Aside from singing about good things, should somebody sing at the downfall of resha'im (wicked people), even though those resha'im were not pursuing him or endangering him?
And the answer is absolutely. It says that Dovid invented the word "Hallukah" that's Dovid's invention, praise Hashem. Now that word appears in the Tehillim many times, but the first time he said it was when he saw the downfall of the resha'im. "Yitamu chato'im min ha'aretz, u'resha'im od einam borchi nafshi es Hashem, hallukah." So, the first expression of gratitude to Hashem was when he saw the downfall of the wicked. He looked forward and saw how the wicked will be destroyed.
Now that is exemplified by "Oz yoshir Moshe u'vnei Yisrael", they sang. They sang when they saw the Egyptians being drowned. Now the malachim (the heavenly angels) were not allowed to sing. Hashem said, "Don't sing." He said to the malachim, "because that's My handiwork, maaseh yadai, I made the Egyptians, now they are being drowned, don't sing."
So, the question arises, if you shouldn't sing at the destruction of human beings that Hashem made, so why did Moshe u'vnei Yisrael sing?
The answer is Moshe uv'nei Yisrael sang for a reason, because when you sing at the downfall of the resha'im, you become better. You recognize Hashem's handiwork, you get more emunah. But malachim don't need any emunah, the malachim can't get any better, so malachim are told not to sing. But we are supposed to sing, because we get better when we sing at the downfall of the resha'im.
And so, when you read in Manhattan, they are dying one after the other, 42, 39, 38 are dying in Manhattan of AIDS, you should be very happy. "Hinasei Shofet ha'aretz" be elevated, O judge of the world.
How are You elevated? "Hosheiv gmul al gei'im" “when You turn back recompense on the arrogant, those resha'im who ridicule us. I walked into a store on King's Highway, and in the store was a man behind the counter with an earring. I was wearing a beard. So, he's ridiculing me. He looked down at me with scorn, with bizayon. I was a customer. Still, I didn't have an earring in my ear. [laughter] His older sister said, "Please! Lou, stop it!" she said to him. The store closed down soon after that, baruch Hashem. So, we're happy the store closed down, and we know what's going to happen to this boy. He'll go b'derech kol ha'aretz, and someday, if he's important, he'll be in the New York Times, that he passed away at the age of 32.
I told you the story about Mel Rosen, didn't I? Mel Rosen, he was the president of the gay synagogue in Manhattan. And he was active in Lambda, National Gay Task Force, other things like that, mitzvos and ma'asim tovim all over the place. [laughter] One day, he saw in the Jewish Week a certain notice somebody put up that Rabbi Miller said that AIDS is a punishment of retribution from Hashem. So, he put in a notice this (the first notice) cost money, somebody put this in. But they printed from him, and they joined it, free of charge. Of course, that's what they always do. And they said "Miller is ignorant, Miller is ignorant he said. AIDS is caused by a germ" [laughter], you hear that chochom?! And not long afterwards, I see his picture in the New York Times on the obituary page. And now he's in Gehinnom, and now he understands what causes AIDS.
And so, if you could have changed him while he was still alive, certainly, Yitamu chatoim, vloi chotim, if you can make the sin stop and not the sinners, you should do it. But suppose he is arrogant and he thinks he knows everything, and he refuses to listen, and the time comes when the yad Hashem strikes him down, we should see in it, Oz yoshir", we should sing the song of Hashem, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is doing things to teach us that He's around. Not like they try to make Hashem pushed out of the world entirely. The atheists want us to forget about HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and Hashem says, "No, you don't. Can't forget about Me."
So therefore, certainly we should sing at the downfall of resha'im.
Reprinted from a recent email of Toras Avigdor featuring A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller adapted from Tape #903 (January 1993)
