SCHADENFREUDE

Schadenfreude is defined as the pleasure we take in the misfortunes of others. I asked our rabbi the other day whether the Jewish tradition has a position on schadenfreude, and was informed that we're not supposed to indulge in it. The Bible says so (somewhere in Proverbs. Something like "Do not rejoice when your enemy fails.") I did once write a song about it, to be sung, of course, to the tune of the choral movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with a four-part chorus and backup from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra:

We indulge in schadenfreude when the other side gets screwed,
When the other candidate gets caught cavorting in the nude.
Someone else's team gets faded, someone else's house burns down,
Someone else's bar gets raided, pass the cup of joy around.

There's no freud like schadenfreude, blazes like magnesium,
Dances like the lovely green-eyed daughter of Elysium;
Other cheer when we're down-hearted, we rejoice when others fall;
If it weren't for schadenfreude, we might have no freud at all.

Anyway, President Bush has now been pressured by both sides in Congress to reinstate the requirement that hurricane disaster reconstruction workers be paid prevailing wages on the Gulf Coast. And there are rumors that somebody is going to get indicted for blowing Valerie Plame's cover, possibly today. But I will try to avoid the moral hazards of schadenfreude for a while longer.