Thus, it follows, that the man who is pure and sees or knows the praise of Torah, even if he himself did not merit to be one of those who sit in the Beth Medrash, he will have pity on the souls of his children and sacrifice his soul for all his children so that they will be Torah Sages. At the very least – he will not leave them to be ignorant people but they will be amongst those who have knowledge of the books and are filled with fear of Hashem. He will not only take pity on the souls of his children but also on his own soul and his spirit. The benefit that children have upon their parents through their study and service of Hashem when they are Torah Sages is great. Through the fact that they are Torah Sages, they are careful about honouring their parents in their lives and after their deaths. Continually, all the time they will do everything they are capable of for their (parents) rest and to uplift their souls in the way that they can lift their parents’ souls from Gehinom and save them from all kinds of harsh judgements. They can lift them up by degrees, level after level, until they stand in the company of the righteous (as is brought in a number of stories in the Medrash). If permission would be given to a person to return from that world, after he had seen the manner and judgement of the world to come, he would become a completely righteous person and would actually sacrifice his life to teach his children Torah. Not only on the souls of his children and on his only soul would he have pity, but mainly a man would have pity on the honor of his Owner. This is because all the reason that a person should desire for children is in order that they should do the will of their Owner, workers of truth to give pleasure to our Creator.
