The Poor Man Who Walks in Integrity and Escapes Gehinnom

There we have learned: The judgment of the wicked in Gehinnom is twelve months. Rabbi Eliezer asked Rabbi Yehoshua, saying to him: What shall a person do to be saved from the judgment of Gehinnom? He said to him: Let him go and occupy himself with good deeds. He said to him: If so, even the nations of the world would perform commandments and good deeds; might they be exempted from the judgment of Gehinnom? He said to him: My son, the Torah spoke not of the dead but of the living. Rabbi Eliezer said to him: I will tell you a reason from what you have taught me. He said to him: Speak. He said to him: Once I heard you, while you were expounding in the house of study, and saying: "Better a poor man who walks in his integrity than one perverse of lips, and he is a fool" (Proverbs 19:1) - whoever walks in his integrity in this world before his Creator is destined to be saved from the judgment of Gehinnom in the time to come. For thus we find with Noah, who walked in his integrity and was called righteous, as it is said, "Noah was a righteous man, wholehearted" (Genesis 6:9). And thus we find with Abraham, who walked in integrity and was called wholehearted, as it is said, "Walk before Me and be wholehearted" (Genesis 17:1), and he merited to acquire heaven and earth, as it is said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth" (Genesis 14:19): "heaven" - that his children merited to inherit the Torah that was given from heaven; "earth" - that his children merited to be fruitful and multiply like the dust of the earth. And why all this? Because of the wholeheartedness that was in him. And thus you find that whoever fully walks in integrity, the Holy One, blessed be He, provides for him a portion like himself: for thus we find with Abraham, that because he walked in integrity Sarah was provided for him, and likewise with Isaac, who walked in integrity, Rebecca was provided for him, and likewise with Jacob, who walked in integrity, Rachel and Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah were provided for him - all one family and one inheritance. And concerning them Solomon explained in his wisdom: "House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD" (Proverbs 19:14). And why all this? Because of the righteousness they do with the poor in integrity, and the Holy One, blessed be He, accounts it to them as though they do righteousness with Him, as it is said, "He who is gracious to the poor lends to the LORD" (Proverbs 19:17) - the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Lend Me righteousness in this world, "and his deed He will repay him" (Proverbs 19:17) - and I will pay you the reward in the world to come. Rabbi Yishmael said: Such is the way of the Torah: bread with salt you shall eat, and water by measure you shall drink, and upon the ground you shall sleep, and a life of hardship you shall live, and in the Torah you shall labor; and if you do so, "happy are you, and it shall be well with you" (Psalms 128:2) - happy are you in this world, and it shall be well with you in the world to come. And do not crave the table of kings, for your table is greater than their table, and your crown is greater than their crown, and faithful is the Master of your work to pay you the reward of your labor, as it is said, "and his deed He will repay him" (Proverbs 19:17).