Q&A: A Question About Reward in the World to Come
A Question About Reward in the World to Come
Question
I wanted to ask: if the purpose of this world is to receive reward in the World to Come, what is the logic of receiving an eternal reward—which means something impossible to measure—in exchange for something temporary that can be quantified?
Answer
I do not think that the purpose of our actions in this world is reward in the World to Come. Where do you get that from? The purpose is the repair of this world and truth for its own sake. And in the World to Come comes the ultimate good. See Maimonides, beginning of chapter 10 of the Laws of Repentance.
But the question about proportion of course still stands (so your “if” is out of place. There is no connection between the assumption and the question). As for the question itself, I do not see why there is any difficulty with an eternal reward for a temporary act. Why shouldn’t there be such a ratio? Beyond that, I am also not sure that the reward there is eternal or immeasurable, but as noted that is not important to the discussion.
Discussion on Answer
That is a logically invalid inference. The fact that there is reward for commandments does not mean that they are performed for the sake of reward. See Maimonides, beginning of chapter 10 of the Laws of Repentance.
Where do we get that from? From our sages. “Today to do them, and tomorrow to receive their reward.” “This world is like a corridor.” “There is no reward in this world (implying that in another world there is).” “This world is like a weekday, and the World to Come like the Sabbath,” and so on. Also see the beginning of Mesillat Yesharim, which discusses this at length.
So we see that the commandments here are in order to receive reward in the World to Come.