Mesilas Yesharim, Perek 4 Part 4/4
- Shiur 6 of 31 in Mesilas Yesharim
Olam as Helem and Dikduk With Tzaddikim
AI summary (may contain mistakes)
Why would a person settle for a small portion in Olam Haba when he would never accept less in this world? Mesilas Yesharim calls it a trick of the yetzer hara, which works only because this world hides the truth. Then comes the last level, reward and punishment, where Hashem is exacting even with the biggest tzaddikim, from Avraham and Yaakov to David. Those stories are deeper than their simple meaning, and on the simple level they show that everything counts.
Key points
- Mesilas Yesharim teaches that if the truth were not hidden, the yetzer hara could trick no one.
- In the kever a person still exists but no longer has bechira to choose ratzon Hashem.
- We learn that reward and punishment is one of the thirteen ikkarim of emunah, which we are obligated to believe.
- The Chofetz Chaim saw new recording inventions as a mashal for the eye, ear and book in Avos.
- A carpenter's small slip is minor and a surgeon's is serious, and so is a tzaddik's.