(In memory of Chaim Barukh Yehudah ben Dovid Tzvi zl)
Summary: Sort of a scorecard to Gehenna. If you’ve ever read a book that describes a Holocaust concentration camp, this will sound familiar, albeit without the gory details, thank God. We will also find some guidelines about what to avoid doing—and thinking—at night.
[The scorecard]
Three ministers serve in Gehenna, under Dumah. They are Mashchit, Af and Cheimah (Destroyer, Anger and Fury). They oversee all the deputies. The deputies rush to and fro, punishing the wicked.
All the troops of thug-angels fill Gehenna with pandemonium. Their yells are heard in the sky. In Gehenna, the wicked scream, “Oy! Oy!” but no one pities them.
The verse has something to say about these three ministers and the deputies, the bands of thug-angels. “A racket sounds (kol) from the city; an uproar (kol) from the Beit HaMikdash/Temple! God’s thunder (kol) as he deals retribution to His foes” (Isaiah 66:6). Three kols, one each for the overseers who rule Gehenna during the weekdays.
Throughout the night, from the time of Maariv (the nighttime prayer), the wicked are punished for their deeds done in the dark, and for the fantasies and schemes they hatched in bed. “Oy! Those who hide their plans deep from God! Who do their work in the dark and say, ‘Who sees us? Who’s going to know it was us?’” (Isaiah 29:15). “Oy! Those who plan iniquity, designing evil while in their beds. At first light they rush to do it—because they can” (Michah 2:1).
Once they’ve started punishing, they continue into the day until every sin is accounted for. But it starts at nightfall. This is why the thug-angels are called Leilot (Nighters). As Rebbe Alexandrei commented on the verse (Song of Songs 3:8), “… because of the terror of Leilot”—from the terror of Gehenna.
This is why they established that the weeknight Maariv begin with the verse, “He [God] is compassionate. He atones crime and does not yashchit, destroy; He keeps His af, anger, securely in check and does not arouse all His cheimah, fury” (Tehillim 78:38). From the moment it becomes dark, the destroyers—Mashchit, Af and Cheimah—begin punishing the wicked. They are all referred to in this verse.
They established, but only for the weeknights, not for Shabbat. Because when Shabbat enters the world, Din, Judgment, exits. Th wicked in Gehenna have some rest. From the moment the day is sanctified, the thug-angels have no authority over them. Therefore, we don’t say the verse, “He is compassionate …”—it provokes the thug-angels.
It’s forbidden to say because it also insults the King. On Shabbat, He is the one Who protects the wicked. Not reciting “He is compassionate…” indicates that Din has exited the word and the destroyers may not destroy. An analogy: The officer who flogs the convicts is visited by the King, who has come to protect the convicts. If the flogger even threateningly picks up his whip, has he not insulted the King?
Shabbat is the king. He stands behind the wicked and protects them. Anyone who picks up the whip to frighten them insults the king. For the same reason, we don’t conclude Maariv’s last blessing with the weeknight ending, “The Protector of His people Yisrael.”
Zohar Chadash, Ruth 97a
© Copyright 2014 148west.com/O. Bergman
Related posts:
- Don’t Say It! (In memory of Chaim Barukh Yehudah ben Dovid Tzvi zl; Shabbos night, 3 of 10) Don’t Say It! Sometimes...
- Erev Shabbat with the Zohar (Part 2 of 2) (In memory of Chaim Barukh Yehudah ben Dovid Tzvi zl) Up, Up and Away! On erev Shabbat Rav...
- Shabbos Night (2 of 10) (In memory of Chaim Barukh Yehudah ben Dovid Tzvi zl) K’gavna (In chassidic shuls, this piece of Zohar is...
- Be Delighted. Keep Shabbos. On Shabbat the tzaddik delivers lechem mishneh. (The term lechem mishneh refers to the “double bread,” the two...
