What Blessing Said Upon Hearing That Osama Bin Laden Was Dead?
May 6th, 2012
Rabbi Gary S. Creditor
Richmond, Virginia 23221
Judaism has several practices to help us heal after a death. There is the initial isolation from the outside world called shivah, followed by the gradual re-entrance called sheloshim. Subsequently is the extended recitation of kaddish for eleven months for a parent, and then the close of one cycle with yahrzeit. No time frame is an absolute cure, but it helps guide our vision and our steps.
I/we have been living like that since 9/11. There was the initial period of intense grief, pain and disbelief and anger. [Someone should write a thesis on the music composed in the following days and months.] That was followed by a slow reemergence: we had a community service here in this Sanctuary and the Thanksgiving Interfaith Service. The next phase was observed on the fifth year anniversary. The "yahrzeit" has been in the planning stage, namely, the tenth anniversary to be held here this September 11th. I finally had been able to put the pictures particularly of the Twin Towers in the recesses of my mind. Ruby and I took down the black & white picture of them from our bedroom wall. It has been nearly a decade of healing. In the metaphor of a scab over a wound, the scab over our hearts has gown thick, enabling us to gain a measure of balance and restoration. Ground Zero is being rebuilt with the Freedom Tower.
The events of the past week have evoked the anguish and agony of ten years ago as if it was yesterday. The TV clips and the sirens have nearly undone all the healing and leave my soul red and raw. There is no emotion left untouched.
I did not rejoice with the news that Osama bin Laden was dead. Instantaneously I was transported to 9/11. I am glad that he is dead. But "Getting him" did not even the score. His death did not execute justice. No fist heavenward raised equated to the thousands of dead from that day and subsequent days and terror attacks. We will still have to go through the screening at the airports. We will still be creating new technology to discover other weapons of evil. And numbers and/or colors will indicate the state of alert. The dead have not returned to the living. I did not rejoice when hearing that Bin Laden was dead. I said a blessing, and the next day at minyan, by random occurrence or by divine intervention, recited a Psalm.
The beracha that came to mind comes from the middle section of the weekday Amidah. It has a history of its own which accounts for some of its language. But late Monday night, early Tuesday morning I said the following:
J‰k©N‹k±u
Whœ†c±hIt kŠf±u 's‡ct«T g³dœ¤r‰F vŠg§J¦r¨v kŠf±u 'v²u§e¦, h¦v§T k©t oh°bh¦
‹ghœ°b‰f©,±u r¯D©n§,U r‡C©J§,U r¥E‹g§, v¨r¥v§n oh¦s¯Z©v±u 'U,œ¥rŠF°h v¨r¥v§n
/oh¦s¯z ‹ghœ°b‰f©nU ohˆc±h«t r‡c«J '²h±h v¨T©t QUrŠC /Ubhœ¥n²h‰c v¨r¥v§nˆC
"And for the slanderers let there be no hope; and may all wickedness perish in an instant; and may all Your enemies be cut down speedily. May You speedily uproot, smash, cast down, and humble the wanton sinners – speedily in our days. Blessed are You, Adonay, Who breaks enemies and humbles the wanton sinners."
I meant every word of it. I said it with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my might. But not with joy. There is a staccato drum beat in the Hebrew text that is not reflected in its translation. It is almost like a fist pounding on a table demanding of God that He rectify the imbalance of the dominance of evil over us. The scales must be balanced. I like the literal translation and not the poetic ones that try to mollify and temper its language. The prayer is raw. Personal tranquility has been an illusion created by time and distance. That protection now stripped away, I am still raw, for nothing can return the dead; nothing can restore our innocence; nothing can change history. The scales have just been tilted a little better.
It was completely by accident – or was it? – that in our custom to recite the following day's Psalm after Mincha, that last Monday we recited Psalm 94 with its ending from the first three verses of Psalm 95.
God of retribution – Adonai, God of retribution appear!
Judge of the earth, punish the arrogant as they deserve.
How long, Adonai, how long shall the wicked exult?
Swaggering, boasting, they exude arrogance.
