Our chapter continues the moral path established in the preceding verses: the proper attitude toward the wicked and their success. After Shlomo warned the wicked person not to lie in wait against the dwelling of the righteous, he now turns to the other side: to the person whose enemy has fallen, and to the person who sees the wicked prospering. Two focal points stand before us: the prohibition against gloating over another's misfortune, and the prohibition against feeling envious and wrathful over the success of the wicked.
בִּנְפֹל אוֹיִבְךָ אַל תִּשְׂמָח וּבִכָּשְׁלוֹ אַל יָגֵל לִבֶּךָ׃ - When your enemy falls, do not rejoice, and when he stumbles, let your heart not be glad.
When reading this verse, one can hardly avoid being reminded of the earthquake that struck Nepal in the past month - for the word binfol ("when [your enemy] falls") is spelled here without a vav, hinting homiletically: "In Nepal, do not rejoice over your enemy." Why does this come to mind? Because it is related that Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein, following a major earthquake abroad decades ago in which many perished, delivered an address to his students. He told them: There are many who react by saying, "What do I care? They are gentiles; let them all die." But I want to tell you that such an outlook stems from cruelty of heart, and it is entirely contrary to the authentic Jewish outlook.
We are commanded to have compassion even on an injured dog. The Torah commands us regarding the prevention of cruelty to animals (tza'ar ba'alei chayim) - even when a donkey is suffering under its burden, "you shall surely release it with him." If one is commanded to show mercy to a beast, can one remain indifferent to the suffering of human beings? The Jewish perspective is that whenever another human being suffers, one ought to feel pain. The mere reality of another's suffering should cause us distress.
Notice the precise wording of the verse: "When your enemy falls, do not rejoice" - this refers to the fall itself; "and when he stumbles" - this refers to the initial onset of the fall. And what emotion is aroused at the onset? Gilah (rejoicing/exultation). For gilah denotes joy over something novel that has just emerged. When a failure first befalls him, the heart fills with the excitement of, "Ah, what joy!" Regarding this, the verse cautions: "Let your heart not be glad." Even over this newly emerging downfall, you must not exult.
פֶּן יִרְאֶה ה' וְרַע בְּעֵינָיו וְהֵשִׁיב מֵעָלָיו אַפּוֹ׃ - Lest Hashem see it, and it be evil in His eyes, and He turn His wrath away from him.
The first explanation: The Holy One, blessed be He, sees that the wicked person is suffering and that you are rejoicing over his downfall, and He says to you: Wait, why are you rejoicing? You are no less wicked than he is. This is the reason Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt: you have no license to look back and gaze upon the downfall of the people of Sodom when you are no better than they are. Similarly, "And I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu" - why was Jehu punished? Because he went to punish the sinners, and then subsequently committed the very same sin himself. As long as he was untainted, his punishment of the idolaters was deemed for the sake of Heaven. But once it became evident that he himself worshipped idols, it became clear retroactively that he had acted out of personal motives and private scores - and for that he deserved punishment.
And the second facet: "And He turn His wrath away from him." Your gloating is itself a reason for the Holy One, blessed be He, to turn His wrath away from the wicked person. How so? Consider an example. After the episode of Korach and his congregation, when the two hundred and fifty men were consumed by fire, they were commanded to hammer the fire-pans into an overlay for the altar. And who collected the fire-pans? Eleazar the son of Aharon, rather than Aharon himself. Why not Aharon? Because he was a party to the dispute, and his doing so would have caused immense distress. It would appear as if to say: I eliminated you, and I will also bury you; the dispute was with me, as you claimed my appointment was illegitimate, and now here I am collecting the fire-pans with which you were killed. That would have caused terrible anguish to the dead and their families.
A story is told - though not verified firsthand - that the judge who sentenced Aryeh Deri to prison, who had displayed intense animosity during the trial through both body language and phrasing, fell ill shortly afterward and passed away. Deri happened to be attending another funeral at that exact same cemetery at that very time, and when he heard that the judge's funeral was taking place there, he promptly left the premises so people would not say he had come to dance on his blood. This illustrates the principle: when you have a dispute with someone, and that person falls, and you come afterward flaunting, "Look, I proved you wrong, now I stand over you" - that inflicts terrible distress.
The same applies here. Sometimes the Holy One, blessed be He, decrees that your enemy must fall; but for that wrongdoer to also witness your rejoicing over his downfall is a punishment he does not deserve - it exceeds his measure of retribution. And if he receives more suffering than was due, that itself becomes the reason Hashem turns His wrath away from him: "and He turn His wrath away from him."
