The Obligation To Mourn The Passing Of A Tzaddik Like Rabbi Meir Mazuz zt"l

0:02Anyone that died is because of their own actions, their own mistakes, their own deeds. And sometimes they even chose it for righteous reasons. Some of the tzaddikim chose to die. Because Hashem gave them a choice. A famous story with Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, one of the Gedolei HaDor in the previous generation, got sick and went into a coma. Suddenly, although he was older, he was still healthy, but he got sick and went into a coma. His wife was sitting next to him, and he suddenly wakes up and tells her, "I went up to Shamayim..." They told me that a Shemesh Modeh (sincere revelation) indicated there is a very horrible decree about to be passed against Am Yisrael because of all the many sins that we have committed as a people. They said that hundreds of thousands of people would die or they could simply take my neshama (soul). So I told them to take my neshama instead.

1:31And his Tzedeket wife says to him, "Why didn't you ask me? Why didn't you ask me first? Who says that I agree for you to take away your life? I need you." And he knew that his wife, although she loved him a lot, she also loved Am Yisrael a lot. And all of this was coming from emotions, and he told her, "You really want so many people to die?" She was quiet and understood what has to happen. And Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu closed his eyes and died. Why is it sometimes said that a tzaddik is picked like a rose out of the garden? Because that rose is worth a lot more. There's no way to not pay the bill. As we've already learned time and time again, the bill has to be paid both on an individual level and a national level. One of the things that the tzaddikim do for Am Yisrael is sometimes we lose them. But that loss, though we mourn it, and we have to mourn it, as the Gemara says: a person who does not mourn when a tzaddik dies can even be punished to lose his own children as a result. This is because the time that a tzaddik is taken from us is a time for mourning for the entire nation, since there's less merit to the people.

3:00There's fewer merits now in the world. But nonetheless, those tzaddikim will sometimes choose to have Hashem take them in order to save countless other people. The concept of the New Testament was not an innovation of something completely new. The idea that one person could die for many is not a novel concept. This already exists in our Torah. However, they innovated it and turned it into idolatry by claiming that someone can die for future people's sins. Any tzaddik that dies is only saving the people of today from the sins up to today, not the sins that you'll commit tomorrow. That idol that Christianity has, which died 2,000 years ago—even if they wanted to say that, no, someone can die for your sins, yeah, okay, you can say that, fine, no problem. You can find a source for it regarding past sins.

4:00of that generation. What does that have to do with you today? When you're acting immorally, like when you violate the innocence of young children. When you're deceitful and dishonest, taking advantage of others. When you speak with vulgarity. When your eyes constantly roam towards immorality. What does that have to do with you? That's where the idolatry comes in. One of its many facets. The idea that they've transformed it into a piece of God is in essence also idolatry. Even for those who believe he's the Messiah, it's still considered idolatry. Those are idolatry. Number one, because their definition of Messiah is not the same thing as ours. They still believe that Messiah is a part of God, shem yishmor. And second of all, because they think that this Messiah can simply absolve them of all crimes that they've committed. It's complete nonsense. It's against the Torah. It's against the foundation. But nonetheless, some of these tzaddikim, rabotai yekarim, are taken out of the world in order to help Am Yisrael get more time. More time to do teshuvah.

5:02So it's never a mistake. There are no mistakes done by Heaven. Hashem doesn't make mistakes. He's perfect. Whether it's the suffering that happens to me personally, that caused me years and years of agony and pain, or it's yours. Or it's ours. There are no mistakes. No mistakes. Hashem is perfect. And not only perfect, but righteous in all his ways. What he's doing is righteous. It's not only perfect because there's a judgment and there's a bill that has to be paid, but it actually makes him righteous for doing it. That's the tzedek. Not just right because there's a bill and then just like accounting, every one has to have another one. Everything has to equal out in the end. No, that's not the reason. The reason is that's what makes him righteous—emet (the truth) at all times, under all costs—that's what makes him righteous. not just right because there's a bill, and then, just like accounting, everyone has to have another one. Everything has to equal out in the end. No, that's not the reason. The reason is that's what makes him righteous — that emet (truth) at all times, under all costs. That's what makes him righteous.

6:07But it's not a good thing that we don't get hurt. So we will get hurt. We will get hurt. How can she get hurt? On this, our hands and our hearts. On those who are our neighbors. Oy! Oileinu kol nehi miTzion! Eikh shudadah! Naflah ateret rosheinu!