ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף ישעיהו 25:8

Other comments in the Midrash there concentrate on the spelling of the word תולדות. First, the very word תולדות teaches that whereas previous plans by G-d had been shelved, the present world had been found worthwhile to translate into practice. There are only two instances where the word תולדות is spelled with both letters ו such as here The second instance is in Ruth 4,18 when the descendant of David, Peretz, the ancestor of the Messiah of davidic ancestry is mentioned. When that happens, G-d will banish death from earth. The spelling that we encounter in both these instances is that at the beginning of the word the letters ת-ו are in the reverse order of their appearance at the end of the same word, i.e. ו-ת. At the time G-d created the present world the angel of death had not been assigned any authority. After man sinned, the angel of death was given wide-ranging powers so that as of that moment all future “products,” תולדות, were spelled defective. With the birth of Peretz the son of Yehudah, the ancestor of the Messiah, a person had been born who would (through his descendant the Messiah) banish death once more from earth. This is hinted at by the spelling of the word תולדות in connection with mention of his eventual offspring The source for our tradition that death will be banished from earth at that time is Isaiah 25,8 בלע המות לנצח, “He will banish death forever.”

Ibn Shuaib writes in parshat Phinehas about this verse that the water that will go out of Jerusalem will drown the water of the river Shittim, that Israel engaged in illicit sex there.⁴Numbers, 25:1–9. The waters that will go out of Jerusalem will drown the waters of Shittim. This may be interpreted by the verse “I will sprinkle clean water on you” [Ezekiel, 36:25]. That is to say, I will sprinkle water on you so that you will not follow the Evil Inclination, after adultery, as the verse says, “He will destroy death forever” [Isaiah, 25:8]. That is to say, the Evil Inclination will no longer exist. There are bodies of water that and the one who sits and drinks from these waters must engage in illicit sexual relations. It was so at the river of Shittim. When Israel were sitting at the river Shittim, they engaged in illicit sexual relations, because the water flowed over vegetation, and some herbs have within them the ability to cause a person to engage in illicit sexual relations. In contrast, there are some herbs that cause the person to refrain from sexual relations. Therefore, the Holy One promises to give us the river that causes us to refrain from illicit sexual relations and this river will feed other rivers whose nature was to incite illicit sexual relations, like the river Shittim. The hope is that Israel will not sin anymore, as the verse promised, “I will drive the northerners far from you” [Joel, 2:20]. That is to say, I will remove the Evil Inclination from Israel when the Messiah will come, in the expectation that they will be free of sins, as the verse said here, “living waters shall flow from Jerusalem” [14:8].⁵Ibn Shuaib, Derashot, II: 398.

However, the sages of the Talmud are of a different opinion. (Nachmanides elaborates on this at the end of the treatise שער הגמול). The experts in Kabbalah believe that there will be no more death after the resurrection of the dead. They base this primarily on Isaiah 25,8 בלע המות לנצח, “He will destroy death forever.” They also refer to Sanhedrin 92 where the Talmud says that “the dead who will return to life will not again turn into dust.” Concerning the world (life) after death, the sages in Berachot 17 say that that a very precious statement made by Rav was that “in the world to come there will not be eating, drinking, no jealousy or competition, but the righteous will sit with their crowns on their heads and enjoy the brilliance emanated from the Shechinah.” This latter statement makes it obvious that the author does hold that there will be bodies in the world to come. This is why the fact that there will not be eating and drinking, etc., had to be mentioned, seeing that if there were not presumed to be bodies this would be obvious to all. Therefore, it is proper for us to believe that there will indeed be bodies in the עולם הבא but that many bodily functions as we know them will cease to operate, just as they ceased functioning for a period in the lives of Moses and Elijah. What all this means is simply that in that world the spiritual powers of the soul will triumph over the body and what are perceived in our world as its needs.
If you were to ask why the organs of the body which are not being used should exist, the fact is that they are not really redundant at all. On the contrary, these organs receive the reward for all the effort they put in while on earth in fulfilling G’d’s commandments. Seeing that G’d does not withhold reward from anyone entitled to it, or even shortchanges such a creature (compare Baba Kama 38), He does not want the body to be in a position to complain; therefore He transfers the body to the regions called עולם הבא to enable it to also enjoy these outpourings of the brilliance of the Shechinah. Support for this view comes from Psalms 17,15: ”when one day I awaken, I shall be satisfied with seeing a picture of You.” This means that the people in the world to come will experience satisfaction from beholding the brilliance of the Shechinah while their body is intact.” (Just as the disembodied soul functioned in this terrestrial life, there is no reason to believe that the body cannot function in the celestial life). This is the view of Nachmanides, and he cites proof from a Midrash in Sifri Nitzavim, according to which Moses (his body) was hidden in the regions of the עולם הבא. This does not mean that his body is there at this point in time and that he enjoys a physical existence there now. [The text refers to the body of Aaron, Ed.]
The sages made a similar comment about the manner of Rabbi Akiva’s death when they said: “hail to you Rabbi Akiva; your soul exited with the pronouncement of the word אחד (first line of Kriyat Shema), you are ready for immediate entry to life in the עולם הבא.” In Berachot 58 the Talmud, in dealing with benedictions to be recited when one witnesses different events, states that when seeing the tombs of the Jewish people one is to recite: “blessed be the One who let you die in accordance with true judgment and Who will bring you back to life in the world of the future.” Bereshit Rabbah understands the words: “G’d blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (Genesis 2,3) to mean that G’d blessed the עולם הבא which commences with the seventh millennium. The words: “He sanctified it,” refer to the fact that He allotted it to the Jewish people. This is the meaning of the words מזומן לעולם הבא, “ready for entry into the world to come.”