Chilling Revelation: 'Why Were You Taken So Young and Tragically?' a Mother Asks Her Late Son and Is Stunned by His Response

How can we find solace in the face of tragic losses? The following story is adapted from the writings of Rabbi Chaim Vital, a disciple of the holy Arizal, and reveals a glimpse of what transpires in the higher realms.

Joseph, a married scholar for several years, and his younger brother left the synagogue on Friday night on their way to their mother's home to greet her with "good Shabbat." The home exuded a pleasant warmth. The candles burned calmly, as if announcing that Shabbat had arrived. Only the empty chair at the head of the table, their father's chair who passed away two years ago, disturbed the peace. Feelings of longing and sorrow filled their hearts. Mother sat in her customary seat, reading a book. "Good Shabbat," the sons said. "Good Shabbat," the mother replied, struggling to hide the tears streaming from her eyes.

"You're crying again," Joseph said. "There must be a limit to this. Today is Shabbat Kodesh and we must not mourn." "But you know," the mother said, "today, two years ago, your father left the world. How can I hold back the tears?" "Well," Joseph replied, "today you have a reason, but what about yesterday and the day before? It's been two years and you find no solace. You're crying and grieving, and father in Gan Eden is surely not pleased by this. And the Creator of the World surely does not want this either."

"The 'Shulchan Aruch' says when one should grieve a lot, a little, or cease altogether. If you do not follow this, you show that you do not agree with the Creator's will. Forgive me for speaking boldly," the son concluded. The mother got up, wiped her tears, and said, "You are right, Joseph. I truly want to forget with all my heart, but I cannot," and began to wipe her tears again.

Little Shoshanna opened her mouth and said: "Mother, we want to see you happy always." "I want that too," her mother answered, "I promise you I will try to be happy with all my might." Joseph blessed his mother with "good Shabbat" and turned to go home.

David, the youngest, lived with his mother and took on the role of the father. He sanctified the wine, and throughout the meal, everyone felt the true peace of Shabbat. Mother even smiled. The sons shared from the weekly Torah portion, and the mother drew satisfaction. They all went to sleep late, and even the mother felt a peace she hadn't felt since her husband left her.

In her sleep, she began to think she was not alone; there are other young widows who are happy, because they have accepted their bitter fate. She recalled a match that had recently been proposed to her, which made her shudder when remembered, but this time she slept peacefully.

And then, in her dream, people were running. She was running too, and so they exited the city and came to a dense forest. They continued to run in the dark, and suddenly, after passing the forest, the sun appeared in a great light. Ahead, she saw a large garden filled with beautiful and delightful flowers exuding a wonderful fragrance. Around the garden were streams of blue water, and suddenly she saw before her a Jewish man with a silver beard, dressed in a long white robe.

The Jewish man asked her if she wanted to see her husband, and she immediately followed him with a pounding heart. The Jewish man stopped near a big tree full of beautiful and large fruits, and from afar she saw a large field, bordered by a golden fence. Inside the field, she saw Jews, dressed in colorful clothes, sitting in rows and studying Torah, with a young man standing before them giving a lesson. "Wait a bit," the old Jewish man said, "they will soon finish the lesson, and then you will see him."

She looked around, unable to believe her eyes. The lesson ended, and the Jewish man who gave the lesson began walking towards her. Suddenly, Rachel recognized her husband's upper garment. Her head spun, and she saw that it was her husband standing next to her. "Abraham!" she cried and leaned on the tree next to her.

"It is I," her husband replied, "calm yourself!" For a long time, she stood still with her eyes closed. When she regained her composure, she opened her eyes and asked: "Why did you leave me at such a young age?" "Know," he answered softly, "that the world you live in is like a place of exile, where people are sent to complete certain things or to suffer for sins previously committed. The real world is here. Know that I had already been in the world before you met me, I was a great sage and a righteous person, but I did not want to marry and have children, so as not to be disturbed in my studies."

"When I left the world, I was given the leadership of a Yeshiva in Gan Eden and began to ascend to higher levels. However, because I did not marry and have children, I was sent again to the world to wed and bear children. I married you, and when our seventh child was born, I was called back to the Yeshiva in Gan Eden where everyone was waiting for me. You have great merit in being my wife because I have a good name here, and when the time comes, we will live together again in delight in this world."

"But," Rachel said, "I didn't know you were such a scholar, and you never had time to study much." Her husband replied: "Neither did I know, because I came into the world just to fix what was missing for me - to marry and have children and to support them properly. When I left the world, my mind was immediately filled with endless knowledge of the Torah."

