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GENESIS — 4:13 bear

GEN512 … a destroying angel is created whenever a man sins, as we have been taught: “He who commits a sin acquires a prosecutor for himself” Mishnah Avot 6:13.  This angel stands before the Holy One saying: “So-and-so made me.”  As no creature can exist without the divine flow of power, how does the destroying angel who stands before God exist? It would only be right were the Holy One to say: “I will not nourish this destroying angel; let him go to the one who made him to be sustained by him.” If He were to say this, the destroyer would at once descend to snatch the sinner’s soul or to cut it off.  Or the sinner would be obliged to expiate his offense in creating the destroyer by enduring suitable punishment for his sin until the destroyer is annihilated.  The Holy One does not behave in this fashion.  He bears the sin and endures it.  He nourishes the destroyer and sustains it as He does the whole world, until one of three things happens.  Either the sinner repents and makes an end of the destroying angel by the penances he inflicts upon himself.  Or God, the righteous Judge, brings the destroyer to naught by bringing suffering or death upon the sinner, which clears his record.  Or the sinner descends to Hell to pay his debts.  This is the meaning of Cain’s plea: “My sin is too great to bear” [this verse]. Our Rabbis of blessed memory interpreted this as “You, God, bear [that is, You nourish and sustain] the whole world; is my sin so heavy that you cannot bear it [that is, sustain it until I repent]?” This is the greatest quality of tolerance, the God nourishes and sustains the evil creature brought into being by the sinner until the latter repents.  From this a man should learn the degree of patience in bearing his neighbor’s yoke and the evils done by his neighbor even when those evils still exist.  So that even when his neighbor offends him, he bears with him until the wrong is righted or until it vanishes of is own accord and so forth.  GOODSOC 17-18

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GENESIS — 6:12 corrupted

GEN600 When a person engages in the sex act and his intentions are not for the sake of Heaven, the seed that issues from him is considered a ‘fetid drop,” and God has no part in it.  About such does the Torah say, as in the story of Noah’s generation, “for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” [this verse]. This is the way to the destruction of the body, it is equivalent to offering devotions to an idol, or planting a tree that is worshipped by idolators, for he sows corrupt seed.  The offspring of such intercourse become wicked and estranged.  GOODSOC 107

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GENESIS — 6:17 I

GEN615 Observe now, said R. Simeon, that the way of the Holy One is not like the way of the mortal.  If a mortal king goes to battle he goes accompanied by armies and legions, but when he goes on a peaceful mission he goes alone.  That is not the way of the Holy One.  When He goes on a mission of peace He goes forth with armies and with legions.  As Scripture says, “He makes peace in His high Heavens,” after that it is written, “can His armies be numbered?” Job 25:3 … You find that when the Holy One inflicted punishment upon the evil Generation of the Flood, He did so entirely alone.  As Scripture says, “I, even I, do bring the flood of waters” GOODSOC 227-8

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GENESIS — 18:13 I

GEN946 Great is peace, since for the sake of peace the Holy One altered a statement.   When He reported Sarah’s statement to Abraham, He quotes her as saying, “Indeed, shall I who am old bear a child?” [this verse], when in fact she had said, “My lord [Abraham] being old” Genesis 18:12.   Thus, to preserve domestic peace, God omitted Sarah’s slight upon her husband.   GOODSOC 225

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GENESIS — 22:1 words

GEN1126 A man should take heed that when he makes a banquet at the occasion of the performance of a mitzvah—such as a circumcision or betrothal or wedding or Bar-Mitzvah—that he include among his invited guests the poor and the destitute, and that he take care to speak pleasantly to them. For if one makes such a party for his son or daughter and fails to invite the poor, then the wicked Lilith and Samael raise accusations against him and they bring pain and other evil times upon him.  That is what the Midrash teaches us concerning the banquet prepared b our father Abram.  The story of the Akedah [the binding of Isaac by Abraham as a sacrifice] is introduced with the words, “after these devarim” [this verse]. Usually devarim means “things”; but it can also mean “words.”   Here, the Midrash says, it refers to the words of accusation spoken by Satan against Abraham about the “great feast” he had made at the time Isaac was weaned Genesis 21:8.  To this feast Abraham had invited all the great men of his generation—but no poor men were included.  Satan’s charges against Abraham were accepted, and the Holy One said to Abraham, “Take your son, our only son, your beloved, even Isaac … and offer him up as a burnt offering” Genesis 22:2.  It was as a result of this episode that Sarah died as the Torah gores onto relate.   We find the same thing concerning Job.   He made a banquet for his sons, but neglected to invite poor people.  As a result Satan kept accusing Job before God, until he caused the death of Job’s sons and daughters and took away from him his wealth and his cattle.   He did not rest until he brought upon him great personal suffering.  Therefore, let everyone who makes a feast remember to invite the poor, so that the accuser [Satan] may no longer accuse.   To the contrary, as we are told in Midrash Tanhuma, when a man does invite the poor to participate in his feast, then his accusers become his defenders.   GOODSOC 178-9

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