To Celebrate or not to Celebrate?

How do we celebrate the downfall, death or capture of human beings who have committed unthinkable acts of evil? The Meshech Chochma brilliantly uses a snake analogy when discussing the reason for the 7th day of Passover being instituted by the Torah as a Holiday before we even left Egypt as opposed to that seventh day, chronologically speaking, when we were standing at the sea watching the Egyptian army wash ashore.

He points out that all of our holiday celebrations (eg. Purim, Chanuka, etc.) are not because we killed the enemy but rather because we removed a hindrance to our religious freedom. The Holiday was therefore instituted before we left in order that there would be no confusion as to the reason for the Holiday. If a snake were in your room right now, wouldn’t you’d be standing on a chair? Upon killing the snake, you would not be excited that you killed a snake. You don’t get a thrill from killing snakes and you are not a snake-killer. Rather, you would breath deep and feel relieved and happy to be able to once again go about your day safely with the threat now removed.

It is our sincere prayer with help from the Infinite, that the world is able to push the front line of good forward, remove terrorism from the world, and dance at the ultimate touchdown this year in Jerusalem!