Rachel continued to ask: "Why does our Joseph not succeed in his business?" Her husband replied: "Surely you remember the 'Torah court' Joseph had with another Jew. Joseph won the case, but because he grieved the other Jew, they wanted to punish him severely. I intervened for him and requested only four hard years in his business. In a year, the punishment period will end, and he will begin to succeed."

"And what about our David? He is already twenty-four and still no match has been proposed, and I don't have the funds to marry him off." Her husband smiled and said: "The reason for this is that David's intended bride was late coming into the world. She is now only thirteen and lives in another country. In five years, she will come to your city, marry David, and cover all the wedding expenses."

Rachel began to tremble, and a painful memory surfaced. With no strength left, she asked her husband: "Why did the tragedy happen to our three-year-old son, who was killed by a drunk gentile?" Her husband smiled and said: "Come after me!"

She began to walk and came to a garden full of light, with small blossoming bushes on all sides, as if observing her.

From the heavens descended something like columns of light in different colors. Beautiful birds flew from tree to tree, and she heard their singing. Some sang 'a light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart,' others sang 'so that my glory may sing praise to you.’ Large bees of various colors flew and sang in her ear 'peace, peace to far and near.' Small deer ran in the grass singing 'and I will sing of your strength, I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning.' Even the grass sang 'may the glory of Hashem endure forever.' The trees sang 'then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy.' Suddenly she saw from above circles of fire flashing in various colors. They lined up next to her as columns, and behind them came from above small angels with wings, and they too stood beside her. An exquisite musical composition of instruments was heard around, and she felt her soul slipping away, about to faint.

Her husband immediately took a herb from the garden and placed it under her nose. Her spirit returned, and she looked once again and saw a canopy made of sparkling precious stones in all the colors of the rainbow. Beneath the canopy, came a figure like an angel and stood before her. She recognized her deceased son, smiling at her with great joy. She fainted again, and her husband again let her smell the same herb. She opened her eyes and saw it was not a mistake. It was her son and no other.

She opened her mouth and asked him: "Why did you leave me at such a young age?" The child replied: "Everything is according to the account of the Creator. I had already been in the world before I was born to you, mother. I was born then to a distinguished family. In our city, there were pogroms, and the gentiles massacred all the Jews. Only I was left alone, about half a year old. A gentile woman took me to her home, and I was raised with her until Jews redeemed me, and I returned to live among them, until I became a great sage and lived all my years in comfort and peace. When I passed from the world, I was received in the world of truth with joy and ascended higher and higher until I reached a place where I could no longer ascend, because I nursed for a year from a non-Jewish woman. My judgment was to be born again and nurse three years from a Jewish mother, and then I could return to my high place."

"So I was born to you, mother, and it is a great merit for you. When the three years were up, I was taken back to my place because I had no more purpose in that unfortunate world." "But why did you leave in such a terrible way?" the mother continued to ask. The son replied: "When it was time for me to depart the world, a great decree was upon our city's Jews, and all were to perish, including you and father. It was then decided that I would be the atonement for the entire city and was killed for their sake, thereby saving the whole city. That's why I am granted this great honor here. No one from Gan Eden can see me, only father whenever he wishes." The child smiled pleasantly, began to recede, and disappeared."

Then her husband said: "You see, there are answers to all your questions. Indeed, the Creator creates nothing evil. Now I must return to my lesson." He accompanied her to the initial place by the tree and said: "It is very good here, but I cannot bear your sighs and tears. Do me a great favor, and begin to live in joy. Here, a suitable match has been proposed to you - do not resist."

Her husband vanished, the old Jewish man appeared again, and he led her to the great forest.

She awoke from her sleep as if reborn. For a long time, she continued to lie with a smile on her face, seeing her happy husband and her smiling son. A heavy stone rolled off her heart, and she found solace. Now she remarried and lived a happy and pleasant life.

This story was taken from the writings of R' Chaim Vital, of blessed memory, who received it from his great teacher, the Arizal. He revealed deep secrets, especially the concept of reincarnations. He taught that all creatures in the world are like bolts in the great machine called creation. Hashem screws and unscrews the bolts and directs their function according to the needs of the machine's mechanism. He brings souls to the world with a role to play and takes from the world the souls that need to be above, for this world and the world to come are one matter. Below, souls act within bodies, and above, souls alone. If we knew how everything functions, we would never be saddened because, at the end of days, very close to us, all souls will return to this world to serve the Creator with both body and soul as one. This will occur until bodies become as refined as souls. This event will happen at the end of the sixth millennium, and then the great Shabbat will come to the world.

The story was brought by Rabbi Yom Tov Ehrlich from the book 'Lekach Tov' by Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Beifus.