On
this Bible verse, the holy Zohar says that "one who blows,
blows from within himself," indicating that the soul
is actually part of God's essence. Since God's essence is
completely spiritual and nonphysical, it is impossible that
the soul should die. (The great Chizkuni says, this why the
verse calls it "Soul of Life.")
That's
what King Solomon meant when he wrote, "The dust will
return to the ground as it was, and the spirit will return
to God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:17)
For
anyone who believes in a just and caring God, the existence
of an afterlife makes logical sense. Could it be this world
is just a playground without consequences? Did Hitler get
away with killing 6,000,000 Jews? No. There is obviously a
place where good people receive reward and bad people get
punished. (See Maimonides 13 Principles of Faith)
Traditionally,
Judaism states very clearly that our eternal soul is as real
as our face. This is the world of doing, and the "world
to come" is where we experience the eternal reality of
whatever we've become. Do you think after being responsible
for the torture and deaths of millions of people, that Hitler
could really "end it all" by just swallowing some
poison? No. Ultimate justice is found in another dimension.
Afterlife Experience
When an individual passes away and goes to heaven, the judgment
is not arbitrary and externally imposed. First you find yourself
somewhat traveling through a tunnel towards a source of white
light, the glow is to powerful to look. While traveling through
the crossing - you can simply recognize and feel the comfort
of your grandparents and great grandparents. Upon arrival
the Talmud says, the heavenly court your will ask you three
questions.
1. Did you deal in business honestly ?
2. Did you set aside specific time for Torah study?
3. Did you hope for the Redemption of the Messiah?
They
will then play you a video titled "This is Your Life."
Every decision and every thought, all the good deeds, and
the embarrassing things a person did in private are all replayed
without any embellishments. It's fully opened for all to see.
That's why the next world is called Olam HaEmet - "the
World of Truth," because there we clearly recognize our
personal strengths and shortcomings, and the true purpose
of life.
The
second video shows what you could have been, if the right
choices had been made, if the opportunities were seized, if
the potential was actualized. The pain of squandered potential
- is much more difficult to bear. But at the same time it
purifies the soul as well. (Some torah commentators say, that
itself is hell) The pain creates regret, which removes the
barriers and enables the soul to completely connect to God.
Not all souls merit (Gehenom) Hell It is for people who have
done good but need to be purified. A handful of people are
too evil for Hell, and they are punished eternally. Pharaoh
is one example.
Read an astounding
vivid tale about an intelligence officer who died and lived
to tell about it.
Paradises
Paradises is where the soul experiences the greatest possible
blissful pleasure - the feeling of closeness to God. Of course
not all souls experience that to the same degree. Depending
on what your eared on this world. It's like going to a game.
Some tickets are front-row; others are back in the bleachers.
Where your seat is located is based on the merit of your good
deeds - e.g. giving charity, caring for others, prayer.
When The Soul goes up
The dead has awareness of the living says the Talmud (Berachot
18b), the dead can focus on any living thing. One who is involved
in the spiritual life, he may not even have any pain while
the soul departs from his body; spiritual heaven is like his
main focus. -However the one who's all into the physical life,
the soul departing can be as painful as hell.
When
a soul departs from this world there are steps: the way in
which the soul says good-bye. The first time the soul says
good-bye is when it leaves the body It's a heavy kind of good-bye.
Somehow the soul is still connected to the body, but not connected
enough to give life. According to Jewish tradition, throughout
a funeral the dead person is completely aware of how they
are buried. All the Rabbis would say when you go to a funeral
you better be serious, because the person looks at you and
sees if your for real or not. They already have heavenly eyes
and they look at you. This is one sense of saying good-bye
The
second good-bye is after seven days. The soul and the body
are getting a little more distant. The body is resting in
the cemetery and the soul goes up, but there's still some
connection. The connection is not so much to the body as its
to the people who love this person very much.
After
thirty days, the soul somehow goes up to heaven. And fore
eleven months the soul is judged, and this is the time when
people who are closest to the person who left the world are
saying Kaddish. Each time Kaddish is said it's like you're
giving energy to that soul in an unbelievable way. You have
no idea. While the person's in this world the soul is in garments
and even the love is in garments. It's clear to you and me,
when our mothers say to us, "Why don't you eat more,
why don't you sleep more? "-you know what they are telling
us? They just want us to know how much they love us. But sadly
enough, in this world, there is no way to say it except in
a garmented way. So they say, "eat chicken soup, sleep
more, or are you making a lot of money?" All these things,
they mean so much more, but sadly they don't know how to say
it. But when they leave this world, it's so deep that when
a person says Kaddish at that moment the person from the other
world is actually standing beside them and telling them how
much they love them. This is just so awesome.
When
we are born our parents carry us. When they die,we carry them,
but the truth is they are really carrying us forever.
Question:
If the World to Come (the afterlife) is the ultimate perfect
world that we aspire to go when we die, then why are we constantly
wishing everyone to "have a long life"? Surely if
the World to Come is so wonderful, shouldn't we wish less
years in this world, in order to sooner reach the World to
Come?
Answers:
The reward that we receive in the World to Come is a direct
result of the effort that we put into doing the will of God's
good deeds, while we are alive on Earth. A person who dedicates
his life to mitzvoth and spirituality will get a qualitatively
better "World to Come" than a person whose commitment
was peripheral.
We are living in the world of free choice (between good and
bad), and whatever level you attain in this world is eternal.
That's why the great sages performed mitzvoth even till their
dying breath.
The
great Rabbi Vilna Gaon was crying on his deathbed, and his
students asked him, "Why are you crying?" He held
up his Shawl Prayer (Tzitzit) strings and said, "Every
moment of wearing these fringes I am able to fulfill another
good deed. But soon I will be dead and I will no longer have
this great merit."
Our
attitude toward performing mitzvoth should be like someone
who is in a room full of diamonds. You are allowed to grab
as much as you can, and you don't know how much time you're
given to do so.
Remembering your name in the afterlife
The
earthbound disembodied soul can encounter a number of risks.
If it is unable to separate itself from the body even through
pain, it can experience a decay of consciousness and a turning
into nothingness. An angel Dumah (Silence), is the guardian
of the dead, and wanting to prevent this decay, This angel
asks each soul for its Hebrew name. The rabbis say that some
people suffer amnesia due to the shock of dying and are, consequently
unable to remember their identity. In order to dispel this
forgetfulness, the learning of a mnemonic device while one
is alive is recommended at the conclusion of every Amidah
(the central prayer of the service), the worshiper is instructed
to "sign off" by reciting a biblical verse, Each
name represents a particular verse, that begins with the first
letter of his name and ends with the last letter of his name.