Rabbeinu Yonah explains that after having warned the wicked person - "Do not lie in wait, wicked one, against the dwelling of the righteous" - Shlomo now turns to the opposing side. The wicked person ambushed the righteous person's home and even seized it, but as we shall see further on, this does not last for long, and in the end he will fall. And what will happen to the tzaddik then? He may come to rejoice due to the enmity that existed between them. Regarding this, Scripture warns: "When your enemy falls, do not rejoice, and when he stumbles, let your heart not be glad."
Rabbeinu Yonah notes: to rejoice over the downfall of the wicked with a joy for the sake of Heaven - rejoicing that there is no longer someone in this world provoking Hashem to anger - is permitted. "So may all Your enemies perish, Hashem," said Chana, and "when the wicked perish, there is song." However, Rabbeinu Yonah refutes an alternative interpretation here: someone suggested that "When your enemy falls, do not rejoice" refers to a personal enemy who is not wicked, which is why one may not rejoice over his downfall, thereby resolving the apparent contradiction with "when the wicked perish, there is song." Rabbeinu Yonah responds: this cannot be the meaning, for the continuation of the verse proves the opposite. If rejoicing causes Hashem to "turn His wrath away from him," it implies that one desires the Holy One, blessed be He, to continue directing His wrath toward that person. And regarding whom would such a desire be applicable, if not a wicked person? Thus, the verse definitely speaks of a wicked person, and not a decent individual.
The Malbim explains "Lest Hashem see it and it displease Him" differently: Hashem will look at your cruelty and your vengeful nature, weighing you against the wicked person - who is worse, you in your gloating or he in his wrongdoing? Your conduct will then be found worse than that of the wicked person, for in Heaven, cruelty and gloating over someone's misfortune are viewed with greater severity. And what happens then? "And He turn His wrath away from him" - until now, the wrath of the Holy One, blessed be He, was directed at the wicked person, but now it turns away from him and passes to you, the one rejoicing. Therefore: "When your enemy falls, do not rejoice, and when he stumbles, let your heart not be glad" - so that you do not end up considered wicked in comparison to him.
אַל תִּתְחַר בַּמְּרֵעִים אַל תְּקַנֵּא בָּרְשָׁעִים׃ - Do not compete with evildoers, do not envy the wicked.
Rashi explains "do not compete" (al titchar) as being related to competition (tacharut), as in "How will you compete with horses?" and "Because you compete with cedar" - do not compete with the wicked to be like them and act as they do. Ibn Ezra and Rabbeinu Yonah explain that it means not to associate or mingle with evildoers.
Regarding "do not envy the wicked," Rabbeinu Yonah observes: there is no need to warn a person against envying their sins and their wickedness and doing as they do - that is obvious. Would I envy someone because he eats pork? Would I compete with him because he desecrates Shabbat? Certainly not; there is no need to tell me that. Rather, the intention is that one should not envy their tranquility, their wealth, and their prestige. Notice the nuance: he is not warning you against desiring wealth and honor in general, but rather against longing for the wealth and honor of the wicked. For when a person sees a wicked person enjoying wealth and honor, the thought that creeps into his heart is: one can be wicked and still be rich and respected; and who knows, perhaps it is precisely because he is wicked that things go so well for him. This is the forbidden envy - the envy that says, "There is nothing wrong with his deeds, for see how good things are for him," leading one to ultimately act as he does.
Consider this: if you were to see an afflicted person covered in boils who is extraordinarily wealthy, would you envy his wealth? No. You would say, "Thank you very much, but I'll pass on such favors." How many times do you walk past a luxury SUV, fresh off the showroom floor, and notice a disability permit on the windshield - and you say to yourself: I am walking on foot, and with Hashem's help I will continue walking on foot, and I thank Hashem for that. You know the price at which he received that vehicle, and you do not want that price. Route 11, a pair of legs - that is my ride.
From this you can understand: we do not tend to envy someone whom we perceive as wretched and miserable. We envy based on a person's status. And when someone is afflicted with boils or disabled, I no longer envy his status, and his money no longer appeals to me. Therefore, when you envy evildoers and the wicked, you are essentially envying their status: what fame he has, what ratings, talk shows, people hear about him and see him, money, trips, and traveling abroad. But an afflicted person might have all that as well, yet you do not envy him. It turns out that the envy is directed at the status - and that is the worst part, because in your eyes, his wealth becomes an endorsement and a virtue.
