Kaisipang Hudyo sa Mga Awit 94:12: Akeidat Yitzchak, Duties & Derashot HaRan

The third group of people, namely believing Jews, who while steadfast in their belief, would still welcome specific statements in the Torah concerning afterlife, need to appreciate the following. Afterlife is much more than a promise held out in return for specific religious observances. Man's superiority over other creatures on this earth could hardly be demonstrated by anything other than the survival of his soul. Solomon grapples with the problem in the book of Kohelet, and concludes that this is the only thing which makes man stand out over the animals. "Who perceives that the spirit of man is the one that ascends on high, while the spirit of the beast descends down into the earth?" (Kohelet 3, 21) David and many others do not tire of expressing their longing for the blissful state of afterlife. Abigail refers to it, the Talmud is full of references to it. When one reads the promise of reward in our Parshah, one finds at the end, after the mundane rewards have been listed, "I will place My Residence amongst you." For the believers this is enough. For the scoffers nothing would be enough, since they only believe what their own eyes have seen, anyways.

We are told by the Midrash that G'd gave Israel three gifts, all of which were acquired through some deprivations. 1) Torah. 2) The land of Israel. 3) olam haba, eternal life in the hereafter.(Shemot Rabba 81) The scriptural proof for this quoted in the Midrash mentions deprivations yissurim in each case. These gifts are ours only if we practice a measure of self restraint. If, in the pursuit of Torah, someone becomes so one-sided that he neglects his debt to society, or fails to appreciate the world around him, he is guilty of Solomon's famous dictum "do not be too righteous." (Kohelet 7,16) Even Torah knowledge can be retained only through continence and self restraint. The Talmud says that every new born baby forgets all the Torah it has learned in the mother's womb, due to an angel striking it at the moment of birth. (Nidah 30) The idea behind this is as follows. While within the mother's womb, the fetus receives exactly what it needs, no excess. Under such conditions it can absorb Torah without impediment. When transferred to our world, these conditions change, and the pursuit of the physical, material, interferes with the acquisition of the spiritual values. The gift of olam haba is received via yissurim because the whole object of mussar, the root of the word yissurim, is to pave the way for life. Olam haba is life in its ultimate definition, attainable, naturally only via such a route. If one may be allowed to oversimplify, morality is nothing but a form of self restraint. In Jeremiah chapter 35, Yehonadav ben Reychav is held up as a shining example of someone who instructed his family to practice the noble art of self restraint concerning a variety of physical pleasures and material acquisitions. In appreciation of that family's having heeded their patriarch's instructions, G'd assures that family that they will provide leading personalities for the Jewish people for all future generations. Arichut yamim, longevity, is defined by our sages as participation in the life which is kullo aruch, of an unending infinite duration. The chapters of the Torah legislation dealing with the shemittah, yovel, ma-asser priestly gifts etc., are aimed at teaching us to practice self restraint when exploiting the bounty the land has to offer. The owner who wants to sell his slave at a good price, will overfeed him prior to the sale, to create the illusion that the slave is in good health and physical strength in the eyes of the prospective purchaser. The negative effects of that slave having been force-fed, will show up only after the sale has been concluded. A father who does not wish to part with his sons, will raise them on the kind of diet that assures their continued well being, and that builds up a resistance against harmful foreign elements in their bodies. (Deut. Rabbah 3) The menorah, candelabra in the tabernacle, was made with beaten gold. The trumpets were made out of beaten silver. The two cherubs on the lid of the holy ark were made of beaten gold. We observe that the purity of these vessels was achieved only after they had been hammered. Only then did the respective raw materials assume its enduring format. The trumpets represent the gift of the land of Israel, since they were employed to herald the Jewish people's approach towards that country. The menorah represents the gift of Torah, spiritual illumination. The cherubs symbolise olam haba, the world in which the angels abound, a world of the spirit, ruach.

3. The third reason is that human beings are struck in this world with various mishaps and damages to their bodies and possessions and they do not understand the ways in which these misfortunes are a means to benefit them, nor the benefits of trial and suffering, as Scripture says "Happy is the man whom You, O L-ord, chastens and teaches out of Your Law" (Tehilim 94:12).