[Avodah] Punishment

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Jul 08, 2022 at 06:38:56AM -0400, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
>> I've often heard it said that one is better off getting punished
>> in this world that in the world to come. Philosophically why
>> should the sum total of punishment for any transgression be
>> different depending on where one receives the punishment?

> Excellent question. I don't really know. I suspect that it has something to
> do with the nature of the two worlds being so incomparable that we are
> deceived into thinking that their "sum totals" are equivalent. And yet,

I think they are different in kind.

Sekhar va'nesh in this world is about Hashem preparing the best path
for me to get from where I am to where I could and should be. The kelal
gadol is "kol de'avad Rachmana letav avad".

Sekhar va'onesh in the next world is my soul ending up more or less fit
for olam ha'emes.

Wheereas once one gets to olam ha'emes...

The Iqarim (4:33) writes that the fires of gehennom are those of shame.
Rabbeinu Yonah (Shaarei Teshuvah 4:1) compares a sinful soul to a sick
person. Just as a sick person suffers from his illness, the sinner
suffers from his sins. The Ramchal (Derekh Hasheim 1:4:5) too writes,
"Sin detracts from ones perfection." R. Chaim Vilozhiner (Derekh haChaim
1:21) derives a similar idea of gehenom as consequence of sin from a
gemara in Eiruvin (19a): "The wicked deepen gehennom for themselves."
What you get in the World to Come is the consequence of the mitzvos you
do. R. Chaim takes this one step further to also make the full sequence
sin to changes in the soul to reward and punishment in general. Each
sin, he writes, causes a flaw in your soul. In true Divine Mercy, the
punishment is both the natural consequence of this flaw and a key tool
for healing it. And Mikhtav meiElihahu (vol 1 pp 113-114) explains the
expression aveirah goreres aveirah one sin is followed by [another]
sin by saying that after repeatedly doing a given sin, it becomes part
of ones nature; so that no conscious decision is required next time the
situation arises.



-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Zion will be redeemed through justice,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   and her returnees, through righteousness.
Author: Widen Your Tent
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF