Rabbi Cordovero expands upon the metaphysics of forgiveness in the Eighth Level. God preserves a core region of positive regard for every human being, a place where every positive deed that person ever performed is recalled, cherished, and protected. Even when a person commits some act of transgression, the impact of that inappropriate behavior cannot affect the core of love. In other words, God does not keep a running tally of pros and cons regarding each individual, subtracting the blame for transgressions from the reward for good deeds to arrive at a kind of score for each individual. Rather, God is like a king who maintains two halls for his servants. One is beautifully decorated, filled with luxurious furnishings under a lofty ceiling and illuminated with chandeliers. In this hall, servants are received and rewarded for performing the king’s will, and the king frequently returns to this hall to review the record books and rejoice in the memory of their contributions to the kingdom. The second hall is a plain room, devoid of any luxuries, in which the king reviews the records of servants who have failed to perform their duties appropriately, and they receive punishment. The kingdom has yet to see a servant who is not called to both chambers, yet the king maintains a strict policy: no misdeeds are to be mentioned in the glorious hall of reward.
So too, God maintains a chamber where the positive actions of a person are stored, and no matter how poorly a person may behave, he or she will never lose their place in this holy chamber. Rabbi Cordovero describes the meaning of this Level, and provides direction on how we may apply it in our own lives.
God behaves toward the Jewish people in accordance with this level, which is the secret of “subduing the transgression.” Behold, a commandment is like a budding vine that bursts forth and rises without limit to enter the very presence of God. Transgressions, on the other hand, do not reach that place, Heaven forbid; rather they are subdued so they do not enter. This is as is written (Psalms 5:5): “no evil will dwell with You,” meaning, no evil will reside in Your dwelling place.
No transgression enters the inner abode. Thus “this world cannot contain the reward for a commandment,” because the commandments are before God, and how can God grant people spiritual reward in a physical world? Behold, this entire world is not fit to receive even a kernel of what is before God! For this reason, God does not accept a bribe that consists of the performance of commandments. For example, God does not say, “this person performed forty commandments and committed ten transgressions. Take ten commandments away for the ten transgressions, leaving thirty commandments.” Heaven forbid! Rather, even a completely righteous person who commits a single sin is considered as if he burned the Torah. He must make good the debt, and afterward receive the reward for the commandments, which is a great kindness that God does for the righteous. God does not subtract, for observance of the commandments is extremely precious and valued before God—how could God delete the rewards because of transgressions? The consequence of sin is a share of the horrible Gehinom, but the reward for the commandments is the glorious radiance of the Shekhinah—how could God subtract the former from the latter? Rather, God collects the obligation incurred by the transgressions and provides the reward for the commandments. This is what is meant by “He will subdue our transgressions,” that the transgressions do not overpower the commandments. God “subdues” the transgressions so they do not rise up and enter God’s presence. Even though God observes all the ways of a person, good and evil, nevertheless God does not subdue the good. God allows the good to fly upward without limit, joining commandment to commandment, building from them an edifice, a garment of glory. Sins do not have this power; rather God subdues them. Sins do not enjoy this success and do not enter the inner presence of God.
Even this level must be emulated by a human being. One should not subdue the good of a person and recall the evil that he caused. On the contrary, one should subdue the evil, obliterating it from memory and casting it away: “no evil will occur in Your place.” The good that he did must always be held in consciousness, remembered and overpowering whatever else he might have done. One should not subtract in one’s heart, saying, “if he did this good thing for me, behold he also did me harm,” forgetting the good. One should not do this! Rather, one should make peace with the harm with whatever means available, and the good should never be cast out of consciousness, while ignoring the evil as much as possible, just as God subdues transgressions, as I have explained.
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