Death Atones…
Probably one of the most misunderstood passages in the Gemmarra is a piece from Mesechta Yoma that says there are certain sins for which only death atones(from the Soncino):
R. Matthia b. Heresh asked R. Eleazar b. Azariah in Rome: have you heard about the four kinds of sins, concerning which R. Ishmael has lectured? He answered: They are three, and with each is repentance connected — If one transgressed a positive commandment , and repented , then he is forgiven, before he has moved from his place; as it is said: Return, O backsliding chiidren. If he has transgressed a prohibition and repented,then repentance suspends [the punishment] and the Day of Atonement procures atonement, as it is said : For on this day shall atonement be made for you … from all your sins. If he has committed [a sin to be punished with] extirpation or death through the Beth din, and repented, then repentance and the Day of Atonement suspend [the punishment thereon], and suffering finishes the atonement, as it is said: Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with strokes. But if he has been guilty of the profanation of the Name, then penitence has no power to suspend punishment, nor the Day of Atonement to procure atonement, nor suffering to finish it, but all of them together suspend the punishment and only death finishes it
The misunderstanding is that this means a pre-mature death. I even heard someone recently say this about those who died in the 9/11 attacks. However, as I have already said this a horrible misunderstanding of what the text is trying to say.
First let’s start with a basic, human mortality is a punishment for sin. Thus Judaism teaches(Gemarra<don’t remember the tractate>, Midrash Yalkut Shimoni Yehezkel 367, Derekh Erez Zuta, and Shaarei Kedusha Part 2) that there were between six and eight people who didn’t die, but ascended to Gan Eden alive. Meaning that they were righteous enough to rectify their sins, so that they never tasted this punishment. They are Enoch, Eliezer(servant of Avraham), Bithiah(daughter of Pharoah), Elijah, Ebed-Melech, Hiram King of Tyre, and Jaabez Son of Yehuda HaNasi(Those in bold are found biblically, those in italics are not found in the Gemarra).
In the third chapter of Lev David Rav Haim Vital specifically discusses this idea of death atoning for our sins. There he makes it exhaustively clear that this does not necessarily mean an unnatural death. After 120yrs asleep in one’s bed, when HaShem requires your soul, then that will atone, so to speak. This idea that every pre-mature death is somehow a sign(l’havdil) of HaShem’s judgement, is both wrong and also hurtful. There is no need to suggest that a terrorist event such as 9/11 was caused by anything other than a group of homicidal sociopaths, dressed up in the guise of religion, to whom HaShem had given free will.
Rav Tzadok (k”h) wrote: “First let’s start with a basic, human mortality is a punishment for sin.”
There’s another way to look at it, that Rav Chayyim Volozhiner provides in the Neffesh Ha-chayyim, Shaar 1, Perek 6.
If we did not have death then we would have no way to rectify some sins, and we would have to live forever with the consequences of those sins.
So death is a gift rather than a punishment.
He also mentions the four who died only as a result of the counsel of the serpent (b’etyo shel nakhash) – they never sinned during their lives – as discussed in Shabbat 55b.
So I read the entire chapter you cited from Nefesh HaHayim and didn’t find anywhere that death was a gift.
Furthermore such a view is stark contradiction to what is written numerous places in the Zohar, Parashat Noah 65 comes immediately to mind. As well as what is written quite clearly in Shaarei Kedusha Helek 2 Shaar 4. Death is a curse, and a punishment. It is most unnatural and a direct result of sin.
Likewise the Arizal states in Shaar HaKavvanot drushei Kaddish that the soul suffers immeasurably by being separated from the body for the first year.
Towards the end of the first Hagaha in that perek we read:
“omnum rotzeh lomar, ka-asheir yokhal mei-eitz ha-khayyim…”
I’ll translate it as:
“However, it desires to convey that when he will eat from the
Tree of Life and lives forever, he will remain (heaven forefend)
without rectification, that the evil will not be separated from
him forever (heaven forefend), and he won’t see the luminaries
nor good his entire life. For this reason, for his own good, he
was expelled from the Garden of Eden, so that he would be
able to arrive at a complete rectification when the evil will
separate itself from him via death and rotting in the grave.”
To me the phrase “for his own good” makes it a gift, saving him from not ever having a tikkun. That doesn’t mean that it’s not also seen as a punishment that causes immesurable suffering.
By the way, I ‘ve done a complete translation of the Neffesh Ha-chayyim into english. It will be available online shortly.
You are being m’chadesh something that the various Baalei Musar and Mekubalim have said the exact opposite of. If you are comfortable with that, the fine by me. Ultimately all Yisurim and Punishments are for our own good, even Gehenna is for our own good, but that doesn’t make it any less a punishment.
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Thanks for your comment.
Punishments from can also be considered as gifts, though we may not recognize them as such. A relevant (paraphrased) quote is: “chaveev ah-leh-kha yee-soo-reh-kha”? A positive answer could indicate that a punishment is beloved, though most of us would not see it so.
Do you prefer to primarily dwell on yir’at ha-onesh to refine our midot, or could a focus on ahavaht Ha-shem also be effective?
Punishments from the Ribono Shel Olam can also be considered as gifts, though we may not recognize them as such. A relevant (paraphrased) quote is: “chaveev ah-leh-kha yee-soo-reh-kha”? A positive answer could indicate that a punishment is beloved, though most of us would not see it so.
Do you prefer to primarily dwell on yir’at ha-onesh to refine our midot, or could a focus on ahavaht Ha-shem also be effective?