Barukh dayan emet; God is a righteous judge. It's the traditional Jewish response to news of a death. Sometimes it is not an easy response, at other times it flows off the tongue and through the lips with ease.
It flowed very naturally on Sunday night. While I was watching the Mets/Phillies game at my brother's apartment, the announcer broke from the game to say, "ABC news is reporting that Osama Bin Laden has been killed."
My first reaction was a deep sigh of relief and gratitude; my second concern for the team that took him out (They are all fine). Then, barukh dayan emet. This was all followed by sadness that Sean could not be in Afghanistan for this.
It's a series of contradictions. On Monday I heard the phrase uttered in response to the deaths last week of two people I knew. Both were vibrant individuals. One was young, with young children. Both were mentschim, good men. Were they judged righteously? In death or in life?
Bin Laden's death is filled with contradiction- the respect with which the body was treated in death by the NAVY Seals versus the total disdain with which he treated others in life. He may have used a woman as a shield even at his end. Pakistan immediately began to allude to help and intelligence they provided. However, Bin LAden may have lived in this compound, under the nose and eyes of the Pakistani government, for over three years, and the US did not tell Pakistan of the operation until after it was over. Is this the picture of a helpful, involved government?
Whether death comes at God's choosing or not, through cancer or a Seal's bullet, for the individual it will not matter. We can only hope that once on the other side barukh dayan emet, for that is the moment when God will judge. Last week, God had two easy, easy judgements in Samuel Wise and Michael Wohl. This week, a very different judgement had to be made, but perhaps equally simple in God's righteousness.
