As the body cleanses itself, so too the soul. Released from your physical bounds, you ascend into the ecstasy of a sublime, spiritual world. But you still haven’t let go of those thoughts, words, and activities of this world. They envelop your soul, throwing you back down into the experience of that same empty nonsense you were engaged in down here all over again, blocking the blissful experience you just tasted.
Now your soul truly feels the pain she underwent during her life in a body. That pain shakes off the aura of dust that surrounds her like a thick, dark coat.
Then you are slung back up again into the bliss of that higher world, only to discover that some residue of those ugly clothes persists. So you get pulled back down and the process is repeated until all the dust has been shaken off. You’re left with only the fine clothing of all your mitzvahs and good deeds.
Because, just as an astronaut needs a special suit to protect him from the intense cosmic rays outside the earth’s atmosphere, so your soul will need the luminous clothing of Torah, mitzvahs, and good deeds she has brought from this world. Without them, she would dissolve within the intensity of heaven’s light. But if it’s soiled with this other junk, it’s not going to operate so well.
Gehinnom
Once done shaking off the dust, there may be some deeper cleaning left in order to enter that higher world, cleaning that your soul can’t shake off on her own. For this, she must enter for a short period into Gehinnom, a spiritual realm that provides tailored cleansing for every stain.
The Gehinnom of Fire burns out the fiery passions of the animalistic soul that pulled you into unholy places. The Gehinnom of Snow extracts the cold apathy of the animalistic soul that held you back from doing mitzvahs. Once done, the soul is healed and fully equipped to absorb the rays of divine light shining in a world beyond.
Nevertheless, it’s only the externalities of your divine soul that require cleansing. Although she suffers the consequences of carrying a thick coat of muck and grime both in this world and the next, she herself remains pure and untainted.
No matter how long you live and what you do with that life, every morning you can wake up and say a blessing that begins, “My G-d, the soul You have breathed into me is pure...” She is, after all, a “part of G-d from above.”
