Kabbalah Library

236. Rabbi Kruspadai was weak. That day was Shabbat [Sabbath]. They saw him crying and then laughing. During this, he fell asleep. They thought he passed away. They said, “It is Shabbat; it is forbidden to move him,” since labor must not be done on Shabbat. They left him alone.

237 Rabbi Yohanan rose and said, “And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.” Elimelech died, and her sons remained to comfort herself in them. His two sons remained in order to take the place of Elimelech, who was Neshama to Neshama.

238. Afterwards, it is written, “and the two of them also died, Machlon and Kilayon,” Ruach of holiness and Ruach of impurity. Now it was a disaster upon disaster. The Neshama to Neshama of holiness, which is Yod, and the noetic Ruach, which is Vav, do not die, but a person who descends from his greatness is called “dead.”

239. Here, too, when Rabbi Eliezer died, there was solace in the sages who remained, who were Rabbi Yohanan Ben Nuri and his friends. Now that our friend Rabbi Kruspadai had died, as well, it is a disaster upon disaster.

240. As they were sitting, Rabbi Helkiya who was with him saw that tears had returned to the eyes of Rabbi Kruspadai, and there was laughter in his mouth. He called on Rabbi Yohanan and the friends and told them, “I saw him with tears on his face and laughter in his mouth.” They said, “It must be that he is not dead.”

241. The sat, and did not let anyone come near him. In the evening, he opened his eyes and asked for water to drink. Rabbi Yohanan and sages approached him. He told them, “My great ones, go in peace. Return to me tomorrow and I will tell you what I saw and was commanded to inform the friends.

242. “Now I must correct all the things I saw, and in that night when I was there, I saw another world, and do not know what it is. Tell the members of my household not to approach me, and let no one be here.” They all went, and Rabbi Yohanan remained there and did not approach him throughout that night.

243. At daybreak, I saw him speaking and crying, and did not know a thing. He got up and sat, and called Rabbi Yohanan. He said, “I came from another world and entered there, and they did not permit me to reveal anything except to you and to your friends.”

244. He said to Rabbi Yohanan, “Establish your words and go to the throne that has been established for you in the next world, and twelve of the friends will come because of you. And I saw that I was not permitted to disclose.

245. “I saw those friends whose learning succeeded, and I saw that place where the Messiah King is, and I heard a clarion calling each day, ‘Happy are the friends who engage in Torah, and those who help others engage in Torah, and those who were forgiving.

246. “You saw when I was crying and laughing, since the angel of death was given permission to bring me, and I saw the Shechina [Divinity] with me, and she would not let him, the angel of death, take me. This is why I was crying, from the angel of death, and laughing, when I saw the Shechina preventing him.

247. “And I saw, while being taken to the courthouse that is there, I saw several armies and camps of angels, all of them engaging in the judgments of the world, and the minister of the face, Sandalphon, at the head of them, when he was tying ties to his master. There was a curtain spread on him, and all the armies of the heaven were under his hand, and I was not permitted to approach him and see him.

248. “I saw a courthouse and several appointed ministers before them, some of them speaking favorably about the people of the world, and some of them accusing. They took and brought me closer to them, and I saw there many of the friends.

249. “They said to the angel of death, ‘Why is this one from the people of the world with you?’ He said to them, ‘They do not let me put him to death, and I am bringing him to the judgment.’

250. “Three witnesses rose and said three times, ‘We have found ransom.’ They testified about me that I was always forgiving. They engaged in my sentence that whole day when you saw me sleeping, and calculated my days and years, and they were always found complete.

251. “And because I was always forgiving, they let go of the judgment and could not discuss it until they raised my judgment to a different place, and I do not know to what place.

252. “And the judgment came upon me to leave me and let me complete my learning in this world, which I have not finished. But the angel of death would not leave me until he was given the previous Rabbi Kruspadai Saba instead of me, and then he left me.

253. “When you saw tears on my face and laughter in my mouth, these were the tears, since I was crying for fear of the angel of death, and laughing because of the Shechina. And for waiting for me until another time and that I was not made to perish by the angel of death, in order to notify me what I have revealed to you. Instead, they left Rabbi Oshiya with me, and with him I go there.”

254. The friends wondered and called about him, “Those who go through the Valley of Tears turn it into a spring; the teacher, too, will wear blessings.” “Those who go through the Valley of Tears” is Rabbi Kruspadai, who went through that of the angel of death, the valley of tears, which causes weeping to the whole world. “Turn it into a spring,” letting him compete his learning and become a fountain in the Torah. For this reason, “the teacher, too, will wear blessings,” and if the Torah he is destined to teach caused him life, it is much more so for one who reads in it and studies it.

255. Rabbi Yohanan declared about him, “A light to the upright shines in the dark, merciful and gracious and righteous.” “Shines in the dark.” Darkness is the angel of death, who darkened the face of the world, as it is written, “And darkness on the face of the deep.” “A light to the nations to the upright,” meaning the Creator shone for the righteous Rabbi Kruspadai, the light of Torah. And the Creator, who did this, is called Merciful, Gracious, and Righteous.