Q:
There’s a statement that מיתת צדיקים מכפרת, that the death of the righteous is an atonement (Moed Katan 28a). Why does it atone?
A:
When a righteous man passes away it causes a certain regret among the people. And then, even for a moment, people pause to appreciate what they once had.
That’s a great tzarah of human beings – when they have the righteous man they lack the understanding to appreciate him properly.
Let’s say the Chofetz Chaim; when he was alive certainly there were a lot of people who appreciated him but very many didn’t even bother to think about him. Because he’s around. Only after he passed away, then the world began to understand the Chofetz Chaim.
I once went in to visit in a shivah house where a local rav passed away and his son was sitting shivah. And his son told me now he appreciates his father. A little too late.
So that’s what misas tzaddikim has to accomplish. At least then, people should know what they missed.
It’s a pity. Had they understood when they had him, when he was still around, it would be a bigger kapparah. Believe me; if people would study the tzaddikim that are alive it would be a much bigger kapparah. But since they don’t unfortunately — they say “Look he’s a human being like I am. I yawn and he yawns. I have to sleep and he has to sleep. So what’s so great about him? He has teeth and I have teeth. He looks exactly like me” — so there’s nothing to him because people are so shallow. We are bemused, we are influenced by externalities.
Even Moshe Rabbeinu. The Gemara reports that people said, “Look how thick are his thighs.” You hear? That’s the way they looked at Moshe Rabeinu. כמה עבים שוקיו – look how fat his thighs are. Moshe, you know, was a muscular man. He was a big man. So some people said “Look how thick are his thighs. He eats well.”
Ohhh! That’s how you say about a tzaddik?
Now they didn’t say that. Don’t think they said that. But it was a thought that floated through their minds. He’s a human being. You see a human being so…
That’s how people are. It’s a tragedy. If they could rise to understand Moshe Rabbeinu while he was alive they would get the full benefit. But after Moshe passed away it says ויבכו; the whole nation wept for thirty days. Oh, now they wept for thirty days. Now they wept for thirty days. That’s a pity.
But it’s mechaperes however. Because at least now we begin to understand something. At least something it is, to understand what you missed. That’s a kapparah for everybody. It’s an atonement. Everybody is supposed to get better from that.
That’s why it’s such a great thing to make hespedim on tzaddikim; so that people should appreciate them. They should come and listen and learn the lessons.
That’s one of the ideas of misas tzaddikim mechaperes.
January 1979
