In Bereishis 32:25 the posuk tells us that the malach wrestled with Yaakov until dawn. The Gemara in Chulin 91a says that the dust of their wrestling went up to the Kisei Hakavod. Based on the Gemara Pesachim 94b we see that the distance from earth to the first rakia is five hundred years and the thickness of rakia is five hundred years traveling. How is it possible that the dust reached the Kisei Hakavod? The Medrash in Bereishis Rabba 12:15 says that initially Hashem created the world with middas hadin, that is why it says Elokim in the first posuk in the Torah, but then Hashem saw that the world could not exist, so he combined it with midas HaRachamim. The Klei Yakar in 2:4 asks, “What does it mean that Hashem changed his mind?” Hashem is not a human who changes his mind! Chazal tell us in Yevamos 121b that Hashem is medakdek with tzadikkim like a chut hasarah. The question arises; shouldn’t a tzaddik have some leeway being that he is a tzaddik? Why is he judged even more stringently? The Gemara in Menachos 29b says that when Moshe went up to heaven, he saw Hashem tying crowns to the letters of the Torah. Moshe asked, “Who understands this?” Hashem said, “It is Akiva who darshened every tag of every letter.” Moshe asked, “What is his reward?” Hashem said, “He will be killed by the Romans.” Moshe asked, “Is this the reward for Torah?” Hashem said to Moshe, “Be quiet. This is what came to my mind.” The question is, what kind of answer is this? We know that when a person dies the survivors say kaddish for the first year since that is when the niftar is judged. Why then is there a kaddish on every yahrtzeit? The Gemara in Bava Metziya 84b brings the story of Rav Elazar, the son of Rav Shimon. When Rav Elazar was dying he knew the Rabbonim were angry with him, so he told his wife, “Don’t tell anyone that I died and put me in the attic.” She kept him in the attic for twenty-two years. His body stayed fresh until one day she saw a worm come out of his ear. She was perturbed by this. Rav Elazar came to her in a dream and said, “I was punished because I heard someone making fun of a talmid chacham and I was not mocheh.” Reb Chaim Kanievsky asks, if he deserved to be punished, why was he not punished right away?
The Kli Yakar explains that midas hadin was created for shomayim, whereas the aretz needs midas horachamim. Hashem knew that earth can’t tolerate just midas hadin. The Shelah says we see from this Klei Yakar the concept that the higher in shomayim you go, the greater midas hadin, and the lower we are on this world, the more we require midas horachamim. The greatest din is at the Kisei Hakavod. The reason Hashem is medakdek with tzadikim is because they are closer to the Kisei Hakavod and shomayim. That is why Hashem told Moshe, “Be quiet, that is my thought process,” since originally Hashem created the world with din only and upon creating aretz he added rachamim. Reb Akiva who was so close to Hashem could understand and accept midas hadin. This is the reason one says kaddish on the yahrtzeit, since that is the time when the neshama of a person goes even higher and closer to kisei hakavod so there is less rachamim involved, hence the neshama needs a kaddish on the yahrtzeit. The biggest proof is that Rav Elazar was not punished until twenty-two years later. He needed to go that much higher to Kisei Hakavod to be punished for such a minute sin. This was also the idea of the malach sending dust to the Kisei Hakavod. He was trying to get Yaakov judged with the most extreme midas hadin since the dust travelled all the way to Kisei Hakavod.
May we be zocheh to see Hashem’s Rachamim on all Klal Yisroel, just as He protected Yaakov from the malach of Esav.
