Chapter 2 - Who Pardons Iniquity: Considering that no being in the world exists except by virtue of the fact that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, grants it life, how does this force of destruction stand before Him? The strict letter of the Law would justify that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, should claim, "I do not nourish destructive creatures! Go to him who made YOU, and derive your sustenance from him." Then the destructive creature would immediately descend and take the life of the sinner, or cut him off from his spiritual source, or punish him according to his just desserts, until the destructive being would cease to be. Nevertheless, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, does not make this claim. Rather, He bears the sin and endures it, and just as He sustains the entire world, He sustains this destructive creature until one of three things happens: 1) The sinner repents, destroying or nullifying the destructive creature by his acts of penance. 2) The righteous Judge nullifies it through the suffering or death of the sinner. 3) The sinner descends to Gehinom. to pay his debt. This is also the explanation of Kayin's plea, "Is MY sin too great to bear?" (Bereishit 4:13), which our sages interpreted as: "You bear and desire and nourish and sustain the entire world! Is my sin so severe that You cannot sustain it [i.e., the destructive creature] until I repent and rectify the sin?" It is thus with tremendous tolerance that G-d nourishes and sustains the evil creature created by the sinner until he repents. From this, man should learn to what extent he, too, should be tolerant and bear the yoke of his fellow and his evil, even though his transgressions are of such magnitude that the evil remains. He should tolerate one who sinned against him until the sinner mends his ways or the sin disappears of its own accord.
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