Now, before we end our meeting tonight we must take into account the fact that some people were not blessed with children. And therefore we must add a few more things to our discussion; they are true for everyone but they’re especially true for those without children.
A person who didn’t merit children can also continue to live forever in Olam Hazeh. וְ אַ ל יֹ אמַ ר הַסָּ רִ יס הֵן אֲ נִי עֵץ יָבֵשׁ - The childless one shouldn’t say, “I’m a dry tree” – he shouldn’t think that there’s no hope (Yeshaya 56:3). And that is because every person leaves over a yerushah in this world. Maybe he doesn’t have children, but there’s something very real he leaves over – to a certain extent it’s even more real than property and valuables.
You know, in the olden days when people went to a chasunah or some other important place, they would rub perfumed oil on their hair – l’kavod the simchah they made their hair smell good. It was such a fragrance that sometimes it would percolate throughout the whole room.
Perfuming the World
Let’s imagine that – let’s say somebody sitting here has a perfumed oil in his hair. It smells good and we’re all enjoying the fragrance. So he’s sitting here for a little bit listening to the lecture and then he walks out of the room. But he’s still here! He left the room but something remains behind; there’s a sweet fragrance, a reiach tov, in the room.
Now, the possuk says that there’s something even better than that: “ׁ מֶ ן טוֹב טוֹב שֵׁ ם, מִשֶ – A good name is even better than good oil” (Koheles 7:1). When a person is alive and he acquires a good name – it means good character and yiras Shamayim – so it makes an impression; it lasts. As he passes through the world he leaves the fragrance of his good name wherever he goes. And even after he leaves this world the fragrance lingers on in the atmosphere; the sweet fragrance of his personality remains. “I was here,” it’s calling out.
They Live On
Many times in my life I benefited from the reiach tov of good people. I remember a frum Jew; years ago I knew him very well. I used to watch him; I loved him and admired him. He didn’t know but he was my model and he had a very big influence on me. I knew him as a bochur but he’s still in my memory; I can’t forget him.
Another frum Jew I knew as an adult already; he was an elderly man. This man knew all the poskim, all the sha’alos. He was a man who never spoke loshon hara; he never was angry at anybody. Kol yomai, all my days I watched him; he was a tamim in character, a kiddush Hashem, and I learned very many things from watching him. And I’m sure he influenced many people besides me. He’s not in this world anymore but the reiach tov he left in the world is still here.
The Science of Smell
Now, I want you to understand that the “good fragrance” that a person can leave in this world is not merely ruchniyus; it’s a physical thing. Those of you who are even a little familiar with science know that a good smell is not just “a smell” — it’s tangible.
