Antoninus the Roman Emperor made the following assertion to Rabi Yehuda HaNasi (Sanhedrin 91:a): Both the body and soul will claim innocence at the time of judgment. The body will say “The soul is guilty; since it departed from me I have lain in the grave as a stone and not sinned.” The soul will say “The body is guilty; since I left it I have been flying in the air as a bird far away from the world of sin.”
Rabbeinu Hakadosh answered him with a parable: There were two guards assigned to the king’s orchard one blind and one lame. One day the lame one said to the blind one “I see beautiful figs on the trees. Place me on your shoulders and we’ll work together to get the figs.”
When the king discovered that some fruits were missing he demanded to know who had taken them. The lame guard said “Do I have feet to travel to the figs? I certainly couldn’t have taken them.” The blind guard said “Do I have eyes to see where the figs are? I certainly couldn’t have taken them.”
What did the king do? He mounted the lame one on the shoulders of the blind one and judged them as one unit.
