9:58 AM
Gil Student
The loss to the world of a wicked person who has committed countless murders and caused immeasurable damage to thousands if not millions of people, is not a cause for sadness. Quite the opposite. Scripture tells us: "In the good of the righteous the city exalts, and at the destruction of the wicked praise" (Proverbs 11:10).
However, before we rejoice we must recognize our current position in the world and in history.
The following is a (loose) translation of the Vilna Gaon's commentary to the above verse:
In the good of the righteous the city exalts - When God saves his nation, Israel, from their enemies, He redeems them and bestows good upon them first and then extracts their revenge from their enemies. This is what happened in Egypt, when God first redeemed the Jews and then destroyed the Egyptians in the sea. This also happened with Haman. God first bestowed good upon Mordekhai and only afterwards defeated Haman. This is in order that the enemy himself see the great salvation of Israel and that God is the Lord over the entire world.Considering the current world situation, the death of one wicked man is not yet "at the destruction of the wicked praise." Our enemies are still very much alive and powerful.
Thus, when God firsts bestows good upon the righteous, the entire "city" is exalting but still not singing and praising God. However, afterwards, when God defeats the enemies who have risen against us, then they praise God.
An additional consideration from R. Avraham Grodzinski, Toras Avraham, p. 319*:
"At the destruction of the wicked praise" - Not everyone is worthy and prepared for this. A person requires great care that he not be considered "glad at calamity" (Proverbs 17:5). A purity of heart is needed for this mitzvah, more than that which is needed for all of the other mitzvos in the Torah. If those who left Egypt recited a song of praise over the fall of Egypt, that was because of the lofty spiritual status that they had at that time. [Hazal tell us:] "A maidservant at the sea saw what Yehezkel ben Buzi did not in his prophecy." When they reached this level of prophecy, they reached the highest level of purity, the greatest level of love for all creatures. Their hatred for evil-doers was a hatred for evil - a pure and simple hatred that is appropriate for fearers and lovers of God.Is that really where we are holding today?
* Note that this was published in the journal Knesses Yisrael in Tishrei (Sep.-Oct.) 1939 in Lithuania, as World War II was breaking out.
