haolam haba—salvation of man from the rabbinical point of view part 1

In researching עולם הבא from the Jewish and rabbinical view, one encounters many different opinions to the point of confusion. To best illustrate this mix baggage is a passage from Pirkey Avot:

R. Jacob said: This world is like a vestibule before the world to come; prepare thyself in the vestibule, that thou mayest enter into the hall. He used to say, ‘better is one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than the whole life of the world to come; and better is one hour of blissfulness of spirit in the world to come than the whole life of this world. (Avot iv 21,22).

This confusion is a result of Judaism focusing primarily on life in העולם הזה the world of here and now. Even though traditional Judaism does believe that death is not the end, it does not have much dogma about the afterlife. Because of this we can see many personal opinions. An Orthodox Jew can believe that the souls of the righteous dead go to a place similar to what we believe is heaven. He can believe in reincarnation through many lifetimes, or just wait for the coming of the Messiah and be resurrected. The souls of the wicked an Orthodox Jew can believe are simply destroyed at death.

The sages mostly focused on the logistics of body and soul before and after death. One should keep the Mitzvot on this earth so he can get to the world to come, but there is no emphasis on what one will experience in the עולם הבא .

Is there evidence to the afterlife in the Tanach? Even here we get split opinions. Some point to ample passages like:

“…I kill and I make alive… ( Deut. 32:39).

“ Adonai kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up.” ( 1 Sam. 2:6).

This last passage is alluded to in the Talmud:

“Here is the answer to the people who say there is no resurrection in the Torah.” (Bavli, Pesachim 68:71).

From such passages they say, one can learn of the power of Hashem to resurrect the dead. Other passages include: ( 1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:18-37; 13:21).

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They also point to a corporate resurrection besides the individual one:

“ And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt..” ( Daniel 12:3).

Others maintain that in the whole of the Tanach one cannot find any mention to נשמה –soul, עולם הבא , or resurrection, or incarnation, in any variation. They say that חז"ל in the last days of the second Temple inserted the concept of the resurrection idea into Judaism, knowing fully well that there is no mention of it in the Tanach.

The afterlife is not a dogmatic subject within Judaism, hence, the varied opinions by different groups. According to the sages the resurrection of the dead means the return of the dead to life on earth, in their bodies. The belief in the resurrection of the dead at the end of days is one of the primary beliefs of the Jewish religion. חז"ל determined that if one does not believe that the resurrection of the dead is from the Torah, he does not have a share in the world to come ( Mishnah, Sanhedrin 10:1).

We can find the belief in the resurrection of the dead as an apocalyptic event in the book of Hashmonaim; Hanah’s fourth son defied his torturer saying: “ it is better to trust in God, then in man, because I will be awaken to everlasting life, but you will not.” ( 2 Hashmonaim 7:15). Josephus relates the belief in the resurrection of the dead to the Pharisees. The controversy between the Pharisees and Sadducees on the matter is mentioned in the book of Acts, where Paul defended himself in his trial before the Sanhedrin. ( Acts 23:6;8).

חז"ל adhered to the teachings and tradition of the Pharisees. They bolstered the belief in the resurrection of the dead through דרשות –homilies. In their opinion they were trying to prove that the concept has a basis in the Torah. Example:

Tanna Rabbi Siami says: “ where is the resurrection of the dead in the Torah? It says: ‘ I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan…’ ( Ex. 6:4). It does not say ‘to you,’ but ‘to them’ and here it is the Torah.” (Bavli, Sanhedrin 90:2).

But even among the sages there were profound differences in their individual views of the resurrection of the dead. There is much confusion especially on the issue of who will be resurrected and go to the world to come, and who is not.

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Seaadia Gaon, explains at length his view on the resurrection of the dead. In his writing titled: אמונות ודעות – briefs and opinions. Gaon does not search for a proof that there is a consensus for the belief of תחית המתים . He maintains that the question of how will Hashem resurrect the dead is irrelevant since Hashem knows that He created substance out of nothing, there for it is only logical that it will not be hard for Him to bring substance back from decay, and state of brokenness. Gaon sees a future resurrection in the dry bones prophecy of Ezekiel, He states that the creator will resurrect the dead, and will cloth them. Like חז"ל Gaon is of the opinion that there is a limited supply of souls (bavli, yevamot 62:71), and when the supply will end, then, it will be the time of the “end of the world,” and the beginning of אחרית הימים – the “latter days,” including the days of Messiah, the world to come, and the days of recompense.

