Chassidut sobre Isaías 65:24

Come and see the words of the holy Zohar, describing the lot of man in such a wretched condition. This is what it says:¹⁵²Zohar, Parshas Nasso, 126b. At a time when a man is about to die, the King’s messenger¹⁵³The angel of death. comes down from heaven and stands at his feet, a sharp sword brandished in his hand. The man raises his eyes and sees a fire burning round the walls of his house. He then sees the angel, his head an orb of a million eyes, his garment an inferno of fire burning before him. Three bitter drops hang from his sword.¹⁵⁴These three drops are explained in the Zohar, Parshas Pekudei, 267a. The first is a bitter drop, like gall, which drops into the expiring man’s mouth and descends to his intestines. It has the spiritual effect of making bitter all the sweet tastes of sin that the man tasted in his lifetime, perhaps in order to allow him to know the error of his ways. The second drop causes his soul to go out, killing the man, and the third drop turns his skin green. When the man sees him, his body and soul are overturned in shock. His heart is also filled with dread, much as the leader of a country facing destruction. His spirit spreads throughout the limbs of his entire body, taking leave of every limb, like a man who goes and says goodbye to his friend before leaving on a journey. Then the man cries out, “Oy, what have I done!?” But his Teshuvah is of no avail now. If only he had “prepared the remedy before the illness,”¹⁵⁵See Yeshaya 19:22, and 65:24, “before you call out I will answer you.” In Bereshit, “and the spirit of God was hovering above the waters,” is understood by Chassidus as the source of teshuvah and healing that prepared the way for, “let there be light,” the healing itself. The Midrash tells us, “before God created the world, He created Teshuvah.” and mended his ways in the past, then he might have lived longer and not have been summoned to the afterworld at this time. The man is terrified, closes his eyes tight, and wishes that he could hide himself. But he can’t. Knowing that there is no alternative, he opens his eyes and is forced to look at the terrible reality facing him. In this way he gives over his body and soul. This is the supreme moment of man’s judgment in this world. In this way, his spirit travels throughout all the limbs of his body, taking leave of them, sailing through all of his sinews, causing an upheaval in every muscle, vein, nerve, and bone. When his spirit reaches each limb, saying goodbye, it sweats and the spirit departs from it. The limb dies at once, and so the spirit makes its rounds, one by one. When the spirit is ready to make its final exit from the body, the Shechinah then stands upon him, and the spirit departs from his body at once. Fortunate is the man who acted in a way as to invite the Shechinah to cleave to him in his lifetime, and woe to the wicked who pushed it away. How many courts of law in heaven must man pass through when he leaves the world?¹⁵⁶In the picturesque language of the Zohar, it says that the courts of the afterworld pass through man. In one session is held when the soul leaves the body. In one session, the court reviews before him all of his words and actions. A court holds session when he descends into the grave. A court holds session while he is in the grave. One session takes place when the worms eat his corpse. One session takes place in Gehinom. And one session takes place when his spirit roams the earth and does not find its place until he has completed his actions. All in all, he is judged seven times. Therefore, it is crucial for man to fear his Master, reforming and refining his actions each and every day his still has in this world.