Rabbi Kook

Rav Yitzchak the son of Rav Yehuda said: One should always request mercy that he will not become ill, for if he becomes ill, they say to him: “Present merit, and you will be freed of it.”

Rabbi Yishmael ben Elazar says: Due to two sins, ignorant people die: for calling the aron kodesh (ark holding Torah scrolls) arana (roughly, a closet) and for calling a beit knesset (synagogue) a beit am (house of the people).

Rabbi Yannai said: One should never put himself into a situation of danger and saying that a miracle will occur, as it is possible that the miracle will not occur, and if the miracle occurs, his merits will be lessened. This is what the pasuk [said by Yaakov] means: “I have become smaller due to all the kindness and the truth that You have done for Your servant” (Bereishit 32:11)

Rav would not pass in a ferry in which a non-Jew was sitting, as he would say: “Perhaps there is a decree upon him, and I may be affected along with him.” Shmuel would pass only in a ferry in which a non-Jew was sitting, as he would say: “Anger against the members of two nations will not have dominion.” Rabbi Yannai would check [for holes in the ferry – Rashi]. Rabbi Yannai was consistent in his approach, as he would say: “A person should never stand in a place of danger and assume that a miracle will happen to him, for not always is a miracle done for him, and if a miracle does occur, it is subtracted from his merits.”

How are men checked (i.e., in what type of situation do their sins “catch up with them”)? Reish Lakish says: When they pass over a bridge. Only a bridge? In other words, cases like a bridge.

[The gemara is based on p’sukim in Tehillim (73:4; 49:13), which are very hard to translate, especially if one wants to translate them according to p’shat and also wants to understand them in context of Chazal’s derasha. Therefore, we will bring the statements without the p’sukim upon which they are based.] Hashem said: It is not enough that the wicked are not afraid and saddened about the prospect of the day of their death, but their heart is as robust as the opening of a hall. This is as Rabba said: The wicked know that they are headed to death, but they have fat over their kidneys [to keep them from reacting appropriately]. This is despite the fact that they have not forgotten their destiny.

Ulla expounded: That which it says, “Do not be evil very much …” (Kohelet 7:17), doesn’t that imply that it is only very much that one should not be evil, but he may be evil a little bit. Rather, [it is related to the idea] that one who ate garlic and his breath smells, should he once again eat garlic and have his breath smell [worse]?

Rabbi Simon and Rabbi Elazar were sitting. Rabbi Yaakov bar Acha passed by. One said to his friend: “Let us stand up before him, for he is a man who is fearful of sin.” The other one said to him: “Let us stand up before him, for he is a man who is a son of Torah.”

Rabba bar Rav Huna said: Whichever person has Torah but does not have within him fear of Heaven is like a treasurer to whom they handed over the keys to the inner doors, but the keys to the outer doors they did not hand over. How will he be able to get in?

At the moment that they make a man enter his judgment [after his death], they ask him: “Did you do your dealings with honesty? Did you set time for Torah study? Did you involve yourself in procreation? Did you look forward to salvation? Did you delve (pilpul) into wisdom? Did you understand one thing from another?”