A Wise Son Gladdens the Father and Haman the Foolish Son

... Rabbi Ishmael used to expound: Happy is the person who keeps himself far from transgression and cleaves to the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, and to His Torah, to teach you that when a person speaks words of Torah he brings joy to his Creator; therefore Solomon said (Proverbs 10:1): "A wise son makes a glad father" -- this is the Holy One, blessed be He, who is father to the whole world entire, as it is said (Psalms 68:6): "a father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows." Another interpretation: "A wise son makes a glad father" -- this is Solomon, who was exceedingly wise, and who gladdened the Holy One, blessed be He, with his wisdom. "But a foolish son is the grief of his mother" -- this is the wicked Haman, who listened to his wife and was hanged on the tree, as it is said (Esther 5:14): "Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, Let a tree be made," and so on. And from where do we know that he was hanged on his own tree? As it is said (Esther 7:10): "So they hanged Haman on the tree that he had prepared for Mordecai." Rabbi Nehemiah said: Out of all the wealth that he had, could he not redeem himself?! Rather, it is to teach you that once the time of the wicked one's downfall arrives, his wealth avails him nothing: (Proverbs 10:2): "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death." And another text says (Psalms 89:49): "What man is he who lives and shall not see death, who shall deliver his soul from the hand of Sheol? Selah." How can these two texts both stand? Say from now: "What man is he who lives and shall not see death" -- this is death in the way of all the earth; "righteousness delivers from death" -- it delivers those who do it from an unnatural death. One text says (Exodus 34:7): "clearing," and one text says (Exodus 34:7): "He will not clear." It is impossible to say "clearing," since it has already been said "He will not clear"; and it is impossible to say "He will not clear," since it has already been said "clearing." So how can these two texts both stand? He clears for those who repent, and He does not clear for those who do not repent. There we learned in a Mishnah: concerning the four divisions of atonement, Rabbi Matya ben Charash asked Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah in Rome: Have you heard of the four divisions of atonement that Rabbi Ishmael used to expound? He said to him: They are three, and repentance goes with each and every one of them. If a person transgressed a positive commandment and repented, he does not move from the place before they pardon him at once, as it is written (Jeremiah 3:22): "Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we have come to you, for you are the LORD our God." If a person transgressed a negative commandment and repented, repentance suspends and the Day of Atonement atones, as it is written (Leviticus 16:30): "For on this day He shall make atonement for you." If he transgressed offenses punishable by excision or by death at the hand of the court and repented, repentance and the Day of Atonement suspend, and sufferings scour clean, as it is said (Psalms 89:33): "Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with strokes." But one who has profanation of the Name in his hand -- there is no power in repentance to suspend, nor in the Day of Atonement to atone, nor in sufferings to scour; rather, they suspend and death scours clean, as it is said (Isaiah 22:14): "And it was revealed in my ears by the LORD of hosts: Surely this iniquity shall not be expiated by you until you die, says the Lord GOD of hosts." Rabbi Eliezer asked Rabbi Yehoshua, saying to him: This verse, of what does it speak? He said to him: Of those who die outside the Land. He said to him: And of those who die in the Land of Israel what does it say? He said to him: Their soil atones for them, as it is said (Deuteronomy 32:43): "and He makes atonement for His land, His people." He said to him: My teacher, do you say that for the righteous, and even for sinners, it likewise atones for them? He said to him: My son, for the wicked it atones; how much more so for the righteous. Come and see what Solomon said in his wisdom, that the righteous do not depart from the world until the Omnipresent pardons them all their iniquities, as it is said (Proverbs 10:3): "The LORD will not let the soul of the righteous go hungry, but He thrusts away the desire of the wicked." Another interpretation: "The LORD will not let the soul of the righteous go hungry" -- that he departs to his eternal home without sin; "but He thrusts away the desire of the wicked" -- that He thrusts them off to the day of judgment. Another interpretation: "The LORD will not let the soul of the righteous go hungry" -- this is a disciple of the sages: all the while that he is occupied during life with words of Torah, if even one matter or one chapter of his learning was hidden from him, at the hour of his departure from the world he does not depart from his world until the ministering angels come and arrange it before him, so that he will not have shame of face in the time to come before the Holy One, blessed be He; therefore it is said, "The LORD will not let the soul of the righteous go hungry." Another interpretation: "The LORD will not let the soul of the righteous go hungry" -- Rabbi Simon said: these are the righteous, for even in their lifetime the Holy One, blessed be He, does not make them dependent on other creatures. "But He thrusts away the desire of the wicked" -- these are the wicked, whose sentence the Holy One, blessed be He, seals until the hour of the day of judgment, in order to exact payment from them at the hour of their judgment in the judgment of Gehinnom; therefore it is said, "He thrusts away the desire of the wicked," for He thrusts them off to the prince of Gehinnom. Another interpretation: "The LORD will not let the soul of the righteous go hungry" -- at the hour that he guards the path of life, and "life" means nothing other than Torah, as it is said (Proverbs 3:18): "It is a tree of life to those who lay hold of it." And from where do we know that a disciple of the sages must guard? As it is said (Proverbs 10:17): "He is on the path to life who heeds correction, but he who forsakes reproof leads astray." Rabbi Alexandri said: Every disciple of the sages who forsakes words of Torah, it is reckoned upon him as if he leads astray the One who spoke and the world came into being. And not only that, but since he forsakes words of Torah in this world, the Holy One, blessed be He, also forsakes him in the world to come; therefore it is said, "he who forsakes reproof leads astray." Rabbi Ishmael said: Come and see how severe is the day of judgment, when the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to judge the whole world entire in the Valley of Yehoshafat. At the time when disciples of the sages come before Him, He says to each one of them: Did you occupy yourself with Torah? He says to Him: Yes. