Q&A: The World to Come
The World to Come
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi!
How are you on such a pleasant day?
Following your advice, I’ll focus on one question at a time.
Everyone knows the Mishnah in the chapter Helek (Sanhedrin 10):
that all Israel have a share in the World to Come except for one who does not.
How can Jewish law even be decided regarding who has a share in the World to Come?
After all, they say that someone who says the Torah is not from Heaven, or reads external books, or gives his fellow a derogatory nickname, or humiliates his fellow in public, etc.
I have no idea what it even means to have a share, or to be a son of, or designated for eternal life in the World to Come,
or how the tannaim and amoraim know anything about it.
So my question in short is: how do people arrive at halakhic conclusions about who does or does not have a share in the World to Come?
Answer
Even on this pleasant day, I’m doing reasonably well. Nothing has changed.
It’s impossible to issue a halakhic ruling on this matter. One can only say that these are reprehensible actions or views, and their expression is through the idea of a share in the World to Come. True, there are those who took these statements as halakhic determinations, but in my opinion that is unfounded.