When God Calls Each Soul by Name: Understanding the Promise of Renewal and Eternal Life

At the time when God will resurrect the dead, all the souls that awaken and enter their bodies will all rise in exactly the same form they had in this world — so that no one will be able to say that “others arose, but not those who actually died and were buried.”

God will descend to them and call each one by name, as it is written: “He calls them all by name” (Yeshayahu 40:26).

To each one, God will call by the name that truly belongs to them, and every soul will enter its proper place — that is, the body in which it was originally. Then they will arise with an existence fit to endure forever, in a body suitable for eternal life, and the world will then be in a state of complete rectification.

About that time it is written: “He will remove the disgrace of His people” (Yeshayahu 25:8), meaning that God will remove the evil inclination that darkened a person’s face and ruled over him while he was in his previous body. After the resurrection, God will abolish all evil and all klipah (impurity) from the world, and the evil inclination will no longer rule at all.

(Tikkunei Zohar, 81, Tikkun 40; Metok Midvash pp. 591–592)

The Dispute Between Rabbi Yossi and Rabbi Yitzchak About Who Will Rise

Rabbi Yossi and Rabbi Yitzchak also disagreed on this matter:

• Rabbi Yossi held that certain people will not rise at all at the resurrection.

• Rabbi Yitzchak held like Rabbi Shimon — that they will rise.

Know further that in the Zohar on Parashat Chayei Sarah (130a), the sages dispute whether teshuvah (repentance) can help the wicked after the resurrection.

Rabbi Yitzchak here follows the opinion that teshuvah does help, and therefore adds: Those wicked who rise at the resurrection — 
if they then humble themselves and repent, and fulfill the mitzvot that will be relevant in that future time, they will merit eternal existence.

But if they do not repent, then after rising they will be like ashes under the feet of the righteous. In any case, Rabbi Yitzchak holds that they do rise.

One Soul, Many Bodies: Which Body Rises?

Rabbi Chizkiyah said to Rabbi Elazar: “If you say that all bodies in the world will rise and awaken from the dust, then what about those many bodies that one soul inhabited over time — through reincarnation? Which one will rise with that soul, and what will happen to the other bodies?”

Rabbi Yossi answered Rabbi Chizkiyah: Those bodies that did not merit mitzvot and good deeds, and did not manage to fully rectify even a small part of the soul, are considered as if they never truly existed. They will not rise at the resurrection. They are like a dry tree, without the moistness of holy life, in this world.

The last body that successfully took root, produced offspring, and fulfilled Torah and mitzvot. This final body, which truly “took,” will rise at the resurrection.

About this properly rectified final body it says: “He shall be like a tree planted by streams of water” (Tehillim 1:3), that is: a tree that made fruit, put down roots, and succeeded in rectifying at least one part of the soul completely.

At the resurrection, that body will receive the portion of the soul that it rectified. And so it will be with the other bodies: each will receive the portion of the soul it managed to rectify in its lifetime in this world.

Regarding the first body, which was not rectified at all, it is written: “He shall be like a lonely juniper in the desert… he shall not see when good comes” (Yirmiyahu 17:6), meaning: he will not see the “good” of the Resurrection and the ultimate goodness for which the world was created — to bestow goodness upon God’s creatures. That first, unrectified body will not experience that good.

(Benayahu and other commentators)

The Hidden Light That Will Shine at the Resurrection

In the future, at the resurrection of the dead, the special primordial light that God hid away for the righteous from the day the world was created will shine.

This is what is written: “And God saw the light, that it was good” (Bereishit 1:4) — this refers to the hidden light, with which God will one day resurrect the dead.

And it is written: “And the sun of righteousness shall shine for you who fear My Name, with healing in its rays” (Malachi 3:20).

Through the shining of this sun, God will heal the blemishes and physical defects that the righteous had in this world. Then goodness and holiness will prevail in the world, and what we call “evil” will be removed, as it says: “I will remove the spirit of impurity from the land” (Zechariah 13:2).

At that time, the earlier bodies that did not succeed in children, or Torah and mitzvot, will be as though they never were — that is, they will not rise at the resurrection. (This is the view of the Vilna Gaon and other commentators.)

Rabbi Yitzchak, however, disagrees with Rabbi Yossi and holds that all bodies will rise at the resurrection. This is what he meant by saying that God will “pour out spirits” upon those bodies — that is, all the bodies will be resurrected.

