Q&A: Reward in This World, the Existence of the World to Come, and More
Reward in This World, the Existence of the World to Come, and More
Question
With God’s help. Peace, peace to our Rabbi and teacher, may his light shine.
Someone drew my attention to a responsum you wrote on your site a few months ago on the above matters, in which you present views that are very, very far from the accepted consensus among God-fearing people over many generations. I admit, and am not ashamed, that I could not believe my eyes. You do not personally owe me anything, not even a reply to this email, but if you wish and are able to put my mind at ease on this matter and regarding your approach to the accepted principles of faith / belief (and to what surrounds the issue), I would be grateful to you.
And peace to you and peace to your household, the undersigned, Y.
Answer
To my dear friend, the esteemed Mr. Y., may he live a good long life, greetings and abundant salvation.
Indeed, I wrote that I have no idea which of the beliefs about the World to Come and the Messiah are the product of a tradition from Sinai, and which are the reasoning of the Sages. And since lines of reasoning can be correct or incorrect, I therefore have no position regarding them.
All the best,
Discussion on Answer
Maimonides too, in his introduction to the chapter Helek, shows how complicated this issue is.
Indeed, the Mishnah in Berakhot says, “When the heretics increased, they instituted that one should say: ‘From the world to the world,’” and more besides, but the matter is completely complex and apparently subject to philosophical conceptions (compare the midrash that likens the body and soul to a blind man and a lame man, with the conception that the soul is entirely spiritual and is cast into the sling) in order to explain the tangle.
I really think there is room for different conceptions and no need to dismiss them, but one cannot complain about a person who admits that he does not understand what is the root and what are the branches.
Bottom line.