Eternal Bliss: The Soul's Journey Beyond

The Jewish soul lives eternally across various realms.

"Everything [here in this world] is but a reflection of the higher realm... After a person passes, their soul returns to its source and root. This is why Hashem commanded in the Torah ‘Do not cut yourselves or shave your head for the dead,’* because the soul of Israel does not die nor is ever lost. It exists in the good and precious worlds forever; thus, be joyful when departing from this physical world, as they ascend to their supreme root."

(Zohar, Shelach 159 MeTeuk Midvash pg 37)

*This refers to excessive mourning practices meant to express eternal loss of the soul, G-d forbid.

What Delights Await the Righteous in the Afterlife?

Maimonides in his "Mishneh Torah" explains:

The world to come has no physical body, only the souls of the righteous without a body, like ministering angels. Since there are no bodies, there is no eating, drinking, or anything bodies require in this world. None of the bodily experiences like seating, standing, sleeping, death, sorrow, or laughter apply there. As the sages of old said, the world to come involves neither eating, drinking, nor marital relations, but the righteous sit with crowns on their heads and enjoy the radiance of the Divine Presence.

It is made clear there is no body because there is no eating or drinking. When it is said the righteous sit, it is metaphorical; the souls of the righteous are present there without toil or effort.

This phrase "crowns on their heads" means the knowledge which they obtained, which granted them eternal life, remains with them, representing their crown, as Solomon said, "With the crown with which his mother crowned him" (Song of Songs 3:11). Similarly, "And everlasting joy upon their heads" (Isaiah 35:10; Isaiah 51:11); joy is not a physical entity that rests on the head; similarly, the "crown" mentioned here is knowledge.

What does it mean that they enjoy the glow of the Divine Presence? They know and grasp truths about Hashem that cannot be understood while in a corporeal, lowly body.

All mention of the soul in this context does not refer to the soul needing a body, but the form of the soul, which is the knowledge it grasped about the Creator and other separate intellects, reflecting other deeds. This form is elaborated on in Chapter 4 of the "Laws of the Foundations of the Torah"; it is called "soul" in this context.

These lives, because they are without death, which only occurs to bodies and there are no bodies, are called "the bundle of life," as stated, "the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life" (1 Samuel 25:29). This is the ultimate reward, beyond which there is none, and the ultimate good, after which there is none greater; it is the aspiration of all prophets.

They referred to it in metaphors: the mountain of Hashem, His holy place, the holy path, His courtyards, His tent, and the pleasantness of Hashem, His palace, and His house. The sages called it a feast as a metaphor for this goodness reserved for the righteous, and everywhere it is called the World to Come.

(Mishneh Torah by Maimonides, Book of Knowledge - Laws of Repentance, Chapter 8)

At What Age Does the Soul Connect to a Person?

The soul does not come to a person until they are twenty years old. There are souls known as celestial birds, coming from Tiferet, called Heaven, in two kinds. Some souls remain outside the body, unable to dwell within due to fear of the grasp of the unclean forces, while others do inhabit their body, their home, the soul dwelling in the human body called its home... These souls are free from sin and fear no unclean forces... because if a person wishes to sin... it immediately departs.

(Zohar, Tetzaveh 183, MeTeuk Midvash pg 49)

The Soul as a Personal Advisor

The soul advises a person on good ways to sustain themselves in the world and how to escape the evil inclination which appears to them immediately upon birth... as it says "sin crouches at the door, etc." Animals from birth protect themselves and flee from fire and dangerous places, while a human from birth seeks to cast themselves into fire. Meaning, they lack the sense to guard themselves from harm like fire because the evil inclination resides within them, immediately leading them on a bad path... Therefore, the children of Israel educate their children from a young age in mitzvot before their obligations begin, so they become accustomed, and when the good inclination arrives, it finds a place to reside.

(Zohar, Vayeshev 179, MeTeuk Midvash pg 1-2, 5)

The Purpose of Life: Finding and Realizing the Soul's Root

... Avoid seeking knowledge of all wisdoms to understand the world's components and their elements; instead, strive to learn and know the root of your soul - where it was hewn from, and how to rectify and perfect it, returning it to its source...

Depart from investigating worldly components; your connection is not with all lands and their leading entities. Refrain from pondering astrology and celestial wisdom that weigh your origin and root. Investigate neither the moment nor hour you were born, nor the ruling star or sign at the time, because there is no need to understand the implications of the sign when you were born. Know, Israel is not subject to celestial signs. All aligns according to the decree of His wisdom. Do not rely on family estates for inheritance, nor on ancestral roots for success in life; for these reasons, depart from this wisdom and such observations.

(Zohar, Lech Lecha 78, MeTeuk Midvash pg 115)

Anger: The Soul's Withdraw and Vulnerability

Anger... equates with idolatry and external forces. A person must be cautious and detach from it, as it's written, "You shall have no molten images," meaning causing self-harm through the sin of anger, polluting them to the point of idol worship... A person must protect their soul from the sin of anger and not exchange it for the external forces; if they do, they become defiled, infecting anyone close to them.

Our sages taught that any angry person, if a prophet, their prophecy withdraws. Is there any worse condition than that? Indeed, my teacher was more concerned about anger than any other transgression, even when anger was for the sake of a mitzvah. He reasoned that unlike other sins affecting a single organ, anger corrupts the entire soul, replacing it entirely, because when a person becomes angry, their sacred soul departs entirely, replaced by a spirit from the unclean forces.

(Zohar, Tetzaveh 182, MeTeuk Midvash pg 41-42)

Withholding Wages: Diminishing the Soul's Future

When someone minimizes a poor person's subsistence by delaying their wages, he decreases his own life. Conversely, when someone fulfills and sustains a poor person, even if his days to depart have approached, Hashem grants him more life, just as he extended life to the poor, life is added to his own.

When someone takes and withholds a worker's wages, it is as though he takes their spirit and the spirits of their household, and by denying the worker his due, he diminishes their lives, as they lack sustenance and suffer hunger, and as a consequence, Hashem shortens his days in this world and diminishes his soul from the world to come.

(Zohar, Kedoshim 85, Ra'ya Mehemna, MeTeuk Midvash pg 367)

Rectifying the Soul

The degree and sefirah where a person sinned and damaged before Hashem, that exact place and sefirah require rectifying for the soul. Those who sinned in sexual immorality sinned in the holy covenant known as the sun (as explained in Parashat Shemot page 3b, regarding "the sun and shield, etc."), thus their judgment and rectification correspond to the sun, which symbolizes the covenant, and not elsewhere.

From this, we learn that a person must rectify their soul; it will not help unless it is corrected where and in the sefirah where they sinned and damaged. If someone does not do this, even if they rectify other traits, they will gain some benefit, but they will not have proper rectification in the world, for that sin will not be corrected unless fixed at the site of damage.

The editor's note reflects upon suicidal thoughts, emphasizing that one cannot escape the consequences of their misdeeds. In the next life, the soul will confront those conditions again, and might face harsher circumstances, making suicide meaningless as it only increases the soul's suffering instead of relieving it.

(Zohar, Pinchas 217, MeTeuk Midvash pg 63-64)