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: your perspective must be like "a gold ring in a swine's snout." If a pig walks by with a gold ring in its snout, you do not say, "What a sweet pig! What a diamond-studded ring it has!" In your eyes, it remains a pig. It is the same when you look at a wicked person: do not be impressed by the money, the yacht, or the villa. You must look upon it as a pig - something repulsive to me. Just as a person stricken with boils is repulsive to me and I do not covet his wealth, so must one look at the wicked. These are his words: "We must loathe them and despise them in the eyes of our hearts, even if they possess wealth and honor, knowing that they are doomed to destruction, and that this wealth and honor afford them no advantage." This wealth will only bury him, only bring him to Gehinnom - for anyone who received wealth faces a severe reckoning: Why did you receive it? Merely to pamper your body and buy more companies? After all, wealth was given to you in order to bestow and give to others, so why did you not act properly with what Hashem gave you?
The Ralbag explains, along the lines of the Gemara's expounding in Berachot, that "do not contend with evildoers" means do not quarrel with them; and "do not be envious" - do not envy their success and follow in their ways. That is to say: it may be a wicked person whom fortune currently favors - leave him alone, do not step on his toes.
This was the case during the previous government. What was called for was "hide for a little moment until the indignation passes," and by Hashem's kindness upon us, the indignation passed after two years - and even that was too long. Who does not recall the arrogant declarations, when Knesset Member Gafni was told: "The state has stopped taking orders from your honor." And what a pleasure it was to say that very same sentence in the opposite direction, toward the opposition benches, directed at that party that shrank by half. One can make noise, petition the Supreme Court, and generate ratings - fine, make noise, that is all you have left. But one must understand that there is no point in contending with the wicked while fortune smiles upon him. Wait. As we will see in the next verse: "the lamp of the wicked shall be snuffed out." We were anxious when he rose so high with fifteen seats - who would have believed it then? Yet we saw how that party devoured its own inhabitants, and from within his own party they kicked him to the four winds, and he died an old scoundrel without anyone glancing his way. "Will you set your eyes upon it, and it is gone?"
Therefore: do not contend with evildoers. When you see a wicked person whom fortune favors - leave him alone; he will make every possible mistake all by himself. And the reason is very simple: a wicked person possesses the character traits of wickedness. He is arrogant, insufferable, wanting to dominate everyone - and these traits will destroy him. These people possess a self-destruct mechanism; it is a missile with a self-destruct mechanism that will blow up in mid-flight well before completing four years. Do not intervene; it will happen on its own. Do not think you must fight him by force - that does not help, it only causes harm.
The Malbim explains: when a person sees the wicked succeeding, it is one of two things. Either he wants to act like them and be drawn after their ways, or he has no desire to be like them at all, knowing full well that wickedness is not an option, but it pains and distresses him that they prosper. Shlomo speaks here against both of these reactions.
"Do not contend with evildoers" (al titchar bamerayim) - here the Malbim offers an original insight: "titchar" is neither from the language of competition (tacharut) nor from interference (hitarvut), but a conjugation of wrath (charon af), from the root of "yichar apcha" and "vacharah afo." That is: do not become enraged. A person sees evildoers prospering and says: to be like them? Heaven forbid, unthinkable! But my anger burns over the fact that they enjoy success: Why does Hashem not punish them? Why does He not exact retribution from them? My heart aches over this. To this, Shlomo says: do not become incensed by evildoers - let not your wrath flare over their success.
"Nor be envious of the wicked" - this corresponds to the second aspect: desiring to be like them, behaving like the wicked, and doing as they do. And why are they called "merayim" (evildoers)? The Malbim explains: because their deeds are evil (ra'im) in the eyes of the onlooker, and anything that is bad in a person's eyes is called "mera."
כִּי לֹא תִהְיֶה אַחֲרִית לָרָע נֵר רְשָׁעִים יִדְעָךְ׃ - For there shall be no future for the evil man; the lamp of the wicked shall be snuffed out.
In the end, nothing will remain of him. The Ibn Ezra explains: no son or grandson will survive him after his death.
Rabbeinu Yonah explains: The light of the wicked does not stem from any lofty quality of their soul; rather, their tranquility and honor constitute their entire "light." And what illuminates the path of the wicked - their calm, tranquility, and honor - is oil that quickly runs dry. The hour of the wicked will come to an end, and then their good fortune will cease. This might occur in this world, or it might happen only in the World Above; you might witness it quickly, or it might take years - but in the end, the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.
Rabbeinu Yonah further explains this regarding the loss of the soul on the day of death: The soul is likened to a lamp, and when the soul of the wicked departs the body, it flickers out and goes dark. For what illuminates the soul? The mitzvos one performed. As long as the soul is inside the body, its light is not discernible, but when it departs the body, its light becomes visible. There is a soul that departs and suddenly you see an immense searchlight - radiant with Torah and mitzvos; and there is a soul that departs and you see total darkness, a black hole. "The lamp of the wicked shall be extinguished" - it will flicker out and darken, as Scripture states: "He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light," because he darkened his soul through sins.
