Severing the Connection
כי כל אשר יעשה מכל התועבות האלה ונכרתו הנפשות העשת מקרב עמם
For if anyone commits any of these abominations, the people doing so will be cut off from among their people (Vayikra 18:29).
More than half of the thirty-six sins that carry the penalty of kareis (excision) are mentioned at the end of Parashas Acharei Mos. In discussing the nature of this punishment, Ramban (ad loc.) explains that there are three types of kareis and what each one entails:
Someone who is essentially a good person but had a momentary lapse and ate, for example, cheilev (the prohibited fat of an animal) or dam (blood) will be punished with a shortened life, but no punishment of the soul in the Afterlife. Regarding such a person, the Torah uses the phrase (Vayikra 17:9), “Ve’nichras ha’ish hahu mei’amav — That man shall be cut off from his people,” with no mention of his soul being punished.
One who is fundamentally wicked, having committed more sins than mitzvos, will only be punished in the Afterlife, which includes punishment and then destruction of his soul. He may live out a normal life, well into old age. Regarding this type of kareis, the Torah says, “Ve’nichresah hanefesh hahi mi’lefanai — That person shall be cut off from before Me” (Vayikra 22:3), where the pasuk makes mention of the nefesh and not the man. (This is the type of kareis mentioned in the verse at the beginning.)
The last category of kareis applies to an individual guilty of idolatry or cursing HaShem. About him, the verse says (Bamidbar 15:31), “Hikareis tikareis hanefesh hahi avonah vah — That person will surely be cut off, his sin is upon him.” This repetition, explain Chazal (Shavuos 13a), indicates excision in both This World and the Next, meaning a shortened physical life, as well as destruction of the soul in the Afterlife. (See Abarbanel Bamidbar 15:22.)
The punishment of kareis (which includes some form of destruction of the soul) is also discussed in a vort of Rav Yaakov Ettlinger in Aruch LaNer (Yevamos 122b). The Aruch LaNer points out that four masechtos in Shas — Berachos, Nazir, Yevamos, and Kerisus — all conclude with the same statement: “Amar Rabbi Elazar amar Rabbi Chanina talmidei chachamim marbim shalom ba’olam she’ne’emar ve’chol banayich limudei HaShem ve’rav shalom banayich al tikrei banayich ella bonayich — Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Chanina: Torah scholars increase peace in the world, as it says (Yeshayahu 54:13), ‘All your children will be students of HaShem, and all your children’s peace will be abundant.’ Do not read the words as ‘banayich,’ your sons, but ‘bonayich,’ your builders.” The Aruch LaNer (see also Gra: Imrei Noam, end of Berachos) notes that the roshei teivos of these four masechtos: ברכות נזיר יבמות כריתות form the word בניך, your sons, as in “Ve’chol banayich limudei HaShem.”
Still, we may wonder: Why does the Gemara repeat the above statement four times, and why specifically at the end of these masechtos? What is their connection to peace? The Aruch LaNer explains that there are four categories of shalom, peace. There is shalom bein adam la’Makom, peace between man and HaShem; shalom bein adam la’chaveiro, peace between man and his friend; shalom bein ish le’ishto, peace between man and his wife; and shalom bein guf u’neshamah, peace between physical man and his spiritual soul. Each of these four masechtos relates to one of these categories.
The masechta of Berachos discusses subjects such as Krias Shema, tefillah, and berachos, which unite man with his Creator in all aspects of his life. Hence, this tractate relates to peace between man and HaShem.
Yevamos deals with the laws of yibum, levirate marriage. Yibum is an act of kindness for the deceased brother whose name will be carried forward, and also to his widow. This is considered chesed for the living and the dead, and thus connects to shalom bein adam la’chaveiro. (See also Zohar on Bamidbar:259b.)
The section of the Torah (and Gemara) discussing the laws of the nazir (one who vows to abstain from certain forbidden behaviors in an effort to come closer to HaShem) follows the laws of the sotah, the unfaithful wife. Chazal (Sotah 2a) explain that this is to teach us that one who sees a sotah in her disgrace should vow to become a nazir and abstain from wine, for drinking wine leads to forbidden relationships. Nezirus is the reaction of a person who wants to ensure that his familial relationships stay strong. Thus, Maseches Nazir connects to peace between man and his wife, bein ish le’ishto.
Regarding Kerisus, the Aruch LaNer writes that the performance of mitzvos in This World is to benefit the nefesh that resides in the body, so that it should continue to exist even after the ruach, the living spirit, has separated from it. Also, doing mitzvos assures a constant bond between the nefesh that dwells on the earth, specifically at one’s gravesite, and the ruach, spirit, whose dwelling of honor is in the lower spheres of Gan Eden, as well as the neshamah, soul, which resides in the upper spheres of Gan Eden. This is the reason that we pray at the graves of tzaddikim, as there still exists a connection between the physical body and the spiritual neshamah.
However, when a person violates a sin, whose punishment is kareis, the nefesh is cut off from the ruach and the neshamah, as the pasuk says, “Ve’nechresah hanefesh hahi.” The consequences are twofold: First, the connection in This World, between the nefesh that resides in the body and his soul, has been severed. Second, there is no more hope that the individual will arise at the time of techiyas hameisim, the resurrection of the dead.
This, says the Aruch LaNer, is the link between Maseches Kerisus and the shalom between body and soul in This World and in the World to Come. A person should keep away from those sins that are enumerated in the masechta and incur the punishment of kareis, which destroy the bond between guf and neshamah. If one has already sinned, chas ve’shalom, he should bring the appropriate korban and repent, so that the light of his neshamah, the ner HaShem, will remain burning within his nefesh.