Kabbalah Library

13. When the soul—who is from the abundance of the upper Yesod—sins, a fire of above controls her, which is a kind with its kind, and a fire of below controls below, and there is peace on all of Israel.

14. One who parts from this world without sons comes to the world another time.

15. After their passing from the world, the wicked ones wander in the air until their iniquity is completed. Afterwards, they enter a body in this world a second time, in order to refine it. If he is righteous, he will not enter another time into a body. If he is not righteous, he enters a third time, as it is written, “Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man.”

If he is not righteous in these three times, he will have no correction, as it is written, “That soul shall be utterly cut off.” For this reason, one must be careful with one’s soul, lest he will come to the world another time.

16. There is evidence from Nadav and Avihu, who died because they were half bodies since they did not marry women, for a man and a woman are two halves of the body that become one.

We have another support from the text regarding coming into a brother’s wife, since his seed had not been rooted, and he will not have to come into a body another time. We also learned from Onan, of whom it is written, “lest he should give semen to his brother,” which is semen that his brother would incarnate in. Thus, the dead without sons incarnates another time in the son of the brother who marries his wife.

17. It is written, “A son has been born to Naomi.” Was he born to Naomi? But Ruth gave birth to him. This teaches that that Obed son of Ruth was Machlon, who incarnated in him, for he died without sons. Thus, one who dies without sons incarnates another time.

18. Because of it, you will see, a righteous who suffers, since perhaps he was already in the world at another time, and he was not so righteous, and died without repenting. Therefore, now that he comes to the world, his sin is deducted from him, and this is a righteous who suffers.

19. Also, a wicked who is happy, since perhaps he was in the world another time and died without sons, and was an incomplete righteous, and now he is being paid for his merits in this world, as it is written, “For the ways of the Lord are straight, and the righteous walk in them, and the wicked will fail in them.”

20. It is written, “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger; her husband’s brother shall go in to her.” “If brothers dwell together” means that they recognize in their hearts that they are brothers, as it is written, “The Lord sits as King forever.” “Sits” means that He is recognized as king over all.

21. But if he had sons, he does not need levirate marriage. It is written, “Her husband’s brother shall go in to her.” Why is this needed? So as not to diminish from the imagination that contains all the imaginations, Malchut, of whom it is written, “I have given symbols through the prophets,” and from whom all the souls are extended. One who dies without sons diminishes the expansion of the souls from Malchut to the world, and thus diminishes her.

22. It is written, “There is one who has no other; he has neither a son nor a brother.” “There is one” is a person who passed away from this world, lacking the good, which is one, and he has no right to make another. One who passes away from this world alone, without another, without sons, is diminished and is gone from the imagination that contains all the imaginations, Malchut.

23. “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.” “Two are better” means one who has a son. “Than one,” than one who has no son, since “they have a good reward for their labor.” It is written, “For if they fall, one will pick up the other,” meaning in the same imagination, Malchut, the mother of his soul, and it is written, “whereas the one who falls, there is no other to pick him up.”