Revenge in Judaism

Love has its place. As does hate. Peace has its place, as does war. Mercy has its place, as do cruelty and revenge.

 The Torah dons sackcloth over the distortion of the concept of revenge, which has become a target for the arrows of all Jewish Hellenists and worshipers of the alien culture, as if revenge was negative and evil by nature.

The very opposite is true! No trait is more justified than revenge in the right time and place. G-d himself is called Nokem, Avenger:

"The Lord is a zealous and avenging G-d. The L-rd avenges and is full of wrath. He takes revenge on His adversaries and reserves wrath for His enemies." (Nachum 1:2).

Our sages also said (Berachot 33a) "Shall we say that even revenge is great because it appears between two names of G-d? A G-d of revenge is the L-rd (Ps.94:1).

R Elazar responded, "Indeed. Where revenge is necessary, it is a great thing".(see Rashi).

It is a great thing! It is a great mitsva to take the revenge of the righteous and humble from the evildoer. Whoever forgoes or rejects such an opportunity is cruel, and he denies belief in G-d.

As King David said (Ps. 58:11-12):
"The tsadik shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. Men shall say, "Verily there is a reward for the tsadik. Verily there is a G-d who judges on Earth."