In the aforementioned discourse (at its beginning), after addressing the first part of the verse “Hashem is with me among my helpers,” the Rebbe questions the second part: “and I shall see the downfall of my enemies.” Why {did David} request to “see the downfall of my enemies” (implying a desire to see revenge upon them)? Shouldn’t his request instead have been that enemies and adversaries be transformed into friends and allies?
The Rebbe adds: “Although all of David’s hatred was directed only toward the enemies of Hashem, as {David himself} wrote, ‘Do I not hate those who hate You, Hashem, and contend with those who rise up against You?’—still, did {David} not also write, ‘Let sins cease from the earth,’ and our Sages commented: ‘Sins is written, not sinners’—meaning that the sinners should repent?”
One can suggest that with this remark, the Rebbe addressed another matter connected to his redemption (which also precedes the recitation of HaGomel), but from the opposite {side of the coin: how to view one’s enemies}:
Those who arrested the Rebbe and caused him suffering—not only physical suffering but also (and primarily) spiritual suffering by disrupting his Divine service, especially through imprisonment—were indeed in the category {described by David}: “those who hate You, Hashem, I hate.” Therefore, it might seem appropriate that after victory over them, one should adopt the attitude of “and I shall see the downfall of my enemies” in its literal sense, seeking revenge—not personal revenge, Heaven forbid, but Divine retribution (“those who hate You, Hashem”).
But the Rebbe rejects this approach right at the beginning of his discourse, stating that even regarding “enemies” in the category of “those who hate You, Hashem,” the request should be (not “I shall see the downfall of my enemies” in its literal sense, but rather) “let sins cease, not sinners,” because one must pray “that sinners should repent.”
Here lies the connection between the two parts of the verse {“Hashem is with me among my helpers” and “I shall see the downfall of my enemies”}: When one realizes that “there is none besides Him and only He alone is the Creator”—thus understanding that “Hashem is with me among my helpers”—one also realizes the truth about “enemies”: that what one suffers from an “enemy” is not because that person has any independent power, Heaven forbid, but (as explained at length in Iggeres HaKodesh) because “Hashem told him to curse.” Therefore (as the Rebbe explains regarding “and I shall see the downfall of my enemies”), there is no justification for this to arouse feelings of revenge, as is understood from Iggeres HaKodesh there.
