The Oral Talmud with Benay Lappe and Dan Libenson Episode 122

The Sages taught:

A person should always view himself as if he were half-liable and half-innocent, so that if he performs one mitzva he is fortunate, as he tilts his balance to the side of merit. And if he transgresses one transgression, woe to him, as he tilts his balance to the side of liability, as it is stated: “But one sin destroys much good” (Ecclesiastes 9:18), which means that due to one sin that he commits, he squanders from himself much good. Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon says: Since the world is judged by its majority, and an individual is judged by his majority, if he performs one mitzva he is praiseworthy, as he tilts the balance for himself and the entire world to the side of merit. And if he transgresses one transgression, woe to him, as he tilts the balance for himself and the entire world to the side of liability, as it is stated: “But one sin destroys much good,” i.e., due to one sin that this one commits, he squanders much goodness from himself and from the entire world. Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai says: Even if one was completely righteous all his life and he rebelled at the end, he loses his earlier deeds, as it is stated: “The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him on the day of his transgression” (Ezekiel 33:12). And even if one was completely wicked all his life and repented in the end, we no longer recognize as his, his wickedness, as it is stated in the continuation of the verse: “And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not stumble over it on the day that he turns from his wickedness.” But shouldn't an individual who performed mitzvot all of his life and then sins at least be like one whose acts have been half sins and half merits, i.e., shouldn't each should be of equal weight? Why, then, is he pronounced guilty? Reish Lakish said: This is not referring to an individual who has merely sinned, but to one who regrets all the initial mitzvot he performed in the past. In this case the mitzvot he performed are not taken into account.

(1) For all this I noted, and I ascertained all this: that the actions of even the righteous and the wise are determined by God. Even love! Even hate! Man knows none of these in advance— (2) none!^-b For the same fate is in store for all: for the righteous, and for the wicked; for the good and pure, and for the impure; for him who sacrifices, and for him who does not; for him who is pleasing, and for him who is displeasing; and for him who swears, and for him who shuns oaths. (3) That is the sad thing about all that goes on under the sun: that the same fate is in store for all. (Not only that, but men’s hearts are full of sadness, and their minds of madness, while they live; and then—to the dead!) (4) For he who is reckoned among^-g the living has something to look forward to—even a live dog is better than a dead lion— (5) since the living know they will die. But the dead know nothing; they have no more recompense, for even the memory of them has died. (6) Their loves, their hates, their jealousies have long since perished; and they have no more share till the end of time in all that goes on under the sun.
(7) Go, eat your bread in gladness, and drink your wine in joy; for your action was long ago approved by God. (8) Let your clothes always be freshly washed, and your head never lack ointment. (9) Enjoy happiness with a woman you love all the fleeting days of life that have been granted to you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For that alone is what you can get out of life and out of the means you acquire under the sun. (10) Whatever it is in your power to do, do with all your might. For there is no action, no reasoning, no learning, no wisdom in Sheol, where you are going. (11) I have further observed under the sun that
The race is not won by the swift,
Nor the battle by the valiant;
Nor is bread won by the wise,
Nor wealth by the intelligent,
Nor favor by the learned.
For the time of mischance comes to all. (12) And a man cannot even know his time. As fishes are enmeshed in a fatal net, and as birds are trapped in a snare, so men are caught at the time of calamity, when it comes upon them without warning. (13) This thing too I observed under the sun about wisdom, and it affected me profoundly. (14) There was a little city, with few men in it; and to it came a great king, who invested it and built mighty siege works against it. (15) Present in the city was a poor wise man who might have saved^-l it with his wisdom, but nobody thought of that poor man. (16) So I observed: Wisdom is better than valor; but
A poor man’s wisdom is scorned,
And his words are not heeded. (17) Words spoken softly by wise men are heeded sooner than those shouted by a lord in folly.^-n (18) Wisdom is more valuable than weapons of war,^-o but one sin destroys much good.

(1) The word of the LORD came to me: (2) O mortal, speak to your fellow countrymen and say to them: When I bring the sword against a country, the citizens of that country take one of their number and appoint him their watchman. (3) Suppose he sees the sword advancing against the country, and he blows the horn and warns the people. (4) If anybody hears the sound of the horn but ignores the warning, and the sword comes and dispatches him, his blood shall be on his own head. (5) Since he heard the sound of the horn but ignored the warning, his bloodguilt shall be upon himself; had he taken the warning, he would have saved his life. (6) But if the watchman sees the sword advancing and does not blow the horn, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and destroys one of them, that person was destroyed for his own sins; however, I will demand a reckoning for his blood from the watchman. (7) Now, O mortal, I have appointed you a watchman for the House of Israel; and whenever you hear a message from My mouth, you must transmit My warning to them. (8) When I say to the wicked, “Wicked man, you shall die,” but you have not spoken to warn the wicked man against his way, he, that wicked man, shall die for his sins, but I will demand a reckoning for his blood from you. (9) But if you have warned the wicked man to turn back from his way, and he has not turned from his way, he shall die for his own sins, but you will have saved your life. (10) Now, O mortal, say to the House of Israel: This is what you have been saying: “Our transgressions and our sins weigh heavily upon us; we are sick at heart about them. How can we survive?” (11) Say to them: As I live—declares the Lord GOD—it is not My desire that the wicked shall die, but that the wicked turn from his [evil] ways and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, that you may not die, O House of Israel! (12) Now, O mortal, say to your fellow countrymen: The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him on the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not stumble over it on the day that he turns from his wickedness. The righteous shall not survive through his righteousness^-a when he sins. (13) When I say of the righteous “He shall surely live,” and, relying on his righteousness, he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but for the iniquity that he has committed he shall die. (14) So, too, when I say to the wicked, “You shall die,” and he turns back from his sinfulness and does what is just and right— (15) if the wicked man restores a pledge, makes good what he has taken by robbery, follows the laws of life, and does not commit iniquity—he shall live, he shall not die. (16) None of the sins that he committed shall be remembered against him; since he does what is just and right, he shall live. (17) Your fellow countrymen say, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” But it is their way that is unfair! (18) When a righteous man turns away from his righteous deeds and commits iniquity, he shall die for it.^-c (19) And when a wicked man turns back from his wickedness and does what is just and right, it is he who shall live by virtue of these things. (20) And will you say, “The way of the Lord is unfair”? I will judge each one of you according to his ways, O House of Israel!