In last week’s article we learned about the Rosh Hashana judgement in which both the living and the deceased stand. This explains why they are mentioned in Yizkor, we give tzedakah in their memory, and do mitzvos for their merit.
This week we will delve further into the topic. How can the living affect the souls of the dead? What actions can we perform to benefit a soul after the person has passed away? Whose actions are most effective? How is it at all possible to change a soul’s situation? Of this and more in the following article.
Iluy Nishmas
After the passing of a parent children customarily do various mitzvos to elevate their parent’s souls. Reciting Kaddish during the first year or eleven months is a custom all Jews observe, and every Jew hopes to leave behind a child who will say Kaddish for him. Many also serve as the chazzan on weekdays for the entire first year. Other customs include Torah study, giving tzedakah, reciting Tehilim, Azkarot, reciting brachos, and more.
All of these actions serve both to elevate the soul of the deceased in Gan Eden, allowing them to receive a greater portion than that they deserved for their worldly actions. These actions can also save the soul from the punishment of Gehenom, if it was sent there, so it can proceed directly to its place in Gan Eden.
The Next World is a world of truth and justice. How, then, can mitzvos performed in this world rectify the sins of another person and enable him to enjoy a place in Gan Eden alongside tzaddikim who spent their entire lives learning Torah and fulfilling mitzvos? Why should he be granted a share in the World to Come while another person — who may not even have been as wicked as he was — remains trapped in Gehinnom simply because there is no one in this world to intercede on his behalf and do something to elevate his neshamah?
When Iluy Neshana Is Ineffective
The Maharam Chalavah (17) addressed this question and brings numerous sources as proof that one is judged according to his actions, nothing another person does can save him from the punishment he deserves in the World of Truth, nether can it bring him any benefit or additional spiritual elevation.
He cites the pasuk (Koheles 9:10): “Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might, for there is no deed, calculation, knowledge, or wisdom in the Sheol to which you are going.” In other words, if one wants to elevate his neshamah, the time to do so is during his lifetime. Beyond what one accomplishes here in this world, there is nothing that can change our final judgment. One must face the consequences of what he did, for better or for worse.
In the Gemara, Chazal express the same idea (Shabbos 151b): “Do it while it is still in your hand,” meaning that while you have the ability to give tzedakah, perform mitzvos, and learn Torah, you should do so yourself. What others do on your behalf after death will not help.
The Mishnah similarly states (Avos 4:17): “Better one hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world than the entire life of the World to Come, and better is one hour of spiritual satisfaction in the World to Come than a full lifetime in this world.”
The Rambam explains (Peirush HaMishnayos) that in the World of Truth, a person can no longer acquire any new spiritual level or perfection. Everything can only be attained in this world. Therefore, one hour in this world spent doing teshuvah and good deeds is more valuable than millions of years in the World to Come, because the mitzvos and good deeds one acquires here in this world remain for eternity.
And on the other hand, all the pleasures of this world, even if they were to be concentrated into one single moment, cannot in any way compare to the pleasure of even one hour in the World to Come. In one hour in this world, we can acquire millions upon millions of eternal, endless pleasures. We must not allow a single moment to go to waste.
The Maharam concludes his discussion of the topic with the words of Hillel Hazaken (Avos 1:14): “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” No one can do for your neshamah more than you can do for yourself. As Chazal say in the Gemara (Avodah Zarah 3a), “One who toiled on Erev Shabbos will eat on Shabbos.” If you toil and sweat in this world, you’ll have ‘what to eat’ in the next.
Despite his initial position on the matter, even the Maharam Chalavah acknowledges that there are certain actions that can indeed bring about an iluy neshamah (elevation of the soul). We will examine what those actions are and why they are effective. At the same time, we must bear in mind that other approaches understand the matter differently and maintain that the possibilities are considerably more extensive.
Atonement For the Dead
One of the sources in Chazal that mention the concept of atoning for the dead is mentioned by the Maharam Chalavah.
