The All-Spiritual Afterlife, the Torah, and Me. Part One

By Ari Faust, Jerusalem, Israel.

We have all grown with the notion that Judaism believes in life-after-life. After the body dies, the soul doesn’t, rather it returns to an all-spiritual state where it receives its ultimate reward for all the good deeds it performed in the physical world.

The words of our sages are full of mention of this concept. The Mishna in Avot (4:16) says:
“Rebbi Yaacov says, ‘This world is like a corridor before the World to Come; prepare yourself in the corridor that you may enter the palace.’”
According to our sages, the concept of this all-spiritual domain is already hinted to at the creation of the (physical) world.
“Behold it was very good’ (Bereishit 1:31).”

“Rebbi Zeira said: ‘It was very good – this is Gan Eden; It was very good – this is Gehinnom…” (Midrash Bereishit Rabba 9:9. See also Ibid. 9:3, Chulin 142a)

Without entering the divisions between “Gan Eden”, “Gehinnom” and “Olam HaBa” (The World to Come) and whether they are at the time of Mashiach or not, one fact that is accepted across-the-board is that after death the soul rises to an all-spiritual abode to receive its ultimate reward.



Another notion that we are all weaned upon, and that has acquired general acceptance in almost all Jewish circles which abide to the strict word of the Torah and Its Mitzvot, is that the all-spiritual afterlife is the ultimate objective of the Torah and Its Mitzvot, and the great reward in store for those who keep them.

This concept was canonized by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato in his seminal work “Mesillat Yesharim” (Path of the Just):
“The foundation of saintliness and the root of perfection in the service of God lies in a man's coming to see clearly and to recognize as a truth the nature of his duty in the world and the end towards which he should direct his vision and his aspiration in all of his labors all the days of his life. Our Sages of blessed memory have taught us that man was created for the sole purpose of rejoicing in God and deriving pleasure from the splendor of His Presence; for this is true joy and the greatest pleasure that can be found. The place where this joy may truly be derived is the World to Come, which was expressly created to provide for it; but the path to the object of our desires is this world … The place of the performance of the mitzvoth is this world alone. Therefore, man was placed in this world first - so that by these means, which were provided for him here, he would be able to reach the place which had been prepared for him, the World to Come, there to be sated with the goodness which he acquired through them. As our Sages of blessed memory have said (Eruvin 22a), ‘Today for their [the mitzvoth's] performance and tomorrow for receiving their reward.’” (Chapter 1)

It is ingrained in our subconscious that the reward for the Mitzvot is the all-spiritual “World to Come”; that all that happens in this world is insignificant; that the suffering and afflictions man receives in this world is only in order to “cleanse” or “purify” him for the all-spiritual “World to Come”; that man should not sin because after his physical he will get “paid back” for his wrongdoings in “hell”.

This theory, however, is rather peculiar: The Torah is utterly void of all mention of the all-spiritual afterlife. This is the polar-opposite of the approach of our sages, whose writings are glossed with discussion of the happenings of the spirit after physical death all-spiritual afterlife and the reward we acquire then (see above). From where, then, did our sages receive this notion?

What is more difficult is that, if indeed the objective of all Mitzvot is in order to enter into the all-spiritual world, why is there no mention of this in the Torah? If the ultimate reward for our action is “Olam HaBa” or “Gan Eden” (and the punishment is “Gehinnom”, “hell”) why does God refrain from telling us of these concepts in the Torah? On the contrary, there are many rewards mentioned in the Torah for the performance of Mitzvot, none of them are these great spiritual worlds. (See, for example, Shmot 20:12, Vayikra 26, Devarim 11, Ibid. 22:7, Ibid. 28.) On the contrary, according to the Torah, the reward for Mitzvot is physical prosperity, health, national sovereignty, economic abundance and other such physical delights! If the objective of the Torah and Its Mitzvot is the all-spiritual afterlife, and that is where the principal reward for the performance of Its Mitzvot is achieved, why, then is mention of it omitted by the Torah? Why did God omit the foremost principal to Jewish life and practice of the Mitzvot?

The concept of the all-spiritual afterlife is well-rooted in the Jewish faith, and existence thereof is an accepted truth in the Torah. It is hinted to on numerous occasions, albeit indirectly, in the Torah and the Prophets. (See, for example, Chulin 142a, Ramban Bereishit 2:3, Rashi VaYikra 26:12, Midrash Ruth Rabba 6:4.)

Moreover, it is clear that, according to the Torah, the spirit continues to live after its physical death: The Torah testifies that with man’s creation, God “… Blew into his nostrils a spirit of life” (Bereishit 2:7); this is the point from which the Divine inspires and gives life to man, it is the Godly aspect that man has in his composition (see Tanya, chapter 1). Man is not merely a physical body – this would be a corpse! Rather he has an aspect of Godliness in him, integral in the process of his creation, which is his source of life. What happens to this element of the infinite that is the cornerstone to man’s existence during his physical life, upon (physical) death? The Torah testifies that the spirit of he who lives a life of sin throughout his physical lifetime, receives “karet” and becomes cut-off from its spiritual source. (This is not entirely accurate: There are specific sins whose punishment is “karet”. Furthermore, to suggest that “karet” is merely the spirit being “cut-off” from its infinite, Divine source is not entirely accurate. We spoke here in general terms in order to simplify the concept for the reader.) Since we know that the spirit that is blemished with sin is punished by “karet”, the spirit who does not receive “karet” must continue to rise-up to its natural all-spiritual source. (See “third opinion” cited by Kli Yakar, VaYikra 26:12.)

It is clear that the spirit continues to live after death in an all-spiritual state. What is left to be understood isthis: If the purpose of all Mitzvot is to return one’s spirit to this lofty abode, why does the Torah make no mention of this concept? Why does the Torah offer other incentives as reward to our Mitzvot and explicitly omits all mention of the all-spiritual afterlife?
Various answers have been offered to solve this dilemma. In the forthcoming essays, I would like to explore some of these theories to the best of our understanding, to enhance our belief in HaShem and His Torah, and perhaps come to a fresh, clear answer to the age-old question we all ask ourselves: “Why should we keep Mitzvot?” “What is the objective of the Torah?”