Kriat Shema Al Hamitah (Part 15)
Kriat Shema al Hamitah continues: “Blessed is Hashem by day, blessed is Hashem by night. Blessed is Hashem when we lie down, blessed is Hashem when we arise. For in Your Hands are the souls of the living and the dead. The One in whose hand is the soul of all the living, and the spirit of all human flesh. In Your Hand I entrust my spirit. You redeemed me Hashem,
The verse “For in Your Hands are the souls of the living and the dead” is taken from the Book of Iyov 12:10. The Midrash Tanchuma explains that even after a person passes from this world, they are still in the “Hands of Hashem.” It is our actions in the physical realms that define how we are treated in the spiritual realms. The straightforward understanding of the Midrash is that each person’s World to Come is created by our deeds in this world.
Nachmanides (Tractate Rosh Hashana 16b) writes that there are three occasions when a person is judged:
- Each Rosh Hashana, a person is judged materially.
- On the day a person passes from this world, they are judged for everything they have done during their life.
- And, finally, on the “Yom Hadin Hagadol” – the Great Day of Judgment that will take place immediately prior to the Resurrection of the Dead – the soul will be judged to see whether it will merit to be resurrected or not.
Rabbi Aharon Kotler points out in Mishnat Rebbi Aharon that the final judgment seems to be superfluous. After all, if a person is judged every year on Rosh Hashana, and then cumulatively for their entire life on their passing, what is left for them to be judged for on the Yom Hadin Hagadol? With the legendary brilliance and depth he was renowned for, Rabbi Kotler explains that the final judgment is for the effect that a person has on others and whether their influence carried through to the following generations.
The novelty of Rabbi Kotler’s insight is breathtaking! According to him, the deciding factor about whether a soul will be resurrected is not necessarily their individual spiritual achievements during their life, but what impact the person left in the world. Did they make the world a better place for those around them? Did their interpersonal relations leave others feeling good about themselves? Were they able to convince others to serve Hashem in a more accomplished way simply through their warmth and approachability?
It is impossible to gauge the impact of a kind word and a sincere smile. Often, they can change a person’s whole trajectory. And change the generations that come afterwards as well. Unfortunately, the opposite is equally true. The inspirational speaker Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson relates that Dr. Jerome Mattos, a forensic psychologist and psychiatrist for the San Francisco Police Department, once gave an interview to the New York Times. In it he shared that his job was to examine the evidence after a suicide. And, as to expected, Dr. Mattos had become somewhat desensitized to what he was exposed to on a regular basis. However, he said that there was one case that managed to completely shake him up.
A thirty-something man had ended his life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Dr. Mattos went to the deceased’s home to see what may have been the catalyst that led him to make such a tragic and devastating decision. In the apartment, he found a note: “I’m going to walk to the bridge. If one person smiles at me on the way, I won’t jump.”
It is true that no one person can save the entire world. But each individual person is described by our Sages as being an “Olam Katan – a Small World.” Maybe, just by smiling at those around us, perhaps just by offering a kind word, we might be saving someone from loneliness and despair. Our Sages teach (Bava Batra 11a, Sanhedrin 37a), “Whoever preserves a single Jewish life is considered as if they have preserved an entire world.” Not just the world of the person who they helped, but their own world as well – their World to Come.
Or, in the words of the indefatigable Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, whose heart was always wide open to every single Jew, “Our lives are judged by the lives that we have touched and made better.”
To be continued…