In the parshah of Eglah Arufah, the Torah says (Devarim 21:8): “Atone for Your nation Yisrael whom You have redeemed, Hashem.” The Sifrei (210) expounds: “‘Atone for Your nation’ refers to the living; ‘whom You have redeemed’ refers to the dead.” The Midrash Tanchuma (Parshas Haazinu, 1) quotes the Sifrei and adds: “Here we learn that the living redeem the dead. This is the source for our custom of mentioning the deceased on Yom Kippur and pledging tzedakah on their behalf. As it says in Toras Kohanim: ‘One might have thought that once a person has died, tzedakah can no longer benefit him. Therefore the pasuk teaches, “whom You have redeemed” — even the deceased can be redeemed through tzeddakah.”
The Midrash Tanchuma continues with a remarkable description of what happens to the neshamah when tzedakah is given for the elevation of his soul: “When tzedakah is pledged on their behalf, they are taken out and raised like an arrow from a bow. Immediately, he becomes soft and pure like a kid, and is cleansed like at the time he was born. Pure waters are poured over him from a bucket, and he grows in great pleasure like a fish enjoying the water. He immerses himself continually in the rivers of afarsimon, milk, oil, and honey. He eats continually from the Tree of Life, which is planted among the tzaddikim, its branches extending over the table of each and every tzaddik, and he lives forever.”
Several Rishonim, including the Rashba (Vol. 7, 539; and others) attribute this description to the Talmud Yerushalmi, although it does not appear in the versions we have today.
Many Rishonim (Machzor Vitri 353; Maharam of Rotenburg, Teshuvos Tashbatz Katan 410; Mordechai, Yoma 832; Shibolei HaLeket, Seder Atzeres 239; Orchos Chaim, Vol. 1, Hilchos Yom HaKippurim, 34; Agur, Yom HaKippurim, 955; Rabbenu Bachya, Devarim 21:8; and others) quote this passage and learn from it that tzedakah and tefillah performed for elevation of a neshamah can bring great benefit and atonement for the deceased, without any specific limitations.
While some quote Rav Hai Gaon’s approach (attributed by the Rashba to Rav Sherira Gaon) who disputes this concept and limits the extent to which the living can benefit the deceased, these Rishonim appear to disagree with that limitation and maintain that in general, the living can perform actions to benefit the deceased.
Reciting Kaddish and Davening For the Amud
The Jewish custom is that an orphan recites Kaddish for the first year after his parent’s passing. Some are also careful to serve as the shaliach tzibbur throughout the year.
The source for this custom is a remarkable story brought in Chazal (Maseches Kallah Rabbasi 2:9) about Rabbi Akiva.
Rabbi Akiva once traveled to a certain place, where spirits were known to be present. There he encountered a man carrying an enormous burden on his shoulders, a burden that he was unable to bear. The man cried out and lamented over his bitter fate.
Rabbi Akiva took pity on him and wanted to help him. He asked him, “What are you doing?”
The man replied that he had already departed from this world. During his lifetime, there was no sin in the Torah that he had not committed. Now, the prosecuting angels gave him no respite and forced him to perform impossible, backbreaking labor.
Rabbi Akiva asked him, “Do you have a son in this world?”
The deceased soul begged him, “Leave me alone! I am afraid of the prosecuting angels who beat me with fiery whips whenever I do not toil with all my strength.”
But Rabbi Akiva persisted. “Tell me what you left behind in this world.”
The figure told Rabbi Akiva that he had left no children at the time of his death, but his wife had been pregnant.
Rabbi Akiva traveled to the city where this man had lived and inquired about his widow. The people of the city responded, “May the memory of this wicked man be erased and may his bones be crushed! Do not ask about him!”
Rabbi Akiva asked why, and they told him what he had done. The man had been a robber who extorted people and caused them to suffer. Even on the holiest day, Yom Kippur, he had found the time to commit a grave sin with a betrothed girl.
Rabbi Akiva continued to his home, and found his widow still pregnant. He waited until she gave birth, gave the child a bris milah, and when he grew a little older, Rabbi Akiva took him to the beis knesses and taught him how to serve as the shaliach tzibbur and recite brachos out loud.
Some time later, Rabbi Akiva once again happened to pass through the same site, where the spirits were. Again, the man appeared to him and said, “Put your mind at ease, for you have put my mind at ease.”
From this story Chazal learned that even if one was completely wicked – if he has a son who prays on behalf of the tzibbur he can help ease his father’s suffering in Gehinnom.
While the man was still in the same dreadful pit where Rabbi Akiva had met him the first time even years later, he was now “put at ease”. He was no longer suffering unbearably. He was undergoing a process of correction, and his mind was at ease.
