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It says that (in general) Hashem lets a righteous person suffer in this world to cleanse him from sins (so he will have no more sins in the World to Come), while Hashem lets a wicked person prosper in this world so that he will get all his reward here and will suffer in Gehenom.

I have two questions on this:

  1. Let's say there is a standard unit of pain. So in this world, one can only have, say, 5 pains a day while in Gehenom one can suffer 5 million pains a day. Moreover, let's say that a sin is punishable by (say) 5 pains. One does one sin, he gets 5 pains, two sins - 10 etc.

    Even if one can't have a sin->pain ratio, as a lot has to do with intent, the idea is there.

    Now, if someone sins a million sins, he deserves, say 5 million pains. Why is there a difference if he gets this pain down here or in the world to come?

    The only difference should be the time Moreover, even if you can say "a million pains at once is harder to deal with than one", that should be taken into account when calculating the punishment.

  2. Moreover, if Gehenom is in reality qualitatively harsher, then it seems not fair that a wicked person should have to suffer more than a Tzaddik would for the same act.

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It's not necessarily the case that the pleasures and pains of this world bear any numerical ratio to those of the next one. Ramban (introduction to Iyov) in fact says that a lifetime of suffering like that of Iyov is better for a person than any time in Gehinnom, and conversely (he says on the next page) that a lifetime of enjoyment like that of Shlomo isn't comparable to the smallest amount of pleasure in Hashem's presence in Gan Eden. In other words, they are two completely different scales of measurement. – Alex May 18 '12 at 20:07
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Please replace "it" at the beginning of this question with an actual attribution. – Isaac Moses May 18 '12 at 20:35
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@Alex, your answer reminds me of a philosophy class I once heard about differences between Rambam & Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas would say that my intelligence and G-d's, or my strength and G-d's are on a single scale, but G-d is so far past me I can't understand where He is. Rambam would say that G-d is in no way on the same scale as people for any attribute. – Ze'ev Felsen Sep 7 '12 at 18:36

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