Musar su Deuteronomio 29:18

The other אתם in פרשת נצבים, which was said to the Jewish people after they had just finished listening to Moses issue dire warnings as to what would befall them if they did not observe the Torah, included a warning that someone who observed everybody else being Torah observant should not exploit the merit of the community to protect him from the consequences (Deut. 29,18-19). Moses actually told the Israelites that his very warnings were the factor that would keep them alive as they would be afraid to sin for fear of what would befall them. He explained that though they were descendants of wicked forefathers, they personally had cleaved to G–d, and this is why they had been saved (compare Rashi on Deut 4,4). [Rashi explains elsewhere that the Jews to whom Moses repeatedly referred as obstinate, sinful, etc.,were those who had been redeemed from Egypt and had perished in the desert. This made the second generation צדיקים בני רשעים. The Rashi is not on the above quoted verse. Ed.] Whenever Israel is punished such punishment includes portion of the punishment due for the sin of the golden calf which has not yet been totally expiated. This too is part of the mystical dimension of the transmigration of souls.

This is the meaning of the words, “Seeing that they are beasts, unto themselves.” That is, they should remain by themselves and not be associated with the righteous. And what were the words of these wicked ones that Shlomo was reflecting upon? It was their vain and false hypothesis that the same fate befalls both men and beast. On the basis of this doctrine they concluded that everyone may do as he pleases, since there is in any event no reward for the righteous and no punishment for the wicked, nor, in fact, is their any Judge or justice at all! But may their souls expire, for they are like beasts! They are faithless fools! Woe to them and to their souls! King Shlomo continues, “And who knows if the spirit of man ascends on High and if the spirit of a beast descends below to the earth?” That is to say, “who knows” among these fools who have no knowledge of our holy Torah and the ways of awe! They hold fast to the trait of arrogance “in order to join the quenched [i.e., the unintentional sinner] to the thirsty [i.e., the intentional sinner]” (Devarim 29:18). They should be informed that the “spirit of man” — those who are worthy of being called men, that is, the faithful and innocent servants of Hashem — do indeed ascend On High. They rise to the highest levels where they bask in the supernal light and are bound up in the bond of life. As the traveler explained to Rabbi Chizkiya and Rabbi Yeisa, the word “ascend” [olah] hints that the spirit of the righteous resembles a flawless burnt offering [olah] before the King. On the other hand, the “spirit of a beast” — that is, the souls of the wicked, against which they themselves sin by turning themselves into beasts — descends below to the earth. They descend to the place where their souls will indeed expire. Concerning them it states, “Let them be as chaff before the wind with the angel of Hashem thrusting them away” (Tehillim 35:5).