However:

• If they then merit to repent and perform mitzvot with the resurrected body, they will merit lasting existence in the world after the resurrection.

• If they do not merit this, they will be ashes under the feet of the righteous: they will rise, but will not have enduring, elevated existence. Their life-force will be on a much lower level than that of the righteous and will be like a footstool under the feet of tzaddikim.

He likens them to ashes to hint that they were meant to be glorified — about them, one could have said: “Israel, in whom I will be glorified” (Yeshayahu 49:3), but their deeds turned their glory into ashes.

A Special Light That Will Shine on the Body at Resurrection

“Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens…” (Bereishit 1:14)

Rabbi Yitzchak said: This verse hints to the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, will resurrect the dead and proclaim over every single grave. At that time, the soul will descend from Gan Eden, shining like a light or candle, to illuminate with the light of the heavenly firmament… upon the body that is awakening and rising from the earth.

Rabbi Abbahu said that “lights” refers to the spiritual radiance of the spirit resting upon the body to give it life and to illuminate the body’s darkness. This is the meaning of: “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens”

Why do they shine? To give light upon the earth, meaning upon the one who comes forth from the earth, the body.

(Zohar Chadash, Bereshit 20; Metok Midvash vol. 1, pp. 316–317)

The Feast of the Righteous in Gan Eden at the Time of Resurrection

In Vayikra Rabbah (27:1) it is written: Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Menachem said about the verse: “You give them to drink from the river of Your delights” (Tehillim 36:9), that it does not say “from your delight” (singular) but “from your delights” — from here we learn that each righteous person has his own unique Eden.

Gan Eden also serves as a site of physical reward at the time of the resurrection. This is what our Sages meant when they said (Ta’anit 31a): “In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will make a feast for the righteous in Gan Eden.”

This is pleasure and reward at the time of resurrection. Seeing the Shechinah — as if pointing with one’s finger from within the circle, means reaching a level of delight in Divine intimacy with bodily joy, for the people of that world will reach the spiritual level of Moshe Rabbeinu:

• His soul ruled over his body,

• His physical powers were nullified,

• He was constantly clothed in the Holy Spirit,

• His seeing and hearing were with the eyes and ears of the soul, not the physical organs.

Similarly, the other prophets, when the body is nullified and the soul is stripped of its physical powers, the Holy Spirit rests upon them, and they perceive with the soul’s inner vision — like Michael and Gabriel. This is the true seeing and hearing.

The philosophers who deny Torah have no compelling claim against us when we say that an angel like Gabriel “sees” and “hears” — they might call this “intellectual apprehension,” but we know it as real perception of spiritual reality.

Likewise, the souls speak one to another, as our Sages taught (Berachot 18b). This is not speech with tongue and lips, but a sharing of knowledge and perception from soul to soul.

(Sha’ar HaGemul, Ramban)

What Will the Future World Look Like?

The future world that will be renewed will be created in pure kindness. There will be:

• No klipah (evil husk)

• No evil inclination

• No death

The entire world will enjoy the radiance of the first light that was hidden away for the righteous. There will be no “diminishing of the moon,” and no harsh judgment.

The tzaddikim will be greater than the ministering angels, everyone will perceive the honor of God, and heights of goodness will continue endlessly…

Our Sages explained (Zohar, Vayechi 230b) that the world was created with kindness from the right side, even though the actual process involved din and gevurah, it was all from a higher kindness — there dwelling the Shechinah, Torah, divine service, and the ultimate nullification of the klipot: "I said, ‘The world is built with kindness’” (Tehillim 89:3)

“As Long as the Candle Burns, It Is Still Possible to Repair”

Once, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter came late at night to the home of a cobbler and saw him still working by the faint light of a nearly extinguished candle.

“Why are you still working so late?” Rabbi Yisrael asked. “The hour is late, and your candle is almost out — you will soon not be able to do anything.”

The cobbler replied: “It doesn’t matter. As long as the candle is burning, it is still possible to work and fix.”

Rabbi Yisrael was deeply moved and said to himself: If for the body’s needs one must work “as long as the candle burns,” how much more so for the soul, as long as “the candle of God is the soul of man” still shines!

For many days people heard Rabbi Yisrael pacing in his room, emotionally repeating to himself: “As long as the candle is burning, it is still possible to work and repair.”

May it be God’s will that it be fulfilled in us speedily: “He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from every face… and everlasting joy will be upon their heads.”