Pemikiran Yahudi Yesaya 66:24: Akeidat Yitzchak & Duties

Our daily prayers reflect the fact that without the maturing process described, the nefesh is hardly special. "The advantage of man over beast is vanity," because "what are we and what does our whole life amount to?" All this is so because the additional nefesh man has in its original form does not yet qualify for life after death. Israel, as a nation, has acquired the automatic right to life after death. "Hail to you Israel, who is like you, a nation saved by the Lord?" (Deut 33,29, see commentary in chapter 44).

(2) Since in the animal kingdom the sole purpose of mating is the progeny, it was sufficient for the males and females of the species to have been created independently of one another. After all, their union had no purpose beyond the physical. Since man was to establish civilization and close co-operation between the males and the females would be necessary, it was deemed right to equip them with the maximum number of common characteristics, so that they would be able to identify with one another. (3) This is the meaning of "It is not good for humans to be separate," i.e. for the male and the female to have separate origins. Adam's helpmate therefore will be made in a way that will enable her to become his full partner in all his tasks. In chapter 2,19, the word " vayitzer" spelled with only one letter yud when the animals are being created, stresses the word "from the earth"; whatever was created from earth was without soul and when presented before man he could immediately understand that their very nature was merely nefesh chayah, living matter, but not spirit, no intellect. It remained for Adam only to distinguish individual differences and name them accordingly. Naturally, he found no mate among these creatures. (4+6) He was put to sleep in order a) to avoid the pain of the operation; b) so that the surprise when he awoke and found a mate would make him rejoice. This is one of the reasons our sages call someone who finds a wife as "having made a find." Adam found what he had missed so far, and had been hoping to find. Taking one of his own sides, created the strong chibbur, bond, that we have discussed as being the basis of mutual love. (5) The term binyan, building, emphasizes that not mere mechanics were involved. Just as the cabinet-maker who constructs a chair and a table of cedar wood, has fashioned cedar wood furniture, so the common denominator of Adam and Eve is the fact that both are humans. Therefore, they retain their original appellation. This means that Eve too is Adam in the sense that she too is human. (7) Adam emphasized that the primary bond with Eve was not sexual in nature, but a kindred spirit. Therefore, when naming her, the sexual aspect ("She is the mother of all living humans") was absent, and the overall human function of ish was emphasized as the predominating bond between them. The other name would have misrepresented the essence of the relationship. The absence of the letter yud in ishah pointedly avoids giving the impression that she is merely what parah, cow, is to par, bull. The former name being from the same root indicates simultaneous creation; isha being from a different root than ish, shows that woman was subsequent to Man, and that man has a certain precedence over her. This confirms that woman is man's helper, not vice versa. The words "taken from man" means "subsequent to him." (8) The fact that Adam employed a term for his wife which corresponds to the sound of the word ish, man, is proof that Hebrew was the language he spoke, since in almost all other languages the terms for "man" and "woman" respectively are entirely different both in spelling and in sound. (9) Because the physical relationship between man and wife is stronger than the mere reproduction of the genes between father and son, man abandons even his father's home to set up a new home with the wife he has chosen.

The prophetical books contain clear indications of reward and punishment in the world to come. The following are examples: "For G-d shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil" (Koheles 12:14). "And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the sole of your feet" (Malachi 3:21). "[behold a day is coming, it burns as a furnace and all the wicked shall be as stubble...] then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves G-d and him that serves Him not." (Malachi 3:18). "And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me; for their worm shall not die. neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an eternal abhorrence unto all flesh" (Yeshaya 66:24). "How great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for them that fear You, which You have wrought for them that trust in You before the children of men" (Tehilim 31:20). "Thus says the L-ord of Hosts, if you will walk in My ways . . .I will give you places to walk among these that stand'" (Zach. 3:7). "Eye has not seen, O G-d, beside You, what He had prepared for him that waits for Him" (Yeshaya 64:3). "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2). "Your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the L-ord shall be your reward" (Yeshaya 58:8). And there are many passages to the same effect, too numerous to mention.