There is a classic Jewish teaching over 2,000 years old about what happened at the Sea of Reeds during the Exodus from Egypt. When the sea crashed down on the soldiers of Pharaoh, it is said that the angels started to rejoice, but God stopped them. He pointed out the sadness that the work of His hands was being destroyed, and that is not something to celebrate. The teaching is that yes, they needed to be destroyed, but we are not to rejoice in that destruction.
I am extremely grateful that Sinwar, one of the greatest terrorist perpetrators of evil on the planet, has been eliminated, just as I am grateful that Nasrallah and other commanders of both Hamas and Hezbollah have been killed. These men, in many cases for decades, have been the manifestation of pure evil in this world, have sought to kill every Jew and destroy Israel, and actively seek to destroy the United States and all of Western Civilization. I am grateful that they will no longer be able to perpetrate their evil in this world, but while many people might celebrate as it is easy to seek vengeance, I believe wholeheartedly that none of us should rejoice in the same way that even the angels were chastised for rejoicing over 3,000 years ago.
These men committed the most heinous of crimes on October 7, which rivaled anything even during the Holocaust. These are men who celebrated the deaths of Jewish children, the rapes of young women, the brutal massacring of families and young people at a music festival, and the kidnapping of hundreds of innocents. Death is too kind of a punishment for them, and I have faith that their afterlife will be darker than any of us can imagine. But I will not celebrate those deaths. And the reasons are simple.
The first reason is that other evildoers will replace them. But the more important reason is selfish: I refuse to let evil win a battle for my soul. The moment I celebrate their deaths is the moment that I have become lost and no different from them.
Civilized people have for years condemned these terrorists for celebrating their evil crimes of murder, rape, kidnapping, etc. We all pointed out how so many Arabs were celebrating in the streets on September 11 or October 7 and how in doing so they were acting like crazed rabid animals. If we celebrate now like they did then, then we are no better than they were at that time. Each human being on this planet is in a constant battle for his or her own soul, and when we succumb to the darkness of joy in vengeance, we are losing that battle. I do not seek to win a physical war against a terrorist enemy only to lose the war for the redemption of my own soul.
These perpetrators of evil need to be utterly destroyed, not just defeated. They are the modern personification of Amalek, and I have been a passionate proponent since October 7 that they should be treated as such and totally destroyed. But I take no pleasure in recognizing that it is our spiritual obligation to destroy people like Sinwar and Nasrallah. We must restrain our instinctive joy at acquiring vengeance on these men of evil, and replace it with a hope for a better future that can exist without them.
There is another major reason that we should curtail our joy. The problem is not just with these leaders of Islam. The problem, if we are going to be honest, is with Islam itself.
More than a religion, traditional Islam is a political movement devoted to world domination. What many of us consider “extremist Muslims” are actually adherents to the theology of the Koran and Hadiths. I have many personal friends who would be considered “moderate Muslims," but in reality, from an authentic Islamic theological perspective, these “moderates” are actually apostates who according to the Koran, like non-Muslims, are either to become true practitioners of Islam, be killed, or become enslaved.
The problem is greater than just these terrorists; there is a core problem in Islam itself that needs to be resolved if we are ever to achieve world peace.
I will rejoice when Islam goes through a religious reformation. I will celebrate when rational Muslims reject and disempower the Islamic leadership like the ayatollahs, who focus on world domination as opposed to religious tolerance. I will express unbridled joy when the spiritual teachings of Mecca replace the military teachings of Medina in Islamic theology and practice and the desire for Sharia law is expunged. Until a reformation like that happens within Islam, every generation will be forced to continue repeating a worldwide war against Western Civilization from evildoers like Sinwar and Nasrallah.
And in order to win this war for the survival of Western Civilization, we all must be clear about what that war really is about. We must all be honest: this is not a war of Iran vs. Israel or even the United States. It is a war of the political movement of Islam that disguises itself as a religion against all of Western Civilization. It is a war of good vs. evil, of hope vs. hate, of worshiping life vs. worshiping death. It is a war that can be won fully only through a reformation of the entire religion, and rejection of the extremist fanatics as the true voice of Islam.
So I do what men a faith have always done — I pray. I say prayers of gratitude for the elimination of evil men like Sinwar, Nasrallah, and their ilk. I say prayers of gratitude for the strength and leadership of Netanyahu, whose response to Sinwar’s death was to offer safe passage out of Gaza for anyone who returns hostages to Israel. It is another example of his commitment to life, and to the return of the hostages.
And I say prayers of petition that by some miracle, the Islamic faith experiences a schism and reformation that exorcises the desire for worldwide domination and Sharia law and replaces it with a commitment to peace, tolerance, and honest and real partnership with Western Civilization.
This is a war, and we will either triumph and survive or allow evil to control the world. We must pray for that Islamic reformation and fight this war physically with all of our resources until or if that ever happens. Israel is only the front line of this war, and we have the choice of either committing to victory or surrendering to evil. There are no other choices.
May we find physical victory, destroy that which is truly evil, and restrain ourselves from celebrating vengeance for the sake of our own souls. Until that time, I will be grateful for the elimination of each evil individual, but I will only really celebrate when there's a lasting peace in the world and the evil itself has been transformed.
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