After one hundred twenty years, what will women be asked in the din v'cheshbon?
ANSWER:
I don't know what anybody's going to be asked, except a few questions, and the same questions apply to everybody. One question is, nososo v'nosato b'emuna, did you do business honestly? And honestly is not what you call honestly; honestly is what the Shulchon Aruch Choshen Mishpot calls honestly. If you are a bookbinder and you deliver the goods, did you paste all the pages in the right places? Or did you skip a few places? Because on thousands of books you make a lot of money if you skip just one place pasting. So you say, what's wrong, in general it's good? No, no... If you cheat even in the smallest thing, then you are very answerable for it, you'll have to explain what happened. And business is the most difficult thing of all, it's more difficult to be straight in business than to have a kosher kitchen, because the Choshen Mishpot is even bigger and more complicated than the Yoreh Deah, and this people don't know.
To be honest in business is more important than to have a kosher house. Of course if you don't have a kosher house, then your honesty in business also doesn't mean anything, because it means that you're an honest Italian, not an honest Jew. An honest Jew is a Jew who keeps kosher and believes in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, he's honest because Hakadosh Baruch Hu requires it. Honesty in business is a prime requirement and you are going to be asked, nososo v'nosato b'emuna, and not what you think is b'emuna, what Hashem thinks is b'emuna.
And the next question is, asakto b'piryo v'rivyo, were you busy having children? If you practice contraception you are going to have a very red face. Was your house full of children? Were they driving you crazy? That's what they're supposed to do. Children are supposed to drive you crazy, and if you have dreams of a quiet and tranquil house, where everything is in place, then you don't know what a home is supposed to be.
A home is a place where children are romping and breaking things and driving you crazy, and that's normal, and for that you get Gan Eden. And a woman who has tzar gidul bonim, aino roeh pnei Gehinnom, she won't even look at Gehinnom. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, she had it already!
But it's not true, because she had it with Gan Eden together. As she was wiping up what a child who was walking around with diapers left on the floor, she's doing it with love; a mother loves the chores of attending the children. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu in his kindness will consider that Gehinnom. And those who are suffering from tzar gidul bonim, aino roeh pnei Gehinnom, they won't look at Gehinnom, even from a distance, they won't pass by it. There are a lot of things; everybody will be answerable, men and women.
Therefore, nobody should think that they are going to be spared on the Yom Hadin. Just because they don't have to put on tefillin; there are things that are much more difficult than tefillin.
Good Shabbos To All
This email is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures. To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210
Important Numbers
