23 November 2021
Eliyahu David Kay, a South African immigrant to Israel, was murdered by a Hamas terrorist in Jerusalem on 21 November. As mourners sat shiva, many repeated an Hebrew phrase:
“May G-d avenge his blood”
שאלוהים ינקום את דמו
The phrase derives from Deuteronomy 32:43, “Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants; He will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people.”
The Hebrew verb at the heart of this phrase is NAQAM (נָקַם) which means “to avenge or to take vengeance”. It is used in Genesis when G-d promises to avenge Cain sevenfold. It is found in the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet when he pleads with G-d to take vengeance on his persecutors. Interestingly, its prohibition is found in Leviticus 19, when G-d tells His people that they are not to take vengeance on or bear a grudge (NATAR נָטַר ) their fellow Israelites, but rather they are to love their neighbors (REA רֵעַ ) as themselves.
NAQAM is about more than retribution and even more than justice in a forensic sense. That is, the word is not about paying someone back for a wrong that has been done. Rather, it is more to do with Justice in the existential sense, which is less about punishment and more about restoration.
This is what the concept is challenging for us. We want to set things right. We want the guilty to pay. And indeed, we have legal systems in place to make the guilt pay. But sometimes, they do not. Sometimes, they escape punishment and there seems to be no justice and no peace.
And then we may pray, “May G-d avenge their blood.” Because only the Holder of Absolute and Perfect moral Judgment (MISHPAT) is able to truly NAQAM.
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