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

By Ari Faust, Jerusalem, Israel.

We have long been exiled from our natural state-of-being and from our Homeland. The principals and motivations of the Torah and our belief system have been altered from their authentic, original state as well. Our conception of Judaism and the Torah is an individualistic one; it is a system of Halachot and personal belief. The Torah is seen as the median that teaches a person how to live their life. Every aspect of a person’s life is instructed by the Halacha – down to the most specific detail, such as taking a shower and tying ones’ shoes. The Torah also teaches a person a very deep and complex moral and ethical doctrine and a sophisticated belief system.

While all this is certainly true, and is truthfully found in the Torah, it is not the original and most authentic encounter that we are meant to have with the Torah. The Torah is, first and foremost, a set of guidelines for a Nation.

Rabbi Yosef Elbo, in his exposition on the principals of Jewish Faith, “Sefer HaIKarim” (“The Book of The Principals”), suggests another solution to the problem of the all-spiritual afterlife and it curiously being omitted from the Torah:
“Upon analyzing the physical rewards mentioned in the Torah one by one, it is found that there cannot be spiritual rewards mentioned in their stead. This is because the rewards mentioned in the Torah are collective, and [are said] to the entire Nation as a whole…” (Sefer HaIkarim, 4:40)
An all-spiritual reward is irrelevant to a Nation. Thus when the Torah sets-out the rewards for the performance of Mitzvot, it is appropriate and necessary that they be physical.


“… It is irrational that the collective rewards set-out for the entire Nation would be spiritual. For even if the Nation in general would be righteous and deserving the World to Come, it is unspeakable that the evildoer [of the Nation] would merit the World to Come due to the ‘fifty righteous people’ amongst her. This would be an unjust sentence … Therefore it is clear that the collective rewards set-out for the entire Nation must be physical …”

The Torah speaks first-and-foremost to the Jewish Nation collectively. It serves first as a guideline to life of a Nation, and henceforth to every individual within the Nation. Any spiritual reward is for the individual, and the ultimate reward for the Nation cannot be the all-spiritual afterlife. Since the primary focus of the Torah is on the Nation and Its guidance, the majority of rewards mentioned in the Torah are collective ones, and are the reward of the entire Nation.
“… The specific reward for each and every individual, however, is mentioned in the Torah but few times, such as in [the Mitzvah of] sending away the mother bird (Shiluach HaKen), ‘That it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your life’, and our sages have already said: ‘That it may be well with you – in a world that is entirely good; and that you may prolong your life – in a world that is endless’.” (Ibid.)

The rewards for fulfilling the Mitzvot mentioned in the Torah can be split into two groups: The collective ones promised to the Nation, and the specific ones promised to the individual. Most of the rewards discussed in the Torah fall into the first category. According to the “Sefer HaIkarim”, the collective reward of the Nation cannot be a spiritual one, and therefore most of the reward promised in the Torah is physical. In the few places where the individual reward for the performance of Mitzvot is mentioned, the guarantee of the all-spiritual afterlife is found – either overtly or indirectly.