Abraham’s Return to His Ancestors
What is the meaning of: But you shall go to your fathers in peace, being nourished in a fair old age (Genesis 15:15)?
He here clearly indicates the incorruptibility of the soul: when it transfers itself out of the abode of the mortal body and returns as it were to the metropolis of its native country, from which it originally emigrated into the body. Since to say to a dead man, “You shalt go to your fathers,” what else is this but to propose to him and set before him a second existence apart from the body as far as it is proper for the soul of the wise man to dwell by itself?
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
You may also like
Loving Wisdom and Keeping Laws
[A]nd love of her is the keeping of her laws,
and giving heed to her laws is assurance of immortality,
and immortality brings one near to God;
so the desire for wisdom leads to a…
Immortality Is the Reward for Martyrdom
Truly the contest in which they were engaged was divine, for on that day virtue gave the awards and tested them for their endurance. The prize was immortality in endless life. Eleazar was the…
Seeing God and Becoming Stars
“Now this is the order of those who have kept the ways of the Most High, when they shall be separated from their mortal body. During the time that they lived in it, they laboriously served the…
The Soul Is to the Body as God Is to the World
Why did David’s soul praise the Holy One? He thought: The soul fills the body, and God fills the earth, as it is written: For I fill the heaven and the earth, says the Lord (Jeremiah 23:24). The soul…
Souls Are in God’s Hand
Two things are in God’s hand: the soul and justice. The soul, as it is written: In His hand is the soul of all the living (Job 12:10). And justice, as it is written: And My hand lays hold on judgment…
Righteous Souls under God’s Throne of Glory
It was taught [in a baraita]: R. Eliezer says: The souls of the righteous are stored beneath the throne of glory, as it is said: And the soul of my master shall be bound in the bundle of life (1…
You may also like
Loving Wisdom and Keeping Laws
[A]nd love of her is the keeping of her laws,
and giving heed to her laws is assurance of immortality,
and immortality brings one near to God;
so the desire for wisdom leads to a…
Immortality Is the Reward for Martyrdom
Truly the contest in which they were engaged was divine, for on that day virtue gave the awards and tested them for their endurance. The prize was immortality in endless life. Eleazar was the…
Seeing God and Becoming Stars
“Now this is the order of those who have kept the ways of the Most High, when they shall be separated from their mortal body. During the time that they lived in it, they laboriously served the…
The Soul Is to the Body as God Is to the World
Why did David’s soul praise the Holy One? He thought: The soul fills the body, and God fills the earth, as it is written: For I fill the heaven and the earth, says the Lord (Jeremiah 23:24). The soul…
Souls Are in God’s Hand
Two things are in God’s hand: the soul and justice. The soul, as it is written: In His hand is the soul of all the living (Job 12:10). And justice, as it is written: And My hand lays hold on judgment…
Righteous Souls under God’s Throne of Glory
It was taught [in a baraita]: R. Eliezer says: The souls of the righteous are stored beneath the throne of glory, as it is said: And the soul of my master shall be bound in the bundle of life (1…