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

By Ari Faust, Jerusalem, Israel.

We explained the Rambam’s opinion, that Olam HaBa is indeed the ultimat objective of the Torah and the greatest reward for the spirit. The “rewards” laid-out in the Torah are but a means-to-an-end, to enable us to attain the all-spiritual afterlife. The concept of Olam HaBa is beyond the scope of the external vision of prophecy and is therefore only appears in the Torah by way of allusion, and is only explicitely mentioned first by our sages in the Midrash, Mishnah and Talmud.
Still, this is curious: How could the ideal book – the Torah – be lacking of its main theme? How could the Torah be void of its purpose? How could the Torah be full of ideals but the main one be “missing from the book”. When Jews at the time of the receiving of the Torah, at the time of prophecy, performed a Mitzvah what was their objective? Was it really in order to die and acquire Olam HaBa? How is there no mention of this concept made to them – to us – in the Torah and by the Prophets?



The story of “The Kuzari takes place sometime around 700CE. In the 8th or 9th century, the Kuzars (Khazar), a Turkish, semi-nomadic people accepted Judaism as their official religion as the king of Kuzar, with much of his kingdom, converted to Judaism. In his masterwork, “The Kuzari”, medieval Jewish scholar Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi (11th Century CE) deals with the challenges affecting the Jews’ approach to belief, and writes a thorough exposition on the fundamentals of Jewish belief. Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi uses the story of the king of Kuzar, and the discussions he had with a Jewish sage with ultimately lead to his conversion, as backdrop to his book, and “The Kuzari” has received acclaim as one-of, if not the single most significant book on Jewish belief to be written (see introduction to Ibn Shmuel translation). (While it is accepted knowledge that discussions had taken place between the king of Kuzar and a Jewish sage prior to his conversion, the exact content of these discussions is unknown.)

In “The Kuzari”, Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi deals with the question of the afterlife.
It is told that the king of Kuzar was troubled for many nights by a re-occurring dream, in which an angel appeared to him telling him: “Your intentions are desirable [in the eyes of God], but your actions are not desirable.” Thus, the king of Kuzar set-out to find the faith in which he could find the desirable actions. Finally he discovered the Jewish Nation and the Torah.

During their discussions, the Jewish sage and the king of Kuzar discuss the all-spiritual afterlife, and the curious omission of it in the Torah, and the objective of the Jewish faith (1:103,109). The idea he teaches is both simple and revolutionary, and bears with it tremendous practical ramifications as well:
“…This (prophecy) was a manifest proof to them, and a clear and convincing sign of reward in the world-to-come. For the only result to be expected from this is that the human soul becomes divine, being separated from its senses, seeing the highest world, and enjoying the vision of the angelic light, and hearing the divine speech. Such a soul is assured that it shall not die, even after its physical organs have perished. When you find a doctrine, by knowledge and practice of which assists in the attainment of this degree, at the place pointed out and with the conditions laid down by it, this is beyond doubt the doctrine which insures the continuity of the soul after the demise of the body.”

There is certainly an all-spiritual afterlife, by virtue that we can have prophecy and “sample” this all-spiritual existence while still being in the physical world is proof of this. In fact, this is the greater novelty: The revelation of the all-spiritual Divine through the all-physical world. For the spirit to rise-up to the all-spiritual realms once it becomes detached from the physical body is logical, what is greater than this is that the all-spiritual can be revealed in the physical world and that The Divine can inspire it! The discussions that exist in the Torah are not of all-spiritual, the Torah is not interested in this, rather the discussions are of the all-spiritual realm inspiring and uplifting the all-physical. This is the objective of the Torah!

“Our objective is that we shall cleave to the Divine Influence by means of prophecy, or something nearly approaching it, and also through the divine influence connecting to us, as displayed to us in grand and awe-inspiring miracles.”
Based on this, we can understand why the all-spiritual afterlife is not mentioned as the reward for Mitzvot, as the objective of the Torah? The objective of the Torah is not Olam HaBa, rather the objective is to reveal the all-spiritual and to connect to God, in the physical world!

