When the Call Comes from Above: The Death Announcement from the Heavens

Rabbi Elazar said to Rabbi Yitzchak: "Indeed, the heart and the soul represent two aspects of love, yet they unite as one. The heart is the source of love, while the soul directs it towards love for Hashem. Furthermore, it's explained that the heart, the soul, and material wealth all unify, as there are three types of love present here: the spiritual soul, the material wealth, and the heart, which is the mediator. The heart serves as the foundation of all, as if the heart is bound in love for Hashem, everything will follow, for it is the heart that awakens love.

This is what we learn in the Talmud, Tractate Berakhot 54a: "With all your heart" refers not to the heart itself but to the two inclinations within the heart, the good inclination and the evil inclination, each active in the heart... And the repetition "with all" also includes loving Hashem with both inclinations.

"With all your soul" - it is puzzling. It should have said "with your soul"... What does it include? The answer encompasses soul, spirit, and breath; this is "with all your soul," meaning with all the spiritual forces within a person, with everything the soul grasps and encompasses, that is, with all the neshama, love Him (Hashem).

(Zohar, Terumah 163, Sweet as Honey p. 441)

Thirty Days Before Death: The Heavenly Announcement

Rabbi Yose said: As a person's days approach their end, thirty days before death, it is proclaimed in heaven that their time has come, and even the birds flying under the sky proclaim it. If he is righteous, then thirty days before death, it is announced in the Garden of Eden among the righteous to prepare themselves to receive him.

We've learned that during those thirty days, his soul leaves him each night, ascends, and sees the place shown to it in the upper world. Yet the man is unaware and does not notice his deeds, and he no longer controls his soul throughout those thirty days as he used to. There is no dominion on the day of death, and even thirty days before, a person cannot command his spirit as before. Rabbi Yehuda said: From the onset of those thirty days, a man's image is dimmed, and his form, visible on the earth, is prevented from being seen.

If he is wicked, it is proclaimed in hell among the wicked thirty days that this wicked person is coming to them. All the wicked are saddened... because a new judgment is about to befall them due to this wicked person...

(Zohar, Vayechi 217, Sweet as Honey p. 398-399, folio 219, Sweet as Honey p. 422)

A Soul Warned in a Dream About Its Last Day

A woman, the wife of a famous doctor in Jerusalem, woke up one morning from a terrifying dream and told her husband about it. She dreamed of her father, who had passed away a few years prior, coming to her in a dream and informing her that exactly thirty days from now, he would come to take her.

The impact of the dream was very severe for her, but she didn't know she needed to perform a remedy for the dream in such a case. Exactly thirty days after that dream, she woke up feeling very unwell and told her husband that she dreamed again, finding herself in a place without food or clothes. (The Torah is likened to nourishing food for the soul, and the commandments to garments that protect a person). A few hours later, she suffered a heart attack, and resuscitation attempts were in vain. She passed away, may her memory be blessed.

It's important to know that if someone sees a deceased soul in a dream saying - "I will come to take you"... or "You will come to me"... one must take such a dream very seriously and seek the advice of a Torah scholar on how to remedy it, beyond regular dream rectification.