Thoughts on Osama's Death, through the lens of Elvis and Johnny Cash

One of my favorite songs, second perhaps to the White Stripes' "Death Letter", is the posthumously released "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash. Cash's voice is quiet, world weary, but speaks with deadly seriousness. The guitar gives us a bleak and threatening atmosphere like a cold, windy, desert He's tired of trying to catch up with those who've been running for a long time, but he wants them to know that they will soon have their divine just desserts. It feels like what reading Neviim Achronim should feel like. I often hum it to myself when I read the stories of Eliyahu in Malachim Alef, and I imagine the Kotzker Rebbe walking into rooms with this playing in the background It's about as perfect a song as you'll ever find, representing, cold, hard, divine justice. So I was surprised when I found out that it was an old gospel song, covered by Elvis Presley for one, which was not originally sung with the world weariness of an old Johnny Cash, but as a finger snappingly happy gospel tune. So, this was weird for me for a bit, but I thought about for a bit. People often ask how there can be a God when the world is full of evil. This is a good question, in fact, I would say, the essential question religion tries to answer by providing a program for ridding the world of evil. So why is it those same people who are so upset by tales of violence in Jewish Tradition. I don't mean stuff like the commandment to kill Amalek, which actually seem morally problematic at first glance. I mean stories like Shmuel killing Agag, or Eliyahu killing the Neviei Ha'Baal, or instances in Judaism where we have the death penalty. "How can it be so violent? Violence is wrong?" Well, if you're really serious about being upset that the world is evil, then something has to be done to get that going. Evil is not going to cease to exist by sit ins and candle light vigils. If you really, really wish to rid the world of evil, and you hate evil, then sometimes killing has to be done. Now obviously this is not an easy thing to accomplish on a pure level. And you have to be really, really, ridiculously careful knowing what is evil and what is something you merely don't like. But once something or someone which is unquestionably evil has been utterly destroyed? That's a reason to celebrate, to sing finger snappingly upbeat gospel songs unto the Lord. And this is not a crass, primitive sort of "HA! WE KICKED HIS ASS!" kind of celebration. It's a celebration born of a sense of moral sensitivity, that cannot bear to see evil triumph in this world, and when it is defeated, truly feels glad that it has been. Osama Bin Laden was evil. Unquestionably, undoubtably evil. There is no excuse for killing 3,000 innocent people. His death is a gain for mankind, and worthy of celebration. You may run on for a long time, for 10 years, through Afghanistan and Pakistan and hole up in your million dollar compounds, but sooner or later, God's gonna cut you down.