“Therefore it is not said in the Torah: 'If you keep this law, I will bring you after death into beautiful gardens and great pleasures.' Rather it is said: 'You shall be My Nation, and I will be a God unto you, who will guide you. And there shall be those of you who stand before Me, and ascends to heaven, as those who, themselves, dwell among the angels and my angels shall dwell among them on earth. You shall see them singly or in hosts, watching you and fighting for you. You shall remain in The Land which forms a stepping-stone to this degree, viz. the Holy Land. Its fertility or barrenness, its happiness or misfortune, depend upon the Divine Influence which your conduct will merit, whilst the rest of the world would continue its natural course. For if the Divine Presence is among you, you will perceive by the fertility of your land, by the regularity with which your rainfalls appear in their due seasons, by your victories over your enemies in spite of your inferior numbers, that your affairs are not managed by simple laws of nature, but by the Divine Will. You also see that drought, plague, and wild beasts pursue you as a result of disobedience, although the whole world lives in peace. This shows you that your concerns are arranged by a higher power than mere nature.' All this, the Torah and the laws included, is closely connected with the promises, and no disappointment is feared. All these promises have one basis, viz. the anticipation of being near God and His hosts.”

The rewards laid-out in the Torah are not merely a means to an end, rather Divine influence on all facets of human life – from the most basic personal needs such as health, to national abundance, wealth and political and military prowess – is the objective of the Torah and Its Mitzvot.

This concept is established by God in the prelude to His giving of the Torah at Sinai. As the newborn Jewish Nation emerged from their Egyptian slavery and arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai, HaShem instructed Moshe to instruct the Jewish Nation of their great charge:
“You have seen that which I have done unto Egypt, and that I have carried you on the wings of eagles and brought you to Me. And now, if you shall listen to My Voice and observe My covenant, then you shall be exulted to me from all the nations, for the whole land is Mine. And you shall be for Me a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation; these are the things that you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (Shmot 19:4-6)
We are not charged that if we honor HaShem’s covenant and keep the Torah then we will be granted passage into Olam HaBa, rather we are guaranteed that the Divine Presence will rest amongst us, that we will cleave to Him, and reveal Him through all facets of our lives.

Rashi, in his commentary to these verses, offers a peculiar addition. To the words “these are the things that you shall speak to the children of Israel”, Rashi comments:
“No more and no less.”
What is Rashi adding? It would seem that Rashi is eluding to a question that arises in the text: Why must HaShem state that “these are the things” that Moshe is to tell the Jewish Nation? There are no other words spoken between Hashem and Moshe that He must exclude from being told over. HaShem already told Moshe to tell over what He was about to say (verse 3, not quoted), why must these words be added? Moreover, this passage is immediately preceding the giving of the Torah; it is almost implicit in these words that it is not necessary to speak the Ten Commandments to the Nation. Are the Ten Commandments not significant that they should be told to the Nation? Are they not the pillar upon which all the Mitzvot are based?! What is the explanation of these words?

Rashi is teaching that these words serve to single-out this passage as being the cornerstone and precursor to the rest of the Torah, which HaShem is going to begin transmitting to the Jewish Nation. The objective of everything that HaShem is going to transmit to the Jewish Nation – all the lessons and all the Mitzvot – is in order that they will be “exulted” to Him, a “Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation”. Practically speaking, the objective of the Torah and Its Mitzvot is that our concerns will be managed “by a higher power than mere nature”, as Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi put it; the objective is that The Divine will be revealed through all facets of human life and will inspire and uplift it. If this is not established, there is no value in continuing to teach the rest of the Torah; once this concept is established, all the six-hundred-and-thirteen Mitzvot become purposeful – in order to infuse the Divine into all facets of our lives in the physical world.