[Avodah] [Areivim] Report to the Heavenly Court

[Michael Makovi]

> A b'raissa on Sotah 21a states: Aveirah m'chabah mitzvah v'ein aveirah
> m'chabah torah.  Rashi and Tosfos (DH V'hein) make it clear that this
> clause of the b'raissa is dealing with s'char le-asid lavo (although
> Tosfos wonders why the gemara later on seems to imply that it's
> dealing with pur'anus in this world) .  Without sliding back into the
> specifics of the poem, wouldn't this ma'amar appear to imply that it
> would be possible for certain sins to erase one's mitzvos?
>
> R' Joshua Meisner

Exactly. Similarly, tzedaka can nullify averot. If we can extrapolate,
and perhaps someone with more bekiut can provide more sources if there
any any more, we cay say there is a possible hypothetical machloket:

a) Mesilat Yesharim: If a person does a mitzvah for +X and an averah
for -Y, then G-d will reward him with X and punish for Y.  G-d will
not say that X is so great that Y simply disappears into nothingness,
and he is rewarded for X only. Likewise, G-d will not say that Y is so
great that he will be punished for Y only, and X disappears into
nothingness.

b) Hypothetical shita: If a person does a mitzvah for +X and an averah
for -Y, then G-d will reward him for (X-Y) or punish for (Y-X). This
is not canceling X or Y out, in that G-d will not simply ignore X
and/or Y and m'vatel it in the other. Rather, He punishes or rewards a
person for the difference. If a person does a mitvah of +10 and an
averah of -5, he is simply rewarded for +5; there is no inyan here of
G-d's ignoring mitzvot or averot.

Let's put it in terms of money. Suppose A owes $100 to B (schar WRT
B), and simultaneously, B owes $20 to A (onesh WRT B).

Mesilat Yesharim: A gives $100 to B (B's schar), and B gives $20 of
that right back to A (B's onesh).

Shita B: A gives $80 to B. Done. (B's schar minus B's onesh).

In neither case, however, do we say that the $20 simply disappears,
and A simply gives $100 to B. This is b'vadai.

Mikha'el Makovi