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Not Us — Or Have We Forgotten?

by Ram ben Ze'ev


Not Us — Or Have We Forgotten?
Not Us — Or Have We Forgotten?

In October 2023, when our brothers and sisters were butchered, burned, kidnapped and desecrated, we watched in horror not only at the cruelty of the murderers but at the reaction of the world. In city after city, crowds gathered to celebrate. Sweets were handed out in the streets. Baklava was distributed as though the slaughter of Jews were a wedding feast. Social media filled with praise for barbarism.


We were rightly outraged. We said: this is who they are. Not us. We do not dance at the sight of Jewish blood. We do not celebrate murder. We are not animals.


Now Israel, alongside the United States, strikes at Iran’s terror infrastructure and leadership.


We act to prevent death. We act because we must. Our tradition teaches: הבא להרגך השכם להרגו — “If someone comes to kill you, rise early and kill him first” (Sanhedrin 72a). Self-defence is not only permitted; it is a moral obligation. To allow a genocidal enemy to arm itself while vowing our destruction would be a betrayal of life itself.


But here is the test of our character.


Across social media, I have seen Jewish leaders — politicians and Rabbis alike — celebrating rumours of death. I have seen words such as “he died like a dog” written about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian leaders. I have seen laughter and triumphalism at the possibility of a man’s death.


Have we forgotten who we are?


When the Egyptians drowned in the sea, the ministering angels wished to sing, and the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked them: “My creations are drowning in the sea, and you would sing?” (Megillah 10b). And in משלי (Mishlei) 24:17–18 we are warned: “When your enemy falls, do not rejoice.”


We may fight. We must fight. We may dismantle those who seek to murder Jews. We may thank G-D if oppression is lifted and if terrorist capacity is reduced. But we may not become intoxicated with death.


The difference between us and those who handed out baklava is not that we are stronger. It is that we are bound by Torah.


If Iranian leaders who funded terror are removed from power, we may breathe easier. We may say תודה לה׳ (thank G-D). We may pray that fewer Jewish mothers will bury their children.


But to celebrate a human being’s death is to corrode the soul. It is to forget that even the wicked are still creations of G-D. Justice may require their removal; cruelty requires our silence.


The Arab terrorists celebrate murder. They glorify blood. They chant for genocide. And we point and say, “Not us.”


Then let it truly be not us.


Because if we mock the dead, if we cheer at death, if we gloat over corpses, we begin to resemble what we claim to despise. We risk becoming hypocrites — and worse, detestable in the eyes of Heaven.


We defend life. That is our mandate. We fight so that Jews may live. We do not fight so that we may dance on graves.


In times of war, moral clarity must not collapse into moral decay. The Torah does not command softness. It commands righteousness. And righteousness demands this: act with strength, give thanks for deliverance, but never celebrate the death of any human being.


Not us.



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