They crush Your people, Adonai, and oppress Your own.
Widows and strangers they slay; orphans they murder.
They say: "Adonai does not see;
The God of Jacob pays no heed."
Think clearly, you simpletons;
When will you fools be wise?
Surely the One who shapes the ear can hear.
Surely the One who forms the eye can see.
Surely God who disciplines nations will chastise,
Teaching mortals to understand.
Adonai knows human schemes, how futile they are.
Blessed are those whom God disciplines and teaches Torah,
Training them to wait calmly in adversity
Until a pit is dug for the wicked.
Adonai will not abandon His people;
God will not forsake His very own.
Justice will return to the righteous;
All the upright in heart will strive for it.
Who will stand up for me against the ungodly?
Who will take my part against evildoers?
Were it not for Adonai's help, I would be in my grave.
When my foot slips, Your love, Adonai, supports me.
When I am filled with cares, Your comfort soothes my soul.
Will the immoral claim You as their partner,
Defending evil under the mantle of law?
They conspire against the righteous;
They condemn the innocent to death.
But Adonai is my refuge;
My God is my sheltering Rock.
God will turn their own evil against them
And destroy them with their own guile.
Adonai our God will destroy them.
Let us sing to Adonai.
Let rejoice in our Creator.
Let us greet God with thanksgiving, singing psalms of praise.
Adonai is exalted, beyond all that is worshipped.
Perhaps it was the divine hand that caused that Psalm to intersect with that day, and with my heart. Its text articulated many themes that were percolating within me and shaped my thoughts and feelings. Perhaps you have felt this way, too.
God doesn't ignore injustice in the world. Allowing our human freedom which makes room for evil, God will at some time in some way using some one as His instrument bring about an accounting for evil that is done.
The evils ones should not think that they will get away with it forever. On 9/11 that thought was beyond imagination. We were in abject agony; they in their glory. We might have asked or questioned: was God going to ignore all of this. The Psalm says "No!"
God does not abandon us. Our faith gives us strength to endure the terror of the night and day, because we have His surety that the wicked will be ultimately punished. God is our strength, our true tower of shelter, our support. He will comfort us.
When we have survived the evil, we give thanks to God.
Of all the possible emotions I ever had, the one that never abated was the desire that the deaths on 9/11 and subsequently should be avenged. I wanted God to set aside His quality of mercy and only use His quality of strict justice and not to spare the evil. On late Sunday night, that came true. I give thanks to God and praise to the U.S. military, the instrument of His justice.
In following the string of Rabbinic conversation on my Rabbinical Assembly Rabbis' listserv, Rabbi Michael Bernstein of Alpharetta, Georgia referred to the observance that when hearing bad news we say "Baruch Dayan HaEmet" and when we hear good news we say "Baruch HaTov v'HaMetiv" "Blessed is the One Who is Good and does Good." This short phrase is reflected in the Birkat HaMazon and is the fourth beracha. According to the Talmud it was created after the catastrophe of Beitar, the last defeat of the Bar Kochba rebellion against the Romans. When they allowed the Jews to bury their dead instead of leaving them to rot, the Rabbis coined this beracha. By its language it turns us away from the evil that was perpetrated, from the calamity and ruination, to acts of goodness, deeds of loving kindness, and feats of restoration. Ground Zero is being rebuilt. The subway runs past it on time. The Pentagon has been rebuilt. A memorial park exists in Pennsylvania. The White House or whatever was the target of the third plane stands unharmed. "May those who suffered at the hands of evil find some measure of solace in the fall of the wicked." "May God continue to comfort their souls."
And now Osama bin Laden is dead. According to Jewish tradition, when mentioning Amalek, its king Agag, its descendant Haman and his metaphoric descendant Hitler, and now, for such as Osama bin Laden, one says "Yimach Sh'mo v'zichro." May his name and his memory be blotted out."
May we never see such evil again.
Rabbi Gary S. Creditor
Temple Beth-El
3330 Grove Avenue
Richmond, VA 23221
Phone 804-355-3564
Fax 804-257-7152
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