The Vilna Gaon explains: Do not fret over the success of the wicked, for there will be no future for evil - in the end, like his dung, he will perish forever, like the refuse of an animal that is lost forever. And what is meant by "the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished"? The wicked person certainly possesses no Torah. Mitzvos - perhaps he has a few; no wicked person has never performed a single mitzvah in his life. Once he did what his father asked - honoring his father; once a pauper asked him for charity and he gave it by mistake, without paying attention - he fulfilled a mitzvah. One cannot claim he never performed any mitzvah at all. But to study Torah - of that we can say with certainty that he never did.
Regarding this, the verse says: "The lamp of the wicked will be extinguished." Torah is on the level of "light," and light is never extinguished; mitzvos are on the level of a "lamp." Therefore, we learn that a transgression extinguishes a mitzvah, but it cannot extinguish Torah. What is the difference? Mitzvos reach the levels of nefesh and ruach, whereas Torah reaches higher - to the neshamah, which is the highest spiritual dimension of man. It turns out that what pertains to nefesh and ruach is a "lamp" - and it will flicker out; but Torah, which resides in the neshamah, will never be extinguished. At best, the wicked person has a mitzvah here and a mitzvah there, and nothing of them will remain, for a transgression extinguishes a mitzvah, and his lamp will flicker out through the power of his sins. But the tzaddik - his light illuminates his path, and no sin has the power to conceal it.
The Malbim explains: "For there will be no future for evil" corresponds to "do not be incensed," meaning you should not become vexed over their success. "Master of the Universe, why does he have it? Why are You bestowing abundance upon him?" - do not become incensed, for ultimately his future is cut off. No one envies a condemned man who is drinking a fine glass of wine right now - "Listen to how much he's enjoying it!" It is his final cup. No one envies someone jumping off the Eiffel Tower: "What a free fall, what a view, what fresh air!" - extraordinary right until the impact. So what is there to envy? And why be upset? What is all his good fortune worth compared to eternity? "The days of our years among them are seventy years, or if with strength, eighty years" - it is utter nothingness.
And "the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished" corresponds to jealousy, addressing one who wishes to be like them. The lamp that illuminates their path, that success you observe - will flicker out. And what does this expression of flickering out mean? A dying lamp has a flame that leaps and flickers, sputtering erratically. In other words: their success is not genuine success. Notice that the Malbim does not merely point you to the moment of his death, when it will be obvious anyway that it was all an absolute illusion. He asks you about right now, just as we learned in Sefer Iyov: they have no peace of mind in their success.
All the wealthy people whom the world typically envies - do you really envy their family life? Their relationship with their children? Most of them are embroiled in terrible, bitter disputes, especially when immense inheritances are involved. Do you envy his utter lack of peace and the tremendous, constant pressure he endures all day? You have peace of mind: you finish work at four, come home, shut out the noise of the world - a tranquil life. He, on the other hand, lives in constant tension; meeting him requires scheduling four months in advance, and he is perpetually tracking the markets - what went up, what dropped, the exchange rate of the euro, the value of the dollar, where his capital is invested; and suddenly a stock plunges, bringing unbearable stress. With you, Baruch Hashem, none of that exists.
All the more so with various celebrities and actors, who always appear glamorous, glowing, and smiling - yet all of it merely conceals internal rot. Among them are those divorced for the third or fourth time, and those who gave up on marriage altogether from the outset. What true pleasure does he have in life? What peace? The Malbim says: Do not envy him. "The lamp of the wicked will be extinguished" - this lamp sputters constantly, its flame is unstable; he is forever dreading punishment and misfortune, devoid of tranquility and calm. Such people single-handedly keep many psychologists in business. You, however, enjoy a tranquil life: "I did not seek great things, nor matters too wondrous for me" - not striving to reach too high, nor plunging too low. Baruch Hashem, the way you live - that is the truly good and successful life.
Three verses and two major lessons. The first: "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls" - it is forbidden to gloat over someone's downfall, whether at an enemy's collapse or any person's suffering, and we are even commanded to show mercy to an animal. One who rejoices reveals that he is no better than the wicked person, inflicting upon him distress beyond measure - and therefore "He will turn His wrath away from him," transferring that wrath onto the one who gloated. The second: "Do not be incensed by evildoers" - do not quarrel with one who currently enjoys good fortune, do not be vexed by their success, and do not envy their status. For all their light is merely the lamp of nefesh and ruach that is destined to flicker out, and the oil of their tranquility quickly dries up; whereas the light of the Torah, which resides in the neshamah, is never extinguished. And even in the present - they possess no genuine peace, and your calm and simplicity are far more precious than all their wealth.