SATURDAY PRAYER: NETZACH-YESHIVAT HAVERIM יְשִׁיבָה חברים – BABYLONIAN TALMUD p101

R. Johanan says: From the time of Hezekiah the King, as it is written [Isaiah, ix. 6]: “To
establish it and to support it through justice and righteousness, from henceforth and unto
eternity: the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this,” implying that after that the favors of the
Lord will not be bestowed by virtue of Zecbuth Aboth, but through His zeal.
R. Ami said: Death is the result of sin, and affliction the result of transgression: death the result
of sin, for it is written [Ezekiel, xviii. 20]: “The soul that sins, it shall die,” etc.; affliction the
result of transgression: for it is written [Psalms, lxxxix. 33]: “And I will visit their transgressions
with a lash and their iniquity with stripes.”
An objection was raised: One of the teachers said: The angels (once) said to the Holy One,
blessed be He: “Lord of the Universe! Why didst Thou punish Adam with death?” The Lord
answered: “Because I gave him a light commandment, and he failed to observe it.” The angels
again said unto Him: “Why did Moses and Aaron die.? Did they not observe all the laws of the
Torah?” And He answered [Eccl. ix. 2]: “The same fate befalls the righteous as the wicked.”
Hence death is not the result of sin! He (R. Ami) is in accordance with the Tana of the following
Boraitha: R. Simeon b. Elazar said: Even the death of Moses and Aaron was the result of their
sins, for it is written [Numb. xx. 12]: “Because you had no faith in me”; (and the inference
thereof is) if they had had faith, they would not have died.
Another objection was raised: (There is a tradition:) Only four men died in consequence of
original sin. They are Benjamin ben Jacob, Amram, the father of Moses; Jesse, the father of
David; and Kilab ben David. Whose opinion does this Boraitha agree with? The Tana who
related the legend of the angels holds that Moses and Aaron also died in consequence of original
sin. So must be then in accordance with R. Simeon b. Elazar, as said above. Thus we see that
although Moses and Aaron died on account of their own sins, still death without sin and
affliction without transgression are possible; hence R. Ami’s theory is objected to.
R. Samuel b. Nahmeni in the name of R. Jonathan said: “Whoever says that Reuben (the
patriarch Jacob’s son) sinned with his father’s wife is in error, because it is written [Gen. xxxv.
22]: