Nearly all religions out there have a concept of heaven – that while our life in this
world is temporary, our souls will go on to live an after-life for an eternity.
And, if you asked most Jewish people they would say that Judaism is included in this.
However, to anyone who pays close enough attention, how many times do you think the Hebrew Bible,
that is the five books of moses, discusses the afterlife, heaven?
You’ll be shocked.
The answer is a whopping, great zero.
Yes that’s right – the most famous of all religious books, the founding document
of ethical monotheism, does not mention the afterlife once.
I’ll give you a minute while you recompose yourself.
Pretty remarkable eh.
But the question becomes more interesting when you look at the endless Jewish commentaries
– from the Rabbis of the Talmud to the modern era – they all do believe in the next world
– what they call “olam haba”.
So where do they get their source for this if it’s not mentioned in the the Torah - ultimate
guide to what Jews are meant to believe in?
Many answers have been offered to this question by Jewish scholars.
One opinion given by the medieval scholar the Ramban – is that the Torah discusses
spirituality all over the place – it talks about God, divine miracles, that we have souls
– he says it’s self-evident that there is clearly a realm that must exist outside
the physical one.
Another opinion is that a focus on heaven would belittle the importance of this world
– making the most of the blessings of this world and achieving our potential here and
now – and we know all too well what happens when a religion focuses too much on the paradise
of the world to come – it ends up coming at the expense of valuing life here on earth.
But I would like to share with you an answer to our question, given by Maimonidies, the
Rambam, another medieval scholar, which I find particularly moving.
He says that the Torah is a book of obligations – and if the Torah started discussing the
reward of the after life then it would end up obliging us to serve God with the intention
of receiving reward in the afterlife – and that misses the whole point.
Life, according to Torah, is about human beings building a loving relationship with God.
The Torah is like our marriage document, or in Hebrew our “ketuba”, with God.
In a ketuba, a marriage document, it lists the obligations that the partners have to
one another.
Imagine if the document said in it – “be kind to him so that he will make you breakfast
in the mornings” – how unromantic.
Each marriage partner can know that of course their lives are going to be more pleasant
they give to one another – but to codify into the marriage document that they should
give to eachother in order to get something in return – that misses the whole point
– that’s not love.
A true, loving relationship can start from people doing things in their own self interest
but the ideal is for it to get to a place where each partner gives to the other simply
because they love them.
And likewise – in our relationship with God – ideally, we’re not meant to be thinking
about what’s in it for us – what reward we can get – because that’s not love.
The Torah wants us to get to a place of love with God – not selfishness.
So we certainly can KNOW there’s reward – indeed the oral Torah passed down through
the generations speaks all over the place about the next world – but to write it into
the Torah, to codify it into the marriage document – that misses the essence of true
love.
Ironically - the greatest pleasure in relationships that we can experience in life isn’t when
we focus on what we can get in return, but rather when that’s the furthest thing from
our mind.
I’m Ollie Anisfeld, and you’re watching J-TV.