Title: Enemy’s Downfall- Humorous Version

General Information about Item: 

• Verbal Lore, proverb
• Language: English (Hebrew, Yiddish)
• Informant: Sarah Katzenell
• Date Collected: 29 October 2018

Informant Data

• Sarah Katzenell was born in Jerusalem and raised in Jerusalem through the early 2000s. Her family was Jewish and Israeli, and Sarah speaks fluent Hebrew and English and knows limited amounts of Yiddish. She moved to Hanover, NH with her husband to receive a PhD in immunology, and now works as a post doctorate researcher in a biochemistry lab at Dartmouth College.

Contextual Data

• Social Context: Sarah says that she has heard or used this proverb only in a professional setting, such as at work or with adult friends. Situations in which she has used the phrase in her life include finding out that a rival lab has failed to publish, or back in Israel with Palestine would do something that harmed their own country. Sarah said that the proverb is usually said with a hint of irony, and can be used to reassure yourself and others near you that it is acceptable in certain scenarios to not be upset when something bad happens to another. As it would seem like an ethical dilemma to publicly display happy or celebratory emotions when others are suffering, the proverb provides an “out” from this moral binding in which one reminds themselves and friends that the victim person, corporation, or nation has purposefully wished you ill in the past and it is therefore acceptable to not feel a need to assist them back.
• Cultural Context: Sarah has heard the proverb in English, Yiddish, and Hebrew, but tends to use it in English. English and Hebrew are both frequently spoken by one person in Israel.

Item

The piece as recited by Sarah in English as this is how she usually uses the proverb. (Note that in Israel, the majority of people are fluent and communicate in both English and Hebrew.)

“If your enemy falls down, don’t rejoice! But also, do not help them get up too fast.”

Collector’s Notes

• I was particularly fascinated by this proverb as it is clearly similar (and likely derived from) its religious counterpart recounted by Shoshana Zohar above, “Do not rejoice at your enemy’s downfall.” This type of “conversion” from more Biblical to humorous proverbs was also seen in one of the Catholic proverbs collected within my group. Based on the way this proverb is used in the same situation as its more serious counterpart, but to elicit a different response (humor vs shame in response to a reprimand), it seems possible this proverb is meant to pick fun at the Biblical teaching. This would be consistent with the more cynical and dry humor of the other Yiddish proverbs I collected.