בִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר בֶּן יַעֲקֹב אוֹמֵר, הָעוֹשֶׂה מִצִוָה אַחַת,
קוֹנֶה לוֹ פְרַקְלִיט אֶחָד. וְהָעוֹבֵר עֲבֵרָה אַחַת, קוֹנֶה לוֹ קַטֵּיגוֹר
אֶחָד. תְּשׁוּבָה וּמַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים, כִּתְרִיס בִּפְנֵי
הַפֻּרְעָנוּת (אבות ד יא).
Rabbi Eliezer the son of Yaakov used to say: He who does
one mitzvah, acquires himself an advocate; he who commits one transgression,
acquires himself a prosecutor.
Repentance and good deeds shield against retribution
(Ethics of our Fathers 4:11) .
The Mishna in “Ethics of our Fathers” of our fathers discusses the
effects of doing a mitzvah or a transgression. When one does a mitzvah they
create supporters, admirers, adherents, and benefactors. Rabbi Simcha in the
Machzor Vitri describes the mitzvah as an honest advocate that is ready to give
him a recommendation. He then quotes the prophet Isaiah (51:8), “your
righteousness will go before you”. He continues building on a quote from
Proverbs (6:22) that it will accompany you on your way and when you awake it
will speak on your behalf, in the world to come. The Pela Yoetz comments that
the cardinal descendants of the righteous are their good deeds, their words are
continuously alive, and these are the angels that are created from mitzvahs.
On the other hand if a person commits a transgression they acquire a
prosecutor. The Machzor Vitri describes this as a gossip that is always ready
to recount the dirt on them. He elaborates on the word קַטֵּיגוֹר
saying that it connotes an adversary who is consumed with strife and
accusation. It is the opposite of a סניגור
or advocate who hates accusations (סני תגרא).
The Pela Yoetz explains that a sin causes a person to accept an evil
inclination upon himself, who will proceed to stand in judgement of him and
dominate him. So to speak a sinner gets a monkey on his back.
The mystics tend to look at a
person’s transgressions as the demons they have created, which can take the
form of vandals and antagonists. It is like one who brazenly or recklessly
soils the halls of the king. Now the king hates him because he had the
disposition to do this. As a result forces are created to make him repair the
damage he did.
The Zohar Chadash (Shir haShirim,
p. 74) states that there are 600,000 letters in the Sefer Torah which
correspond to the 600,000 souls of the twelve tribes of the Jewish people.
Similarly, the Megillah Amukos (Va'eschanan #186) writes that the soul of every
Jew stems from one of the 600,000 letters in the Torah. However, according to
the count of the standard Mikra'os Gedolos, there are 304,805 letters. Various
explanations are given to resolve this inconsistency. To further complicate
matters the actual world population of the Jews varies over time. Today it is
estimated to be around 14 million.
Even so the idea that every
precept in the Torah is to be found in the Jewish people seems to be valid. Plus
there is the idea that for every person among the nations there is a Jew that
represents his fundamental point of view. On top of that there is the idea that
every aspect of the world is a reflection of the Creator. It comes out that if
a person commits a violation; they are offending somebody, maybe a lot of
people. In addition the world may turn against them. Ants may invade their
house or a monster in their brain may make them sick, crazy, or cause them to
have a car accident.
The bottom line is that when a
person does mitzvahs they make friends and when they commit violations they
make enemies. In essence though, the demons, pests, and aggravation are all to
make a person clean up their act. We are expected to make mistakes in this
world. The point is to prepare ourselves in the antechamber in order to
properly enter the banquet hall.
לע"נ
ה אמה מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז בנוסן תשנ"ח
העלון ניתן לקבל בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר
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