Transferring Merit
Gate of Reincarnations: Chapter Seven, Section 11
Translation by Yitzchok bar Chaim;
explanation by Shabtai Teicher
One can lose his portion in the Resurrection of the Dead by
transference of all the good to one soul partner and transference of all the
evil to the other one.
There is another explanation to the verse mentioned above, "Let
the evil of the wicked finish them, but You will establish
the righteous..." (Psalms 7:10) It can sometimes happen that a person's
Nefesh will not enter him wholly and
completely. Some of the good with most of the evil that is within it will go
into the body of another person.  | | " The one who is mostly good will have the ability to draw all of the good to himself..." | | |
These two will then be friends. The one who is mostly good will
have the ability to draw all of the good to himself.
The entire portion of evil will be banished to the mostly-evil person.
Regarding the second person it says, "Let the evil of the wicked finish
them...." Concerning the first person
it says, "...You will establish the righteous", along the lines of what
was said in the first explanation.
It might also be that both of them are equally balanced. If one
of them commits a sin, and definitely if the second one also performs a mitzvah,
then he will overcome his friend. He will begin to draw the good to himself
little by little until the good is completely by him, and the evil is
completely by the other one.
The Rav will now provide an explanation for a difficult
passage in the Talmud, which will also describe how the good was completely taken
from a person, who was then left with only evil.
With this you can understand what the sages meant when they
wrote, "Ahab was balanced," (Sanhedrin 102b) and when it says, "All the hosts of Heaven stood by his right and
his left" (Kings I, 22), which was said regarding King Ahab. | | " Although the evil sometimes overpowered him...still the Nefesh itself was half good and half bad..." | | |
The Talmud teaches that the heavenly tribunal met to decide
what to do with King Ahab. The angels that stood on the left were prosecutors
demanding punishment. The angels that stood on the right were defenders recalling
merit. The Rav brings the teaching of the Talmud that Ahab was balanced and that
he had the ability to repent and rectify all his sins until he murdered Nevot
(Kings I, 21). It was the spirit of Nevot that decided the judgment against
Ahab and led him to destruction. (Ibid. 22)
Is this not amazing? It says that the lightest sin of Ahab was
like the worst sin of Jeroboam.
The prophet many times writes that not only was King Jeroboam
a sinner, but he also caused the entire nation to sin. It was he who built the
golden calves in Bet El and Dan, which eventually caused the exile and
disappearance of the Ten Tribes of Israel.
In one place the Talmud states that the lightest sins of
Ahab were equal to the worst sins of Jeroboam. Yet, on the same page the Talmud
teaches, as we have read, that Ahab was equally balanced! The Talmud seems to
contradict itself.
How could they call him "balanced"?! Rather, it is like
this. His actions were not balanced,
but rather they leaned in the direction of guilt. However, his
Nefesh was balanced - half good and half
bad. Although the evil sometimes overpowered him and he worshipped idols, still
the Nefesh itself was half good and
half bad.
Thus, it could be that at the same time that a person's
actions are terrible and horribly sinful, his Nefesh could still retain
a large repository of good, and the balance sheet of his gilgul could
still finish in tikun. This is very encouraging.
Therefore, G-d did not reject him completely, but rather wanted
him to repent. He might do good. And that is why
Elijah the Prophet chased after him, in order to bring him back in
teshuva until the incident of Nevot from
the Jezreel Valley.
This concludes our translation of "Gate of Reincarnations" at this time. More articles in this series will become available in the near future.
(End of Chapter Seven.) To link to the previous article in this reincarnation series,
The Danger Faced by David, click here
Click to link to the next article in this reincarnation series,
Why Souls Reincarnate
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