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: Since you have acknowledged it, recite before me what you read, and what you studied in the academy, and what you heard in the academy. From here they said: All that a person has read should be held fast in his hand, and likewise what he has studied, so that shame will not overtake him on the day of judgment. From here Rabbi Ishmael used to say: Woe to that one for that shame, woe to that one for that disgrace. And concerning this David, king of Israel, asked in prayer and supplication before the Omnipresent and said (Psalms 5:4): "O LORD, in the morning You will hear my voice; in the morning I will set it in order before You, and will look out." One comes before Him who has Scripture in his hand but does not have Mishnah in his hand: the Holy One, blessed be He, turns His face from him, and the princes of Gehinnom prevail over him like the wolves of evening, and they take him and cast him into it. One comes before Him who has two orders or three in his hand; then the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: My son, why did you not study all the laws? And if the Holy One, blessed be He, says, Leave him be, it is well; and if not, they do to him as in the measure of the first. One comes before Him who has the laws in his hand; the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: My son, why did you not study Torat Kohanim? For in it are impurity and purity, the impurity of creeping things and the purity of creeping things, the impurity of plagues and the purity of plagues, the impurity of scalls and houses and the purity of scalls and houses, the impurity of those with discharge and of childbirth and the purity of those with discharge and of childbirth, the impurity of the leper and his purification, the order of confession of the Day of Atonement, and the laws derived by verbal analogy, and the laws of valuations; and every law that Israel judged, they judged only out of it. One comes before Him who has Torat Kohanim in his hand; the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: My son, why did you not study the five fifths of the Torah? For in them are the recitation of the Shema, and tefillin, and mezuzah. One comes before Him who has the five fifths of the Torah in his hand; He says to him: My son, why did you not learn and study Aggadah? For at the hour that a sage sits and expounds, I pardon and atone the iniquities of Israel; and not only that, but at the hour when they answer "May His great Name be blessed," even if their sentence has been sealed, I pardon and atone for them their iniquities. One comes before Him who has Aggadah in his hand; the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: My son, why did you not study Talmud? For (Ecclesiastes 1:7): "All the rivers run to the sea, yet the sea is not full" -- this is the Talmud, in which there are many wisdoms. One comes who has Talmud in his hand; the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: My son, since you have occupied yourself with Talmud, did you gaze upon the Chariot, did you gaze upon the majesty? For there is no delight in My world except at the hour when disciples of the sages sit and occupy themselves with Torah, peering and looking and seeing and meditating upon all this profusion of Talmud: My throne of glory, how does it stand; the first leg, by what does it serve; the second, by what does it serve; the third, by what does it serve; the fourth, by what does it serve; the chashmal, how does it stand, and in how many faces does it turn about in a single hour, to which wind does it serve; the lightning, how does it stand, how many faces of radiance are seen between its shoulders, to which wind does it serve; the cherub, how does it stand, to which wind does it serve. Greater than all of them: the contemplation of the throne of glory, how it stands -- it is round like a kind of frame, and it is set in order; how many bridges are in it, how much interval between bridge and bridge, and when I pass over, by which bridge do I pass, and by which bridge do the Ophanim pass, and by which bridge do the wheels pass. Greater than all of them: from my nail to my crown, how do I stand, how great is the measure of the palm of my hand, and how great is the measure of the toes of my foot. Greater than all of them: my throne of glory, how does it stand, to which wind does it serve -- on the first day of the week to which wind does it serve, on the second day of the week to which wind does it serve, on the third day of the week to which wind does it serve, on the fourth of the week, on the fifth of the week, on the sixth of the week to which wind do they serve. Is this not My splendor, this My greatness, this the glory of my beauty, that my children recognize my glory by this measure? And concerning him David said (Psalms 104:24): "How manifold are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your possessions." From here Rabbi Ishmael used to say: Happy is the disciple of the sages who guards his learning in his hand, so that he may have an opening of the mouth to answer on the day of judgment before his Creator; therefore it is said, "He is on the path to life who heeds correction." But if he forsook his learning and abandoned it, shame and disgrace overtake him on the day of judgment; therefore it is said, "but he who forsakes reproof leads astray." Rabbi Banaah said: that the Holy One, blessed be He, keeps him far from before Him. Another interpretation: "He is on the path to life who heeds correction" -- that a person should not say: Since I occupied myself with Torah at first, I will go and occupy myself from now on with money and property; and he does not know that they avail him nothing, as it is said...