Q&A: The Survival of the Soul
The Survival of the Soul
Question
Hello, elsewhere Rabbi Michael Abraham wrote that he tends to believe in the survival of the soul, but that Heaven sounds speculative to him.
And my question is: if there is no Heaven, and providence does not intervene nowadays, is there any meaning to the reward and punishment written in the Torah, and to the concept of providence in general? And what will become of divine justice?
Answer
Where is reward and punishment written in the Torah?
As for the justice issue, I don’t know. That is one of the considerations that leads to the conclusion that there is a World to Come. But that itself makes me suspicious that this concept was invented by the Sages and was not received as part of the tradition from Sinai (precisely because it is needed and makes sense). And if that is indeed so, then maybe it makes sense to think that there is a World to Come, but it is not necessary. There could perhaps be other solutions to divine justice (reincarnations, or simply something we haven’t thought of). Rational conclusions—not in the sense of logic but of philosophy—are limited by their very nature. That is why specifically beliefs that make sense arouse my suspicion, and I do not reach a high degree of certainty about them.
Discussion on Answer
I think those promises were given in a period when He did intervene. In the meantime, it seems that His policy has changed. See here: https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%97%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%A9-%D7%90%D7%97%D7%A8-%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%94%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%9D/
If God does not intervene, what about the promises of long life and economic abundance and so on, which do appear in the Bible?