Apple Inc. is one of the most popular, successful and influential corporations in the modern world. Beginning in the mid-70s, it was launched by a partnership of a brilliant engineer, Steve Wozniak, and a charismatic visionary, Steve Jobs. Although much of the early technical and commercial success was due to the ingenuity of Wozniak, it is Jobs who became the public face and chief stakeholder in the company. Were this a utopian world, however, perhaps both Steves would accrue their equal due, in recognition and reward.
In a dramatic prophecy, G-d shows Yechezkel a valley full of skeletons. At G-d’s command, Yechezkel is given the ability to revive the dry bones. G-d then explains the metaphorical meaning of this vision to him, which he recounts for the Jewish people in Chapter 37 of the Book of Yechezkel:
Then He, G-d said to me, “Son of man, these bones I have shown you are representative of all the House of Israel. Behold they say, ‘Our bones have become dried up from our troubles, our hope is lost, we are cut off to ourselves and we will not be revived when the dead are resurrected.’
“Therefore, prophesy and say to them: So says the L-rd G-d: Lo! I open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves a second time as My people, and bring you home to the Land of Israel.
“Then you shall know that I am the L-rd and not bound to the laws of nature, when I open your graves and lead you up out of your graves as My people.
“And I will put My spirit into you, and you shall live again, and I will set you on your land, Israel, and you shall know that I, the L-rd, have spoken it in your times and have performed it,” says the L-rd.
Counterintuitive Faith
The prospect of a future resurrection of the dead, as presented in Yechezkel and also discussed by other prophets, is an integral part of the Messianic age. In its final stage, the Jewish Sages state, the Redemption will culminate in the miraculous return of the deceased souls to their original bodies. The Talmud states that every Jew will merit to be revived, save those who deny the very precept of this resurrection. In fact, the Rambam codifies the resurrection of the dead as the last of his thirteen principles which every Jew is required to believe. The ultimate Divine reward is not a lofty, spiritual afterlife, the Sages argue, but the resumption of physical life and some form of synthesis between the mundane and the Divine.
This is in direct opposition to conventional religious ideology which argues that spiritual fulfillment is not fully attainable while bound to the mundane, and that physical life is a persistent distraction from the soul’s true calling—to get to heaven. These religions view asceticism as a symbol of the devout, and is reflected in their version of the messiah and the world’s redemption. What is the key to the revolutionary outlook of Judaism as a whole, as presented by the Jewish concept of the eventual Resurrection of the dead?
Teachings from Shnei Luchot Habrit
In the chapter Beit David (the House of David) of the Shnei Luchot Habrit, Rabbi Yeshaya Halevi Horowitz (1555-1630, also known as Shaloh for the acronym of his titular work) discusses the Final Redemption. These are his words on the Resurrection:
The reward will be given as the service was rendered. The Jewish people’s service was with a unified body and soul, so too the reward will be with a body and soul, which is impossible in the world of souls, i.e., in the afterlife in Heaven, but it is possible in the World to Come on earth, that follows the Resurrection.
Elaborating on the greater significance of this reunification: These wonders will be great and well known to those who merit to live in the World to Come following the Resurrection, when man will live forever, body and soul. Since this i.e. the union of body and soul was G-d’s intention even for this world and would have continued forever if not for the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, this “crown” will be returned to its original place in the World to Come.
Mutual effort, mutual reward
The original purpose of creation was that humanity should serve G-d in body and soul. It is the unique partnership of spirituality and physicality, each with its specific qualities, that is the driving force of all effort to become close to the Divine and to ultimately perfect this union in the Era of Moshiach, when G-d’s vision will be realized.
In the beginning, Adam and Chava were placed in the Garden of Eden—a location that was a model of physical perfection that reflected its true spiritual meaning. These first humans were likewise meant to live forever. However, as a result of the Adam and Chava’s sin, the innate connection between the mundane and Divine was temporarily suspended. The body, no longer a clear conduit of G-dly energy, would decay and decompose, bringing death and mortality to all of physical life.
The ultimate goal, however, is for humans to reclaim the mantle of immortality through their interactions with the world. The soul’s refinement of the body and of the surrounding physicality by reactivating its Divine core will restore the connection that existed between them at the beginning of time.
Rabbi Yeshaya Halevi Horowitz (c. 1555-1630)
was a prominent Talmudic scholar and mystic. His magnum opus, the Shnei Luchot Habrit, originally composed as an ethical will, profoundly influenced many Jewish thinkers, including the early Chassidic masters. Born in Prague, he held several prestigious Rabbinic posts throughout central Europe. His strong faith in Moshiach’s imminent arrival eventually led him to move to the Land of Israel, where he passed on and is buried.
Recognizing the vital need for engaging with physicality as part of G-d’s overarching goal for creation can impact our relationship with our environments and even our own bodies. Mindful eating and an active lifestyle can be part of a spiritual endeavor, and also part of the Torah-based goal to “guard your life really well.”
SOURCES & FURTHER READING:
- Talmud Bavli, Masechta Sanhedrin, Daf 90b-91b
- Sefer Emunot Vede’ot of Rav Saadiah Gaon, Maamar No. 7
- Shaar Hagmul (Ramban)
- Igrot Kodesh Vol. 1, Letters 200 and 209.
Judaism, in contrast to other religions, does not abide in the eternity of the soul exclusively. The body is not a temporary vessel for the ultimate elevation of the soul in the afterlife, nor is the physical world merely a hurdle in the human struggle for perfection. Indeed, in Jewish doctrine such as Maimonides’ thirteen tenets of faith, the ultimate principle is the reunification of body and soul. The revival of the dead is a reflection of G-d’s plan of the fusion of physicality and spirituality; indeed it is through the teamwork of the body and soul that the Messianic Era will be realized. After a soul completes its individual duty and ascends to the Heavenly realm, it does so only temporarily, because its final reward can only be granted to it when its indispensable partner shares in it.
The revival of the dead is vital to our faith because it is the final act in the Divine story of the body and soul.
- A basic tenet of Judaisim is the ultimate revival of the dead in the Messianic era, underscoring the indispensability of the mundane in G-d’s vision for creation.
“The ultimate goal is for humans to reclaim the mantle of immortality through their interactions with the world.”
Dedicated by Yossi and Yael Michelashvili In memory of his father R. Avraham ben R. Eliyahu 25 Elul, 5780
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