{"id":219,"date":"2014-05-06T06:53:04","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T15:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/derechhashem.wordpress.com\/?p=219"},"modified":"2014-05-06T06:53:04","modified_gmt":"2014-05-06T15:23:04","slug":"derech-hashem-1311","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/2014\/05\/06\/derech-hashem-1311\/","title":{"rendered":"Derech Hashem 1:3:11"},"content":{"rendered":"

The class can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1:3:11<\/p>\n

Body and soul each go their own way at death. The body returns to the dust from which it was made [1], and the soul goes to The Soul World [2].<\/p>\n

That is, the soul doesn\u2019t just passively anticipate its true and infinite reward in The World to Come while the body decomposes, is purified, and then returns to the soul [3]. It enjoys something<\/em> of the delight it will enjoy in The World to Come [4], according to the merits it will have earned in the physical world there in The Soul World (just as the delight it will experience in The World to Come will correspond to its merits) [5]. Nonetheless, as we said [6], true and fulsome reward and delight will ultimately be experienced by the body and soul together.<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

[1] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cFor you are dust, and you will return to the dust\u201d (Genesis 3: 19).<\/p>\n

[2] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, the soul returns to its source as well: it revisits the Soul World from which it actually originated. See Tanchuma Pikudei 3<\/em> for the details of the soul\u2019s experience before birth, also see Zohar 1:91b.<\/p>\n

As to the posthumous experience of The Soul World, also known as \u201cThe Garden of Eden\u201d or \u201cHeaven\u201d, there are several Traditional discussions of it. See Emunot<\/em> v\u2019De\u2019ot<\/em> 6:7, Moreh Nevuchim<\/em> 1:70, Ikkarim<\/em> 4:30, Torat HaAdam<\/em> (Sha\u2019ar HaGemul<\/em>). Also see Shabbos<\/em> 152b, Chagigah<\/em> 12b, Tosephot<\/em> (Rosh<\/em> Hashanah<\/em> 16b, \u201cleyom hadin\u201d), Vayikra<\/em> Rabbah<\/em> 18:1, Kohelet<\/em> Rabbah<\/em> 12:7.<\/p>\n

The point, though, is that this Soul World isn\u2019t the ultimate reach or the definitive end — The World to Come, which is far more arcane and profound an experience, is. The idea that there is something beyond the death experience and its mysteries is one of the points that sets Judaism apart from many other religions and world-views.<\/p>\n

[3] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The body doesn\u2019t just decompose in the dust, though: it has other experiences there. See Da\u2019at Tevunot<\/em> 72 and Adir<\/em> Bamarom<\/em> pp. 123, 198 where the cleansing process is discussed, and Derech Eitz Chaim<\/em> (as well as Ari\u2019s Sha\u2019ar Hagilgul<\/em> 23:3 and Reishit<\/em> Chochma<\/em>, Sha\u2019ar<\/em> HaYirah<\/em> Ch. 12) for reference to Chibut HaKever<\/em> (\u201cthe purgatory of the grave\u201d).<\/p>\n

[4]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Ramchal\u2019s Ma\u2019amar<\/em> HaChochma<\/em>, \u201cB\u2019gemul<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

[5]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See 1:3:10.<\/p>\n

[6]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See 1:3:7, 10.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org<\/a><\/p>\n

———————————————————-<\/p>\n

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here<\/a> at a discount.<\/p>\n

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here<\/a> at a discount as well.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).<\/p>\n

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence<\/a>\u201d and \u201cRamchal<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The class can be found here. 1:3:11 Body and soul each go their own way at death. The body returns to the dust from which it was made [1], and the soul goes to The Soul World [2]. That is, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,3,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jewish-thought","category-kabbalah","category-ramchal","category-torah"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iqof-3x","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rabbiyaakovfeldman.aishdas.org\/derechhashem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}