From this passage Chazal learn that that one of the most effective things a person can do for the neshamah of a deceased parent is to recite Kaddish. Therefore, they established the Kaddish Yasom so even young orphans can recite it and bring merit to their father, helping him leave Gehinnom or, alternatively, alleviating his suffering there.
In addition, Chazal established that it is important for whoever is able to serve as the shaliach tzibbur for the tefillos throughout the year to do so, because he brings merit to the tzibbur through the reciting Kaddish, Borchu, and numerous brachos.
While some Rishonim learn from these sources that there is indeed a remarkable power of iluy neshamah, enabling the living to help the dead, others explain that such a power does exist, but to a more limited extent.
Son or Student
All sources agree that a son can act for the spiritual elevation of his father’s soul, as we learn from Rabbi Akiva’s account. This is something that no one else can do for a soul. The Ben Ish Chai (Torah Lishmah, 412) explains that if Rabbi Akiva could have recited Kaddish and Barchu for the soul’s elevation, he would have done so himself instead of waiting until the son grew up.
The Rashba (responsa, vol. 5, 49) writes that since a son is considered an extension of his father, it is as though the father is still alive, and his son’s actions are considered like his father’s.
However, the Maharam Ḥalavah (responsa, 17) offers a simpler explanation: this is a matter of truth and justice. A person’s son is a result of his father, and if the son is righteous, his good deeds are a result of his father. Therefore, one’s descendants can benefit the soul of their ancestor. The Gemara (Sanhedrin 104a) learns this from a pasuk: “And there is none who can deliver from My hand” (Devarim 32:39): a father cannot grant merit to his son — Avraham cannot save Yishmael, and Yitzchak cannot save Eisav, but a son can grant merit to his father. The son is a person’s accomplishment in this world, and the consequences of that accomplishment are credited to him. Thus, even after his death, when the results of his actions continue, they continue to be credited to him.
Similarly, the Maharam Ḥalavah writes that if one set aside money for charity, but the money was delivered only after his death, the charitable deeds are still credited to him after his death. When the money ultimately reaches charity, it brings him spiritual benefit.
The Maharam Ḥalavah adds that a student can also save his teacher. Since the student grows spiritually, studies Torah, and fulfills mitzvos as a result of his rebbe’s teachings, every good deed the student does is credited to his rebbe. Even after the rebbe’s judgment has been determined at the moment of death, whenever his student does a mitzva, that mitzva is added to the teacher’s balance of merits, and his judgment can change for the better.
This is how he explains the Gemara (Chagigah 15b), which describes the fate of Elisha ben Avuyah, one of the great Tannaim and Rebbe of Rabbi Meir, who abandoned the Torah later in life. Smoke would arise from his grave after his death, and Rabbi Yochanan promised to rectify his soul. Indeed, after Rabbi Yochanan died, the smoke stopped rising from Elisha ben Avuyah’s grave, because Rabbi Yochanan had succeeded in bringing him out of Gehinnom and rectifying his soul.
Saving From Punishment vs. Ultimate Pleasure
The Rashba (vol. 7, 539) cites a responsum of Rav Sherira Gaon states that mitzvos cannot be transferred to the deceased -- the deceased can only receive reward for what he accomplished in his lifetime. Nevertheless, he identifies several exceptions (from the aforementioned Sifrei and Talmud Yerushalmi), one of which is charity. Tzeddakah given by the living can help save a soul from Gehinnom. At the same time, it cannot, in any way, grant it the eternal pleasure of enjoying Hashem’s spiritual radiance, or increase his spiritual stature in Heaven.
In another place, the Rashba notes his own opinion (vol. 5, 49) that prayer and charity can indeed save a soul and give it nachas ruach (spiritual satisfaction). He explains that when Chazal said that a soul can do nothing the World of Truth, they mean that a soul can only act in this world; the living, however, can act on behalf of the deceased.
The Rashba (vol. 7, 539) cites another possibility for assisting the deceased brought in Rav Sherira Gaon’s writings: a tzaddik’s actions. A tzaddik can pray, give charity, and ask Hashem to give a soul spiritual elevation. Hashem might accept the prayer in merit of the tzaddik and elevate the soul, or might not.
