Shmiras HaLashon ט"ז ניסן - Nissan 16 - One-Hundred-and-Ninety-Fourth Day

© 2008 by Robert Lepor. All rights reserved.

Similar [to the above incident involving Rabbi Zmira’ah, as recorded in the “Zohar”], is [an incident] that is also [taught] in “Tanna D’Vei Eliyahu” [in] chapter 17, [as follows]: “Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai said: ‘On one occasion I was walking on the road and encountered one person who was gathering wood, and I spoke with him, [though] he didn’t respond to me [at all]. Subsequent [to this encounter] he came to me and said to me: ‘Rabbi, I am dead and am not alive.’ I said to him, ‘If you are dead, what purpose do you have for all of these [pieces] of wood?’ He responded to me: ‘Rabbi, listen to me [concerning the] matter that I shall relate to you: When I was alive, I and my friend were involved in a sin in my residence, and when we arrived here [in gehinnom], they decreed a judgment of burning upon us. When I gather wood, they burn my friend, and when he gathers wood, they burn me.’ I said to him: ‘[For how long will] your judgment [continue]?’ He said to me: ‘When I arrived over here, I left my wife pregnant, and I know that she is pregnant with a [boy]. Therefore, I plead with you, be careful with [my son] from the time that he is born until he is five years old, take him to the Academy of his Rabbi [to learn] Scripture, for from the moment that he says, “We bless HaShem Who is The Source of Blessing” – “ברכו את ה' המברך”, they will raise me out of the judgment of gehinnom.’”