Kiddushin, Daf Lammed Tet, Part 4

 

Introduction

This mishnah presents a very straightforward version of rewards and punishments. Those who perform commandments are rewarded and those who do not are not rewarded. Obviously, this mishnah is expressing an ideal which often does not match reality. The problem of good people not being rewarded, or the problem of an omnipotent God in control of a random and often cruel world is called theodicy and was recognized well by the rabbis. There are many other answers in rabbinic literature to the problem of theodicy, including an extreme statement such as there is no reward in this world. Our mishnah persists with what I perceive to be a very optimistic outlook. Despite all of the evidence to the contrary the world in which we live is ordered and good. It is a reward in which the righteous receive reward and the wicked are punished.

Another issue worth pointing out, is that the language used here of merits is a metaphor. This is the language the rabbis use when they want to talk about how critical it is to perform mitzvoth, and in particular certain mitzvoth. It does not mean that the rabbis had a literal view of this being how the world worked.

 

מתני׳ כל העושה מצוה אחת מטיבין לו ומאריכין לו ימיו ונוחל את הארץ וכל שאינו עושה מצוה אחת אין מטיבין לו ואין מאריכין לו ימיו ואינו נוחל את הארץ:

 

He who performs one commandment is rewarded, his days are prolonged, and he inherits the land,

But he who does not perform one commandment, is not rewarded, his days are not prolonged, and he does not inherit the land.

 

The peculiar language of the mishnah he who does not perform one commandment is a euphemism for he who commits one transgression.

Days are prolonged is understood to refer to a long life in this world and inherit the land is typically understood to refer to a reward in the world to come.

 

גמ׳ ורמינהי אלו דברים שאדם אוכל פירותיהן בעולם הזה והקרן קיימת לו לעולם הבא אלו הן כבוד אב ואם וגמילות חסדים והכנסת אורחים והבאת שלום בין אדם לחבירו ותלמוד תורה כנגד כולם

 

GEMARA. But they cast the following against this: These are the things the fruit of which one eats in this world, while the principal remains for the future world: honoring one’s parents, the practice of loving deeds, bringing in guests, and making peace between a person and his neighbor; and the study of the Torah surpasses them all.

 

This well-known baraita states that one receives a reward in this world only for particular mitzvoth, not for every mitzvah, as our mishnah seems to teach.

 

אמר רב יהודה הכי קאמר כל העושה מצוה אחת יתירה על זכיותיו מטיבים לו ודומה כמי שמקיים כל התורה כולה

 

Rav Judah said: This is what it means: Anyone who does one mitzvah in addition to his merits is rewarded, and it is as if he had fulfilled the whole Torah.

 

R. Judah interprets our mishnah so that it teaches not that one mitzvah earns one a long life, but that if one has more merits than sins he earns a long life and the world to come. In other words, any one mitzvah can put one over the top in the overall reckoning. Since one does not know how many mitzvoth and transgressions one has performed, the wise course would be to continue to try to perform mitzvoth.

 

מכלל דהנך אפילו בחדא נמי

אמר רב שמעיה לומר שאם היתה שקולה מכרעת

Hence it follows that for these others [one is rewarded] even for a single one!

R. Shemaiah said: It teaches if he was even, it tips the scale.

 

The mitzvoth listed in the baraita must have some sort of special power, for if not, what does this baraita teach us? But, the Talmud asks, is one rewarded with a long life just for performing one of these mitzvoth!

Since that seems absurd, the Talmud interprets the baraita to say that if one s merits and faults are even and one of these mitzvoth is part of one s merits, it tips the scales. But alone, these mitzvoth are not that powerful.