Causing Oneself Damage in the Next World

Causing Oneself Damage in the Next World

The Baal Shem Tov Hakadosh zy”a (quoted in Pri Chaim, Avod 2:4) says that when Shomayim wants to judge a person for committing a certain sin, he is shown someone else doing the same aveirah. If he gets upset about what he sees and says the one committing the act deserves to be punished, he is informed that he did the same thing, and he immediately punished. Thus, he is his own judge.

For this reason, Chazal say (Avos 1) that we should judge everyone favorably. If we judge others favorably, we will not be issuing a stringent verdict against ourselves for having done the same thing. We also see from here that one must be extremely careful not to speak negatively about anyone, as doing so may lead to oneself being condemned to punishment.