The All-Spiritual Afterlife, the Torah, and Me. (Jewish Olam Haba) Part Four

By Ari Faust, Jerusalem, Israel.

The objective of the Torah is that the Jewish Nation will be a “Kindom of Priests and a Holy Nation”; that they cleave to the all-spiritual in the physical world and the Divine inspires and uplifts all facets of human life.

The question that arises through this is, if this is indeed true, why then are the teachings of our sages full of discussions of the all-spiritual afterlife? It would seem based on all Rabbinic texts from the time of the Mishnah onwards, that the objective of the Torah and the Mitzvot is to acquire the all-spiritual afterlife (See, for example, Mishnah Avot 4:16, Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1)?


Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, the first chief-Rabbi of Israel (then Palestine), deals with this point in his brilliant histo-philosphical essay, “Le’Mahalach Ha’Ideyot B’Yisrael” (The Process of Ideals in Israel).

Rabbi Kook writes his essay outlining the place of Nationalism and Spirituality in the Torah and Judaism. All of humanity, Rabbi Kook explains, is driven by an incessant yearning to God – the “Divine Ideal” – which becomes fully realized when the theoretical-ethical-spiritual realm and the physical-emotional-practical one – the “Religious Ideal” and the “National Ideal” – come together in perfect fusion. The true encounter with God, that all of humanity yearns for, is the product of a clear belief-system which finds its expression through all human emotion and behavior. Rabbi Kook traces the pattern of the relationship of the “Religious Ideal” and the “National Ideal” in pursuit of the “Divine Ideal” throughout History.
As mentioned above, from the period of the sages of the Mishnah, all literary works are full of discussions of the all-spiritual afterlife. This corresponds to the Second-Temple period (516BCE-70CE). Regarding this period, Rabbi Kook writes (Orot, page 110-112):

“…What appeared in the Second Temple was not a collective power, but rather a power of individuals ‘who separated themselves from the iniquity of the nations.’(Ezra 6:21, Nehemiah 10:29) Through these individuals the Lord perpetuated Israel … It was at this time of the Second Temple that the personal, individual influence of divinity became ensconced in nation and land.

Now during the Second Temple Period, with the receding of the great universal light, the Divine Ideal began to take on features of individuality. Individual observance of Torah and the minutiae of the commandments, opinions regarding a personal afterlife, which previously were subsumed ‘as a candle is outshone by broad daylight’ (Chullin 60a) in the Divine Ideal, in the collective soul of The Nation, are now prominent. Now the mighty Divine Ideal is replaced with its derivative: the Religious Ideal.

The Religious Ideal will never forget its source in the Divine Ideal specific to Israel by virtue of its national soul. Individual morality, concern for personal immortality, and scrutiny of each individual action were well established in this Religious Ideal, which was not but a reduction, an individualization of the Divine manifestation. The position of prominence assigned individual observance endowed the nation with a fortitude she could carry with her even in the day of exile and wandering. It also paved the way for her to reach gradually, through a tortuous, circuitous route, the highest goal, namely that the Divine Ideal might once again appear in her midst in all its might…” (Translation by Bezalel Naor, When God Becomes History, page 77-80)

With the destruction of the First Temple, prophecy ceased to inspire Judaism. No longer were we led by the outright word-of-God, but rather by our sages and their teachings. The sages at this time saw the long exile that was commencing, and began translating the Torah – which was set out in national, collective and global terms – into Its individualistic ones, that the wandering Jew may carry it with him. Additionally, our sages established decrees such that the Jewish People would succeed in preserving the Torah and Mitzvot throughout the exile (See Mishnah Avot 1:1, Baba Kama 82a, Sifri Ekev 7).

“From the day the Temple was destroyed, The Holy One, Blessed be He, has but four cubits of Halacha in this world.” (Berachot 8a, See also Midrash Shir HaShirim Rabbah 8:13)

What was once clear in the collective light of prophecy became ambiguous and uncertain. Our sages enabled accessibility to the collective message of the Torah for the individual Jews of the exile.

