He Used To Say: "Everything Is Given On Collateral And A Net Is Spread Over All The Living. The Shop Is Open, The Shopkeeper Extends Credit, The Ledger Is Open, The Hand Writes, And Whoever Wishes To Borrow, Let Him Come And Borrow. The Collectors Make Their Rounds Regularly, Each Day, And Exact Payment From Man With Or Without His Knowledge; And They Have On What To Rely. The Judgment Is A Judgment Of Truth, And Everything Is Prepared For The Feast."

The Collectors... Exact Payment From Man With Or Without His Knowledge

The Baal Shem Tov explains[77] it is impossible for any being - even the angels of the Heavenly Court - to judge a Jew. For a Jew's soul is "an actual part of G-d from above;[78] even if he sins, this essential virtue remains intact.

How then is payment exacted? Divine Providence gives the person the opportunity, in casual discussions with a friend or the like, to judge a colleague who has performed a deed similar to his own. Afterwards, the judgment made with his knowledge about a colleague is "without his knowledge" applied to himself[79] by the Heavenly Court.

(Likkutei Sichos, Vol. IV, p. 1207)

Everything Is Prepared For The Feast

"The feast" refers to the World to Come,[80] the pinnacle of the Era of the Redemption. In the present age, this teaching is particularly relevant for, to echo the analogy, the table has already been set, the food has already been served, Mashiach is sitting with us at the table. All we need to do is open our eyes.

Our Sages[81] describe Mashiach as waiting anxiously to come. In previous generations, however, his coming was delayed by the fact that the Jewish people had not completed the tasks expected of them. Now, however, those tasks have been accomplished; there is nothing lacking. To return to the above analogy: the feast is prepared; now we have to prepare ourselves. We have to ready ourselves to accept Mashiach.

(Sefer HaSichos, 5752, Vol. I, p. 151ff[82])

   

Notes:

77. (Back to text) Likkutei Maharan, sec. 113.

78. (Back to text) Tanya, ch. 2.

79. (Back to text) This also explains the expression (Avos 3:1) "and before whom you are destined to give a (lit., a judgment and an accounting)." One might suppose that it would be proper to say "an accounting and a judgment," for first a reckoning is made of a person's deeds, and then a judgment is issued. The explanation, however, is that first a person is given the opportunity to judge a colleague, and then, on the basis of this judgment, an accounting is made with regard to his own deeds.

80. (Back to text) See the Commentary of R. Ovadiah of Bartenura and others.

81. (Back to text) Sanhedrin 98a.

82. (Back to text) See Sound the Great Shofar (Kehot, N.Y., 1992).