israel and across the Jewish world is therefore understandably for a vindictive and undiluted payback to the genocidal Hamas leaders and their followers. It, however, has a dark downside – a failure to discriminate between those who embrace Hamas and the innocent bystanders intimidated and exploited by Hamas and their ilk. It’s hard to appreciate nuance when your heart is bleeding.
Vengeance is a path that can lead to a dead end of violence and despair. Revenge can erode and destroy both its agent and its target. We, Jews, have long distinguished between justice and vengeance. We don’t celebrate the fall of our enemies, even as we welcome it. We hate the way they have besmirched the soul that God gave them but, as the wise king Solomon (Proverbs 24;17) recommended, we don’t gloat (and hand out lollies) and rejoice in their destruction ‘One who fights monsters must be careful not to become a monster’…
We stand for life against the merchants of death and we refuse to allow them to define us.
Rabbi Ralph
This article was first written for AIR – Australia Israel Review magazine – excellent review and in depth analysis of news from Australia and Israel. You can subscribe to it on: admin-aijac@aijac.org.au
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