“When the lofty Divine soul vivifies the Nation, the latter transcends all the individual differences that divide life; in that lofty state, the thought never occurs to divide this world from the Word to Come. In the depths of every soul is ingrained the knowledge that before the divine light there are no borders or blocks, that the divine life never ceases whether in this world or in the World to Come. The thought never occurs to picture the exact character of that eternal life of which we have but the vaguest notion. By the same token, we have no conception of the divine light other than the fact that we sense its existence and enjoy its splendor to the depths of our soul. Not only that, but the inner certitude and general arousal are so potent and pleasant that the general thought never gets sidetracked to a discussion that must perforce restrict itself to worry the individual. The divine light is so strident that there is no need to think in terms of ‘mine and yours’. That divine might that rests upon the nation as a whole – that expresses itself in the sentiments of her heart and by geopolitical self-assertion – reaches in its own more in the way of inner morality that the egocentric thought of a personal afterlife could ever yield. The eye and other senses, ‘the means of gathering information’ (Sa’adya Gaon, Beliefs and Opinions, Introduction), do not operate there [in life after death]; they are powerless to chart clearly the afterlife. There is no way the thought of an afterlife could provide a light comparable to the divine light felt in the life of a nation, in all the tangible and spiritual assets. Light does not need to be described, it just shines. This general light of the Nation reaches eternity through God. It transcends every border, time, or place, by the power of the life of the worlds, and by the flow of wholeness, and inestimable capability. Through this general light there shine also the specific truths hidden in esoteric wisdom.

It was the darkness of night that turned man’s attention to the heavens, to the expanses of infinite space. And it was the destruction of the First Temple and the departure of the Shechina, the Divine Ideal, which is to say its ceasing to manifest in the actual life of the nation, that turned the nation’s focus to the distance, and to spell out that which hitherto had been submerged in the light of the collective. Investigations concerning the World to Come and the Resurrection of the Dead – so far removed from ordinary senses – that had previously been reserved for the elite, now came into general possession of the nation. These esoteric studies conveyed the divine light in an eternal sense that allows thought to transcend the sensate reality.” (Ibid.)

The great, infinite, spiritual vision that had been innate inside of us when the light of prophecy enlightened our lives, became ambiguous and uncertain upon its loss. When the Nation was inspired by prophecy, by national, collective concerns, the scope of our vision was infinite and inherently included the all-spiritual afterlife in it. What’s more, this was a secondary concern – but a “candle in the daylight” to the pursuits of a Nation seeking to cleave to God and reveal His Will in all facets of life (see above). However with the termination of prophecy and the domination of individualistic pursuits, the attempt to grasp the concepts which existed in the collective light began.

When the Divine presence was amongst us – “I will walk in your midst, and I will be a God to you, and you will be a Nation to Me” (VaYikra 26:12) – the main concern of the Nation was that the Divine presence would be amongst us; it was inherent in this feeling that there would continue to be an infinite-spiritual connection with God even upon physical death (see Rashi, VaYikra 26:12). However, with the termination of prophecy, once the Divine presence was no longer overtly experienced, there arose the need for the individual to seek to determine what was once obvious; with the termination of prophecy and nation pursuits, it became necessary to clarify the concept of the all-spiritual afterlife.

It is clear as crystal that the ultimate objective of the Torah is not the all-spiritual afterlife, it is therefore made no mention of anywhere in the Torah. The objective of the Torah is to be able to cleave to the all-spiritual in the all-physical world – to cleave to God in the World. When we became banished into exile, our objective was changed –the objective of Judaism and the Torah changed. We could no longer strive for the lofty ideals that were laid out for us in the Torah, rather we began to strive to retain a grasp on the Torah and on Judaism, such that someday, after the long exile would end, we would be able to return home to once again strive to the lofty ideals laid out in the Torah – that HaShem would “walk in our midst” and that we would cleave to him in all aspects of human life.