8 - The Dead, Burial, and the World to Come

Summary

THE BENEFIT to be derived from the powers of the tsadik is not limited to this world, since the tsadik has influence upon the heavenly court as well. Thus, for example, it is related that R. David of Lvov told the heavenly court how to conduct itself. The rabbi of Apta told a dead person who appeared to him in the middle of the third sabbath meal not to worry or fear, since his [the tsadik's] opinion was decisive in the ‘Chamber of Merit’ (the venue of the heavenly court): as he ruled, so it would be. On the other hand, it was said of the Ba'al Shem Tov that an attempt by him to intervene in the heavenly proceedings almost cost him his own place in the world to come. Once he decreed that a childless couple would be blessed with offspring. A heavenly voice proclaimed that he had lost his portion in the hereafter. The Ba'al Shem Tov accepted his fate with love, and a heavenly voice was heard a second time, declaring that, in reward for his acceptance of the divine verdict, his place in the world to come had been restored.

It was within the tsadik's power to promise an individual a place in the world to come, and he was also entitled to impose conditions. On one occasion the Seer of Lublin urgently required a large sum of money. A rich villager was willing to give him this amount, on condition that he be assured of a place in the world to come, one that was close to the tsadik. Some time later, the Seer had second thoughts about their agreement, but the villager was unwilling to forgo his warranted reward. The Seer told him: ‘That which I promised you was on condition that you would be with me every Rosh Hashanah.’ Some time later, the villager became impoverished and was forced to wander far and wide, but he made sure to spend every Rosh Hashanah at the Seer's court. One year, as Rosh Hashanah approached, he was still far from Lublin. When he saw the carriage of R. Shalom of Belz, who was on his way to Lublin, he asked the tsadik to take him with him, and in return, he promised him his place in the world to come.