father

B”H

Father

If the son studies Torah, crowns his father and his mother
every day in Paradise – to Proverbs 23:25 (cf. Zohar III/174,
where only Saturday nights are mentioned).

A deserving son can save his father from the punishments of
Gehinnom – to Proverbs 29:17.

A father teaches his son Torah, whereas his mother teaches him
precepts and the upright way – to Proverbs 20:20.

A father reproves his son, even when the son refuses to accept
this – he continues to chastise him – to Proverbs 3:12

A father inquires what are the acts of his son – to Proverbs
13:24.

A righteous man will sometimes trip up on some great sin, for
he has inherited a tendency for it from the deeds of his
ancestors… generally like the tree relates to its fruit –
Tikkunei Zohar, p. 118, section beginning with ”It is not
that he”, section beginning with ”like the deeds of the
wicked”;.

A righteous man who is not of righteous parentage lacks the
natural tendency to do good to others, a tendency enjoyed by a
righteous man of righteous parentage – to Proverbs 12:12 (v. also
11:21).

Even a righteous father, if he has a wicked son, is escorted
to Gehinnom to see his son’s suffering – to Proverbs 29:17 (it is
explained in Reshith Hokhma, Section Ha-Yir’ah, Part XII, chapter
5, that a part of the father is to be found and actually
continues living in his son, just as in the transplanting of a
branch from one tree to another, and so by the spoiling of the
son it has been revealed that his father was not yet cured of his
sins – and therefore he, too, suffers with the suffering of his
son for he is responsible for this, because he brought forth
offspring like himself, Sidhkath ha-Saddiq [by R. Sadoq of Lublin],
parts 63, 78, 112 according to Nachmanides to Deuteronomy 29:17).

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Links to some of the other articles on this web site that portray the Gaon’s views:
* Monotheism Vs. The Outlook That Everything is G-d, by Mr. S. M. Scheinman which provides some background to the Gaon’s monotheistic beliefs.
* Divine Assistance

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Those that don’t tie their own Tzitzit – Beware!