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Rabbi YY Jacobson - Attribute #8b: No Sin Can Ever Cancel a Mitzvah | Tomer Devorah #12

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Author: Rabbi YY Jacobson
Categories: Religion
Tags: religion, 8b, 12
Views: 4 · Last viewed: 2026-10-16 10:03 UTC

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Treat every mitzvah as having infinite, eternal value that no sin can cancel, while still recognizing that sins require repentance, cleansing, and atonement on their own terms. Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (the Ramak), in Tomer Devorah class 12 by Rabbi YY Jacobson, uses this idea to explain the eighth attribute of Divine compassion, where God "suppresses" our iniquities rather than subtracting mitzvos because of them.

Key Points

  • The Gemara in Tractate Kiddushin says there is no reward for a mitzvah in this world, because no worldly good can capture the infinite magnitude contained in a single mitzvah.
  • The common ledger model (40 mitzvos minus 10 sins leaves 30) is described as a complete misunderstanding of how mitzvos and sins relate.
  • Even a righteous person who performed 40 mitzvos but committed one sin is described as having "burned the Temple" until the debt is repaired, so the sin is taken seriously.
  • A sin's consequences come from the lower realm of Gehinnom and purgatory, while a mitzvah's reward comes from the most lofty, sacred reality of the Divine, so the two do not match up.
  • God "suppresses" sins: He does not let them ascend or enter His space, while He sees and cares for every choice a person makes.

Details Worth Noting

  • Concrete instructions: The transcript gives no step-by-step actions. The only actionable guidance is that a sinner must repent (teshuvah), cleanse the sin, seek atonement and forgiveness, and do what is necessary to repay the debt, while continuing to recognize that each mitzvah keeps its full value.
  • The speaker's wedding analogy compares a sin to a parking ticket or flat tire at a daughter's wedding: these must be dealt with, but they do not cancel the joy of the event.
  • The transcript explains the Ramak's view that mitzvos combine like bricks into an infinite "Divine edifice" and "Divine cloak," which sins cannot undo.
  • The speaker frames this as God's great kindness toward the righteous, who are never penalized for mitzvos by deduction.
  • The class is part of a series on the Palm Tree of Devorah (Tomer Devorah), with the eighth attribute tied to a verse from the prophet Micah.

Bottom Line

Sins must be repented and cleansed, but they never erase the infinite value of the mitzvos a person has performed.