Our Gemara on Amud Beis tells the story of a righteous gentile, who in a courageous moment of self-sacrifice earns a share in the World to Come. Upon recognizing this phenomenon, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi had a powerful reaction:
When Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi heard this, he wept, saying: “There is one who acquires his share in the World to Come in one moment, and there is one who acquires his share in the World to Come only after many years of toil.”
The simple explanation of this piece is that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi was struck by the frustrations and challenges of the spiritual quest. One person might have to work for years to achieve spiritual and characterological greatness so as to receive his share in the World to Come, while another person, in a single decisive moment, makes a quantum leap and achieves a lifetime’s work in a moment.
The Maharsha cannot abide by such a simple formulation—perhaps even more so, he cannot abide by the idea that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi was lamenting the situation, seemingly questioning God’s justice. Therefore, the Maharsha radically reinterprets the meaning of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s rueful statement. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi is crying because of what this person could have achieved over his entire life, if this is what he was able to achieve at the last moment. When Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi spoke of one who achieved his share in the World to Come in a moment versus one who toils many years, he was not comparing two people. Rather, he was comparing the same person, noting that this person—had he toiled for many years—would have achieved a remarkable amount, taking into account what he achieved in just a moment. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s tears were not out of frustration or injustice, rather sadness at the lost opportunity.
While this is intriguing and clever, it does not fit well with the plain reading of the text. If we were to take Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s lament at face value, we need a more nuanced understanding of his anguish.
The Maharal (Nesiv Haolam, Nesiv HaTeshuvah 8) explains that sin, in its essence, is an attachment to the physical and corresponding withdrawal and rejection of the spiritual and God’s presence. The worst part of the sin is that it creates a reality of attachment to the physical, which opposes and drives away opportunities for spiritual connection to God. Therefore, even in a moment—if it is the right moment—a person could reject this physical compulsive drive, and re-orient and find in himself the yearning and wish to be with God. When that moment happens, the husks and shells of the sin dissolve, the most noxious elements have been purged. This is how a person can truly achieve in one moment what could take another person a lifetime of spiritual striving. Spiritual matters, like emotional matters, do not exist in quantifiable states and are not subject to time. Forever and a moment are equal because the changes one undergoes are not physical and therefore not temporal. Even though metaphorically, we speak of spiritual ascent and descent, and spiritual movement, these are metaphors and only exist in physical reality. Spiritual reality is not movement—therefore, it can be achieved now, never, or later.
Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s lament was not a complaint about the unfairness of it all, but a genuine and painful realization, and coming to terms with the idea that spirituality and attachment to God aren’t quantifiable. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi was realizing that for all his striving and efforts throughout his life, there is a responsibility and challenge implicitly put forth by the achievement of this gentile in one moment. The potential to achieve more greatness via a moment of epiphany and passion now beckoned to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi as well, despite all his prior efforts and achievements in his life that came from hard work and consistency.
Without feeling an external existential crisis like the gentile faced, the internal realization and inspiration are harder to achieve. A person cannot make himself feel the adrenaline and focus that comes from being on the battlefield while gazing at the sunset on a beach. Rabbi Yehuda had to create an internal crisis in order to subjectively feel the same existential threat and resulting passion that the gentile felt. This was the nature of his cry.
Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation
Free resource for couples/families:
Over 80 lectures on heathy communication, marriage and sexuality from a Torah perspective Click here
If you liked this, you might enjoy my Relationship Communications Guide. Click on the link above.
Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, LMFT, DHL is a psychotherapist who works with high conflict couples and families. He can be reached via email at simchafeuerman@gmail.com