Very good points LKZ, getting very good with your Talmudic thought, IMO...
I had written something similar to what you wrote concerning the dictum 'No man dies without sin' and 'There is not a righteous man who does not sin'.... Here is a small discussion of these ideas from Torah.org:
http://www.torah.org/learning/perceptions/5761/chukas.htmlSHABBOS DAY:
This is the law when a man dies ... (Bamidbar 19:14)
Life is filled with uncertainties, but, death is not one of them. Ever since G-d delivered the dreaded verdict to Adam HaRishon for disobeying the commandment not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, death has become as much a part of life as life itself.
This is why the Talmud's statement seems a bit peculiar at first:
Rav Ammi said: There is no death without sin ... (Shabbos 55a)
Sure there is. Not only that, but there is even immortality even WITH sin, for, Ya'akov Avinu made at least a few small mistakes throughout the course of his long life, and yet he didn't die (Ta'anis 5b). And, elsewhere, the Talmud states that seven people went right to the Garden of Eden and did not die.
Not only this, but, there have been all kinds of righteous people throughout history who have died
True, Shlomo HaMelech wrote:
"There is no righteous person on the earth who does good and does not sin." (Koheles 7:20)
Which means that all the righteous people who have ever died have not gone completely sinless, which, is reasonable to assume. However, according to Rav Ammi, if they could have lived perfect lives, then, they would have not died, which is what the Talmud concludes:
Four people died because of the bite of the snake: Binyomin son of Ya'akov, Amram father of Moshe, Yishai father of Dovid, and, Kaleiv son of Dovid. (Shabbos 55b)
In other words, their lives were so perfect that, had it not been for the curse placed upon mankind because of the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would not have died and lived for ever. Their deaths, therefore, were no fault of their own.
Regarding death, the Talmud teaches:
Anyone who cries for a 'kosher' person will have his own sins forgiven ... It is taught in a brisa: Rebi Shimon ben Elazar said: Anyone standing by a dead person at the time his soul leaves is obligated to tear. To what is this likened? To a Sefer Torah that was burned. (Shabbos 105b)
In other words, though normally one only tears one's clothing for certain close relatives, being by the person as his or her soul leaves This World is different. It is such a 'tragic' event, like a Sefer Torah being burned, G-d forbid, that all present at the time must likewise rent their clothes.
It is an interesting comparison. In a very real sense, the soul inside the body is like the holy letters written on the parchment of a Sefer Torah, and though we may forget this, the halachah does not. Rebi Chanina ben Teradyon, one of the Ten Martyrs to die at the hands of the Romans, also did not. For, when they had bound him and ignited him that he should die a slow and very painful death for teaching Torah in public, he told his overwhelmed students,
"The parchment burns, but the letters fly off!" (Avodah Zarah 18a)
Considering that Rebi Chanina was wrapped in the Sefer Torah from which he had been teaching when he Romans had found him, and the Talmudic dictum cited above, Rabbi Teradyon's statement had a double meaning. Both the parchment and his body burned -- true -- but the holy light encased in the letters of the Sefer Torah, along with the holy light that was his soul, flew heavenward, untouched and undamaged by the Roman executioners.
This idea gives new meaning to what it means to disgrace one's body with unholy activities. A body without a soul that once had one, still retains a level of holiness, just as a Sefer Torah does whose words have faded, and a talmid chacham who, G-d forbid, forgot his learning. How much more so is this true of a body that still retains its soul, whether one can feel and relate to that soul or not.
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