Is Revenge Really Sweet? | Attorney Benny Don-Yahiya
An opinion piece by attorney Benny Don-Yahiya examining the urge for revenge from philosophical, psychological, and Jewish perspectives. The author argues that while revenge activates the brain's reward system, it ultimately harms the avenger more than the target. He offers alternatives such as indifference and self-rehabilitation.
An opinion piece by attorney Benny Don-Yahiya, published in Maariv, deals with the urge for revenge and the question of whether it is truly sweet. The author begins with a neurological description: studies show that thinking about revenge activates the brain's reward system, similar to winning a prize or eating chocolate. However, he warns that the immediate feeling of justice gives way to heaviness and 'heartburn of the soul.' The article quotes Francis Bacon ('Revenge is a kind of wild justice'), the Torah ('You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge'), and the Maharal of Prague, who distinguishes between forbidden private revenge and revenge for the sake of repairing the world. The central arena where revenge is expressed is divorce and infidelity in relationships, where the injured party seeks to shift the center of gravity of suffering. The author argues that revenge harms the avenger more than the target, and quotes Viktor Frankl on the space between stimulus and response. He offers an alternative: indifference and self-rehabilitation, and concludes with a rhyme: 'Instead of sweetening revenge, hasten to rehabilitate.'