“Dead flies spoil and froth a perfumer’s oil; a little folly is weightier than wisdom, than honor” (Ecclesiastes 10:1). “Dead flies spoil and froth a perfumer’s oil” – ben Azai and Rabbi Akiva: ben Azai said: One fly that dies does not spoil and froth a perfumer’s oil; but a single sin that one performs will cause him to lose much good. Rabbi Akiva expounded: “Therefore, the netherworld has expanded itself, and opened its mouth without limit [ḥok]” (Isaiah 5:14).
It is not written ḥukim, but rather “without ḥok,” one who does not have mitzvot to tip the scales in favor of his virtues.1The word ḥok (plural, ḥukim) can mean limit or statute. Rabbi Akiva interprets the verse according to the second meaning, such that the verse means that the netherworld takes a person who is missing just one mitzva that would have tipped the scales in his favor. Those who engage in allegorical interpretations of the Torah say: A person is judged on the basis of the majority of his [deeds].
A person should always assess himself as though he is half virtuous and half guilty; if he performs one mitzva, happy is he, as he tipped his scales in favor of virtue, if he performs one transgression, woe is he, as he tipped his scales in favor of guilt. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said: Because the individual is judged on the basis of the majority of his [deeds], and the world is judged on the basis of its majority, with the single transgression that this one [individual] performs, he causes himself and the world to lose much good.