Gaon also claims that the future resurrection will be limited to the righteous Jews only. He points to Daniel 12:2: “and many of those who sleep…” It does not say: “ all those who sleep,” therefore he concludes that the resurrection is limited to the righteous of Israel only, not the nations.

Here are some questions that Gaon answers in his writings:

· What will be the lifestyle of the resurrected? “ They will eat and drink like us, and also they will marry.

· Will the resurrected die again? “The ones who will live in the time of salvation will not die.”

· How long will the resurrected live? “their lives will be long, longer than in our time. In that generation they will live 500 years.”

· If the resurrection of the dead is back to the material life, than how will be their transition to the world to come where there will be no eating and drinking? “Just like Moses who stood on the mountain for 40 days without food.”

· Will the resurrected recognize their family, friends, and each other? “The shepherds, princes, and Prophets will be recognized within the nation. The prominent, as well as the common will be attached to the same tribes, even the Ger will be attached to the same tribe they use to reside with.

· Will the people who will be alive on earth at the time of the resurrection die? “ They will live many days, but will die before the transition to העולם הבא , but they will have a share in the world to come.

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The רמב"ם –Maimonides, Unlike the sages who lived before him, wrote very little about תחית המתים , even though he elaborated at length on the world to come and the days of Messiah. רמב"ם Touches on the subject only in passing. In his Mishne Torah, the Hilchot Teshuva tractate. There, in one of his thirteen articles of faith he writes that one who does not believe in the resurrection does not have a place in the world to come. (Hilchot Teshuva 3:6).

According to Maimonides, the world to come, the days of Messiah, and the resurrection of the dead are three different events. העולם הבא is a spiritual event, the other two are earthly events. From these two, the days of Messiah is a natural event, the resurrection is a supernatural event. Before Maimonides, as we saw with Gaon, the prevailing teaching was the belief that the preserving of the soul, and the life in the world to come are likened to the resurrection of the dead. The world to come starts with the awakening of the “sleeping in the dust” from their sleep to life. The resurrection is linked with the new life as a result of the coming redeemer Mashiach Ben David.

Maimonides turns the tables and managed to create a distinction between the world to come, and the days of Messiah, explaining each of these events in his special way as to give each a different and interesting meaning. As far as the resurrection, he only mention the duty to believe in it. At the time רמב"ם met with a strong opposition to his views which prompt him to write the “treatise of the resurrection,” where he responds to his critics. The summary of the letter is: “ The soul returns to the body after the separation. Those people will eat, drink, and bring forth children. They will die again after a very long life. ( Chapter 4). In the letter there is no mention of the time, nor the purpose of the resurrection. Maimonides concludes that the whole issue is just a model, an example (Chapter 7), he also maintains that all one has to do is to believe it. From Rambam’s order of events in the end of days, the understanding is that the resurrection will precede the days of Messiah. His reason is that the righteous of all generations will be able to enjoy the abundance of the days of Messiah. To do so, the resurrection has to occur first.

The רבא"ד – Rabbi Abraham Ben David (1120-1197 CE) Is opposing the רמב"ם . In His teachings, unlike the Rambam, רבא"ד does not make any distinction between the world to come, the resurrection of the dead, and the days of Messiah as Rambam does. רבא"ד maintains that in the world to come only the souls of the righteous dwell. There are no physical bodies, the dead are dead until the resurrection which occurs in the end of days.

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The souls of the righteous are resurrected together with the bodies and together they exist forever.

Nahmanides, רמב"ן (1194-1270) has yet another system. In his writing titled “Sha’ar Hagmul” he details the chain of events in the days to come.

1) At death, the soul separates from the body and dwells in גן עדן – Garden of Eden. The days of Messiah will come in the present world, followed by the resurrection of the dead. At that time the souls are reunited with their bodies.

2) The resurrected will live forever in the world to come which is attached to the Garden of Eden.

The question is asked: If life after the resurrection will be a spiritual life, then why the need for physical bodies? Nahmanides has two answers: a) One cannot imagine a resurrection without a physical body, if God ordained it that way, then why cancel it? b) The body is necessary for Hidden reasons. (those Rabbis had an answer to everything).

So, the main dispute was: after the resurrection, in eternal life, does the spiritual soul live in the physical body as Gaon and רמב"ן maintain, or eternal life is only spiritual, soul without a body as Maimonides claims?

Those aforementioned medieval Rabbis stood on the shoulders of the ancient sages who are mentioned in the Mishnah and Talmud. There, the confusion is even greater.