Do we get justice when we take revenge? Or is there a form of revenge that creates a different type of justice? In Cose Elliss book, Bone to Pick, he tells a story about an unusual notion of revenge. He attended a lecture by David Blumenfeld about revenge as transformation. Blumenfeld pointed out that Jews dont believe in turning the other cheek. The Jew protects himself. This protection doesnt have to be violent, nor does it require barriers. This protection can take the form of countering what the person who harmed you tried to do. Blumenfeld says, for example, that if someone wants to destroy Israel, he will visit Israel over and over again, showing no fear. Then Blumenfeld told a story about an elderly woman, a Holocaust survivor who was now a person of considerable wealth. Every Wednesday, she visited New York’s Rikers Island prison to spend time with the inmates. During the course of those visits, through sharing her time, experiences, and her hard-nosed empathy, she managed to transform some ‘hardened criminal types’ into more compassionate men. This is transformative revenge. Is this truly revenge? Perhaps it is what the rabbis daughter, Laura Blumenfeld, called the third way: It was revenge that destroyed neither oneself nor ones enemy.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 03:00:02 +0000
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