New answers tagged reward-punishment
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Why do bad things happen to good people?
Since antiquity, philosophers have toiled to answer the question of why good people suffer. I read the novel "Creation" by Gore Vidal but did not find any satisfying answer by the two philosophers, Confucius or the Buddha. Though well-intended, there are, to them, two possibilities. Either (1) G-d is not all-good or ...
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Your good question tries to question the very basis of the days of repentance and Yom Kippur, which is "influencing G-d (and/or Heavenly court) to skew the final verdict". We keep saying "don't look at that", "don't judge that", "skip over the first sin, and then again", etc.
THe whole aforementioned concept is rooted in the Gemmorah that you cite, which ...
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I think the Rambam is quite clear in Hilkhos Teshuvah 8:5. We do get a hint in 8:1, "פִרְעוֹן הָרְשָׁעִים הוּא שֶׁלֹּא יִזְכּוּ לְחַיִּים אֵלּוּ אֶלָּא יִכָּרְתוּ וְיָמוּתוּ. -- the payment of the wicked is, that they will not share in such life, but will suffer excision and eternal death."
But in halakhah 5, the Rambam states that all the prophetic ...
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After enumerating the list of thirteen principles, Rambam writes:
וכאשר יהיו קיימים לאדם כל היסודות הללו ואמונתו בהם אמתית הרי הוא נכנס בכלל ישראל וחובה לאהבו ולחמול עליו וכל מה שצוה ה' אותנו זה על זה מן האהבה והאחוה ואפילו עשה מה שיכול להיות מן העבירות מחמת תאותו והתגברות יצרו הרע הרי הוא נענש לפי גודל מריו ויש לו חלק והוא מפושעי ישראל וכאשר יפקפק אדם ...
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Perhaps an answer:
There is punishment for the sin, which is for the rebellion against G-d. This is immediately shielded by repentance.
Then, there is the process of complete atonement, which is more of a refinement or educational processes. This may require suffering to complete. Yet, this suffering is not a punishment.
For example, when the Jewish ...
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