“And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awaken — these (those who awake) for eternal life, and those (who remain in the ground) for disgrace, for eternal abhorrence.” (Daniel 12:2)
Therefore, prophesy to them:
“So says the L-rd G-d : Behold! I open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves as My people, and bring you home to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the L-rd, when I open your graves and lead you up out of your graves as My people. And I will put My spirit into you, and you shall live, and I will set you on your land, and you shall know that I, the L-rd, have spoken it and have performed it,” says the L-rd.” (Ezekiel 37:12-14)
The Creator of the world taught us in his Torah that a person was put in This World for a tri-al period in which his free choice will be tested concerning how he lives and keeps G-d’s commandments. If he keeps them and restrains the willfulness of his heart, he will benefit himself in the Hereafter and also This World. If he overcomes his challenge, he will add light to his soul, elevate it, and after completing his period of free will, will separate from the body whose whole purpose was to confine him to the physical world so he can exercise free will. According to the degree that he withstood his trials, he will shine and flourish, take pleasure in G-d and enjoy the brilliant radiance of His Presence.
If he withstood all the trials while he was a “person” composed of a body and soul, then he will get his great reward while inside a body — but in a body and a world which is pure of all desires, lusts, and physical cravings. This is the world as it will be after the Final Redemption and the Revival of the Dead[1] , when the false religions and falsehood will no longer exist in the world, and the truth will be evident to all. “And the L-rd shall become King over all the earth; on that day shall the L-rd be one (everyone will know that G-d is one), and His Name shall be one.” (Zechariah 14:9)
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We will mention two important sources to conclude this chapter:
1. The holy Zohar explains (Vol. 2 28:2) that a tiny bone remains of the body, and during the Revival of the Dead, it expands like yeast in a dough, rebuilding the entire body. (It is interesting to note here the scientific discovery of how the body’s cells reproduce and multiply by dividing themselves. The Bible and Jewish sages have long discussed the miraculous phenomena of people coming back to life, with part of the process involving the dead person’s remains multiplying. See the Zohar, Vol. 3 169:1.
2. The Talmud in Brachot 17a explains that the ability of physical matter to renew itself and come to life only exists with a body infused with a flow of spirituality (in modern parlance it is termed “spiritual energy”) which is stored in the holy words of our Creator’s Torah. This flow and absorption occurs specifically by means of Torah study. Women, who are exempt from fixed Torah study due to their being preoccupied and busy with the family’s needs, will merit being revived because they wait for their husbands to return from their Torah lectures and because they bring their children to Torah schools. The immense spiritual energy which G-d implanted in His powerful Torah is that powerful.
[1] Since the prophecy about the Revival of the Dead is difficult for most people to grasp, we will bring an illuminating question and answer about it based on our booklet “Nine Answers and a Question”- p.47
Revival of the Dead — Is it possible?
“And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awaken” (Daniel 12:2)
“Revival of the Dead is one of the Articles of Belief from those bequeathed us by our Teacher Moses. Any person who does not believe this, is not religious and is not devoted to Judaism.” (Maimonides in his commentary to the Mishna, Sanhedrin Chapter 11)
Many ask: Is it possible? The flesh rotted in the grave, the body was burnt and turned into ashes, or a person was torn to pieces by animals. How is it possible that we will ever see them again?? Is it possible that they will return to life?!
Let us try to understand the matter superficially through a parable. Imagine a resident from the North Pole who moved to a temperate climate. He is used to steppes of ice, and never saw plowing, seeding and harvesting. After arriving at a farm, he is sent with the veteran farmhands to learn and help out with the farm work. To his surprise, he sees them plowing rows in the ground. He doesn’t understand: “What are you doing? What do you need these rows for?”
After a few days, when the plowing of the field is completed, they take sacks of wheat and go out to the field. He asks: What are these seeds for? They reply: “The bread which provides us our sustenance is produced from these seeds.” The entire way he stares at the sacks of wheat with admiring eyes. He remembers that in the North Pole, it was difficult to feel satisfied without eating bread.
But he stares in shock when he sees the other workers scattering and burying the precious seeds in the ground… He can’t hold himself back and admonishes them, “What is the meaning of this insanity?”
They explain with a condescending smile: “The day will come and you will see how each buried seed of wheat will produce a beautiful green stalk containing many wheat kernels just like them.” He gets heated and irritatedly tells them to stop making fun of him. They smile and try to calm him down.
Then after a few weeks of watering, he goes out by himself to look at the field. He digs a little and finds one seed. Tears fall from his eyes when he sees that the seed has rotted and smells. Why did they make fun of him? Why are they ruining perfectly good wheat?!
More time passes and he goes out to the field with the reapers. He stands utterly thunderstruck. Instead of the dry, empty field, he sees tall stalks waving in the wind as far as his eye can see, as if smiling at him and whispering: They were right. This is the nature of the creation… revival of the dead.
We are not flabbergasted like that new immigrant, although we understand him. He really did see a miracle!
What is the difference between us and him? Why was he astonished and we’re not? It is obvious why. We are used to seeing it happen and he wasn’t. So let us stop taking it for granted and reflect. Isn’t it an amazing thing that a rotten seed can turn into a green stalk full of seeds similar to the mother seed?
So why can’t a rotten body return and be built anew? Why can’t one body replace another one?
One who understands what components a “man” is made of will find it easier to understand these things, as we explained in the first chapter above. One who knows the simple truth that the real person is the internal, spiritual soul which is merely wrapped in a suit of flesh and bones which fits his measurements and body shape, will find it easier to understand this. Even if a suit wears out, as long as the inner person exists, he can always get a new suit and return to being what he always was.
This idea is simple but it is the truth. If you believe that the Creator of the universe created the entire world including man from absolute zero, why is it so difficult to believe in His ability to recreate a man?