Commentaire de citation sur Les Psaumes 72:16

We have to remember that if a person was successful in acquiring merits for himself through having performed G'd's commandments and having performed deeds of loving kindness while on earth, such a person has acquired the strength to rise from his grave when the day of resurrection arrives. Psalms 72,16 describes such a period as "men sprouting up in towns like country grass." Ketuvot 111 understands Solomon (the author of this Psalm) as speaking of the time of resurrection. When the Torah speaks of the slave leaving בגפו, the meaning of the word גף is similar to Proverbs 9,3 where the word describes "on the wings of high places." Man's good deeds lift him up to the spiritually high places. Shabbat 49 compares Israel to the dove, i.e. it is like a winged bird thanks to its good deeds. When the Torah writes יבא, the meaning is the same as Onkelos's translation of Genesis 28,11, that "the sun had set." The words בגפו יצא on the other hand, refer to the wing in question being able to rise once again from earth at the time of the resurrection. The reverse will be true of people who have not made the effort to accumulate the required merits during their time on earth. Ketuvot 111 spells this out in connection with Proverbs 3,18 "that Torah is the tree of life for those who uphold and grasp her." The non-observant will not take part in the resurrection of the bodies.

The Torah goes on to write אם בעל אשה הוא ויצאה אשתו עמו. The Torah alludes to a profound mystical element here. There are people who acquire their soul by dint of their good deeds so that such a person (personality) is transformed into the "owner" of its holy soul. In order to understand this concept one has to refer to the Zohar volume three page 91 on Leviticus 22,27 where the Torah discusses that when an ox or sheep is born it is to remain with its mother for seven days before it could be offered on the altar as a sacrifice. According to the Zohar animals acquire their intelligence at the moment of birth. [This is why the Torah refers to the ox as "ox" already at birth not as calf, for instance. The animal does not develop its personality, though it may develop its body. Ed.] Animals are different from human beings in this respect. Human beings acquire their souls only in ratio to the good deeds they have performed. The greater the number of good deeds performed by man the higher quality is his soul (or after having been alive at least for one Sabbath). The soul which such a מצוה -observant Jew acquires is called אשה in our context. Kabbalists such as the author of Tikkunyey Hazohar chapter 50 describe the soul as אשה. The Torah tells us here that if a person has acquired his "wife" i.e. soul, by reason of the performance of good deeds, his wife will remain with him also after death. Shabbat 152 tells an interesting story in this regard. There were certain grave-diggers who dug up the earth belonging to Rabbi Nachman. In the process they happened to disturb the grave of Rabbi Achai bar Yoshia. The latter protested that the diggers were disturbing his rest. The grave-diggers told Rabbi Nachman that they had been rebuked by a man. Rabbi Nachman went to investigate and asked the person in question who he was. He identified himself as Achai bar Yoshia. Thereupon Rabbi Nachman asked Rabbi Achai: "did not Rabbi Mori say that the truly righteous will turn to dust" [as opposed to decaying and becoming worm ridden Ed.], (so how come your body is intact)? Achai retorted: "Who is this Mori whom I have never heard of (that I should be concerned with his pronouncements)?" Thereupon Rabbi Nachman quoted a verse from Kohelet (inaccurately quoted and applied) according to which a body will return to the earth in the condition it had come from it. Rabbi Achai responded that whereas Rabbi Nachman appeared to be familiar with the verse composed by Solomon in Kohelet, he was apparently unfamiliar with a verse by the same Solomon in Proverbs 14,30 according to which "envy is like rottenness of the bones." The meaning of that verse is that people who harboured envy or jealousy in their hearts will experience that their bones decay and rot; those who did not harbour such feelings during their lives on earth will be spared this experience. Thereupon Rabbi Nachman touched Rabbi Achai and found that his body was indeed real. He suggested that Rabbi Achai get out of his grave and go home. Thereupon Rabbi Achai told Rabbi Nachman that he had just revealed that he had not even studied the Book of Prophets properly. We read in Ezekiel 37,13: "you will know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people." Rabbi Nachman countered that it is written in Genesis 3,19: "dust you are and to dust you will return!" Upon hearing this Rabbi Achai explained that the verse in Genesis was meant to apply only one hour before the arrival of the final resurrection. At that time all the dead would return to dust. The gist of the story is that the righteous are called alive even when they are in their graves (Berachot 18).

The part of the hand (פַּ֥ס יְדָ֖א): [Meaning] a piece/part of a hand (חֲתִיכַת יָד - chatichat yad). And similarly [the word pas appears in]: “May there be abundance (פִּסַּת - pissat) of grain” [Psalms 72:16]; also “a coat of many pieces/colors (פַּסִּים - passim)” [Genesis 37:3]. And all [these usages] are derived from the root meaning [seen in] “for the faithful have vanished (פַּסּוּ - passu)” [Psalms 12:2]. And behold, they saw hands without a body.