Rectifying Wrongs
The Rashba (vol. 7, 539) cites Rav Sherira Gaon saying that if one owes money or has done some wrong, another person can pay the debt or correct the wrong for him.
The Maharam Ḥalavah (17) asks how this could be if the Gemara (Zevachim 9b) teaches that after one’s death, a chatos he had designated cannot be brought, because there is no atonement for the dead. Another source also indicates the same: Rashi (Bava Kamma 110a) writes that even if one had set aside money to atone for him after death, it cannot atone for him. If so, how can the Eglah Arufah which we mentioned at the beginning of this article, atone for the dead?
The Ba’al Hahaflaah (Panim Yafos, Devarim 21:8) resolves the difficulty by explaining that just as a person is rewarded when his children do mitzvos as a result of the way he raised them, so too, tragically, when a person’s child sins, his parents in the World of Truth can be held accountable if they failed to educate him properly.
However, once the living bring an Eglah Arufah and atone for the sin, the sin no longer exists. Once it is gone from this world, the sin is also removed from the account of those who passed away.
The Malbim (Devarim 21:8) offers a similar explanation. Hashem redeemed the Jewish people from Egypt on condition that they would not be murderers. Therefore, when a shocking murder occurs and justice is not carried out, it creates an accusation against all the souls -- both the living and the dead. It can bring exile on their children, bring prosecution against the deceased in the World of Truth. Then, when people make an atonement in this world, the wrong is rectified on both realms.
The Maharam Ḥalavah though, proves from the Gemara (Horayos 6a) that in this case atonement for the dead is possible only because it is for the community as a whole, both living and dead.
Dovid HaMelech and Avshalom
Can a father help his son’s soul? The Maharam Ḥalavah (17) touches this issue through the story of Dovid HaMelech and Avshalom. The Gemara (Sotah 10b) writes that after his death, Avshalom was sentenced to descend into the seven chambers of Gehinnom, but Dovid HaMelech, through his prayers, succeeded in bringing him up from Gehinnom into eternal life.
This Gemara seems to prove from this recount that not only can a son save his father, but a father can also save his son. How is this possible, if elsewhere (Sanhedrin 104a) the Gemara teaches that a father cannot redeem his child?
The Maharam answers that Avshalom’s sin was his rebellion against his father. Once the father forgave his son, the sin was erased. Consequently, in the Heavenly Tribunal, once the sin had been removed, Avshalom’s punishment was also reduced.
Summary
In Uva LeTzion, we say: “May it be Your will… that we observe Your statutes in this world, and merit and live and see and inherit goodness and blessing in the years of the Messianic days and in the life of the World to Come.” We are not simply asking Hashem to merit the World to Come, but to merit it through the deeds that we ourselves perform in this world.
This idea is expressed in a parable in Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer (chapter 34): a person had a case before the king and turned to his three friends. The first merely heard that his friend was in trouble, turned his back on him, and slammed the door in his face. The second agreed to accompany him as far as the courthouse, but once they arrived, he became frightened and left. Only the third friend entered the courtroom and spoke favorably on his behalf before the king.
So too, each of us has three “friends”: our money, our family, and our good deeds. At the time of death, our wealth turns its back on us and ceases to aid us. Our family accompanies us faithfully and devotedly as far as the grave. But from there on, only our good deeds continue with us to the Heavenly Court in the World of Truth and speak favorably on our behalf.
The greatest benefit comes from what we ourselves accomplish during our lifetime, both because it is more beneficial, and because we cannot afford to rely on hopes that others will do for us after our passing.
Nevertheless, a son or student can do a mitzva for their parent or rebbe’s merit, more so than another person’s actions. This is true also when the mitzva comes as a direct result of the deceased’s actions: when people learn from a particular trait or behavior in which the deceased excelled and seek to follow in his ways, it brings an elevation to his soul.
Likewise, there is great value in rectifying the sin committed by the deceased during his lifetime, because doing so can retroactively remove the accusation against him.
It is also very important if a tzaddik prays and asks Hashem to show mercy on the soul of the deceased. Likewise, one can pray when there is a moment of Divine favor, such as when one forgives another for something he had wronged him.
In the next article, we will complete our series on this topic and explain how Yizkor works, how we can help the souls of the deceased, and why Yom Kippur is the appropriate time for it.
