Getting the Body Out of the Soul
There is however a “hitch.” While the soul can be removed from the body very easily – through the process of death – the body (read: material influences) does not remove itself from the soul so easily. To paraphrase a famous quotation, “You can take the soul out of the body, but you can’t take the body out of the soul.” All of the body’s thoughts, words and actions become attached to the soul. Certainly the sinful ones cling to the soul, making it impossible for the soul to stay in paradise. This should not be understood as a punishment as much as it is a direct consequence of one’s behavior.
Put in simple terms, if one blindfolds oneself and then complains that he cannot see, must realize that if they would just remove the blindfold, it would restore their sight. If they discover that the string with which they tied the blindfold had been tied so tightly, even in knots that they cannot unravel, they know that it is a direct result of their actions.
What does a soul do in this predicament? During one’s lifetime, there are certain things that can be done to avoid the hardships that will follow in the afterlife. Besides the obvious avoidance of sinful actions, words and thoughts, Jewish mystical literature counsels recitation of Psalms among other things that protects the soul from an ordeal that it might have to go through immediately upon death – a process known as Chibut Hakever.
Chibut Hakever (translated roughly as “Purgatory of the Grave,” or more precisely as: Beating of the Grave) together with Kaf Hakela and Gehinom (Hell) are three of the various forms of soul-cleansing.
And though the description of these ordeals in Jewish literature leaves the distinct impression that these are forms of physical punishment, nothing can be farther from the truth. And this is so on two counts:
First of all, as we have stated throughout, the soul is not a physical entity. All the fire in the world cannot consume it and now physical assault can reach it. Try beating up a mathematical equation, or a philosophical concept. And these compared to the soul are physical.
We must therefore conclude that the suffering the soul is subjected to is not physical in any way shape or form. The imagery that is employed by Jewish sources, from the Biblical tot he Mystical -– are using the physical fires of hell, for example, as metaphors. Some have suggested that “fire” in the context of hell actually refers to the sense of embarrassment that the soul experiences when it is brought into the next world and its sins exposed to the inhabitants of the celestial domain.
It should be understood that in all likelihood, embarrassment is also a metaphor for the experiences the soul must endure to cleanse itself of all the bodily adhesions. Embarrassment is just a more sophisticated metaphor than the physical fires of hell.
Now that we’ve arrived at a better understanding of these fires of hell; that they are a cleansing agent for the soul to rid itself of its accumulated grease and grime, we can appreciate the second misnomer about hell. It is not a punishment. On the contrary, it is a gift that enables the soul that has lost its capacity to reunite with G-d in the next world. Not to be allowed to enter Gehinom is the punishment if we are to use the term punishment at all.
In actuality, G-d does not need to punish. There is no human element of vengeance, contrary to the popular misconception. The entire notion of punishment is to be understood as G-d’s mercy on our soul. The punishment, or more accurately, the purification process, enables the soul to undergo a process of rehabilitation and cleansing so that it may ultimately experience that which it wants most – an intimate relationship with G-d its very source..
Indeed, the Talmud relates how Acher, the renegade rabbi (whom we discussed in Chapter two) was judged so severely that he wasn’t even allowed to enter into Hell! Only the entreaties of Rabbi Meir, the great Sage who studied under him, got him accepted into Hell. The Talmud relates there that Rabbi Meir prayed that Acher be allowed to spend time in Gehinnom so that eventually he will get into Paradise. His prayer was answered in the affirmative. A fire was seen emerging from Acher’s grave, as an indication that he was allowed into Gehinnom, It took several generations – to the days of Rabbi Yochanan, the Talmudic sage – who prayed for Acher’s soul to be permitted into Paradise.
In effect, the process of Hell in Judaism is to separate the soil the soul accumulates in this world when it functions together with the body. It is the ultimate remover of the bodily influences from the soul and thereby liberates the soul from all and any limiting barriers. Far from being a “pitchforked” guarded place, Gehinnom is an expression of G-d’s benevolence. Hell, in Judaism, is the ultimate liberating agent.
Generally, the souls of the average person does not have to spend more than twelve months. Thus, the recitation of kaddish – which helps thew soul go through the cleansing process – is not said for more than eleven months, so as not to imply that the person for whom kaddish is being said deserved the maximum “sentence.”
In conclusion, one further caveat should be touched upon. According to Maimonides, there are certain individuals whose souls never make it to paradise. They are so evil that their relationship with G-d is forever severed. This is not the place to discuss the various opinions that have been expressed about this matter. Suffice it to say that these individuals are the exception rather than the rule. The rule being that the process of Gehinnom is a temporary one; a prelude to the blissful state of Paradise, which is the reward the soul receives for its good in this world.
As discussed in the preceding chapter, the soul by virtue of is struggle in this world, reveals latent energies that enable it to grow with quantum leaps.
Even after the soul leaves the body, it is still charged with the momentum it developed in this world and keeps on traveling. In the words of our Talmudic sages: “Torah scholars have no rest in this world or in the next world, as it says: `They go from strength to strength, they appear before G-d in Zion.’”
But, since the soul’s energy is derived from its efforts when it was associated with a body, the soul always seeks a further relationship with the positive actions of our physical world. This explains why kaddish recitation, or any mitzvah that is performed in behalf of a departed soul, is beneficial for that soul. Not only is it good for the soul who is going through travail in the next world on account of their recalcitrant behavior in this world, but even the tzadik, the righteous person, stands to gain from our actions in his/her behalf.
Every action taken in the merit of the deceased relative of friend – particularly a child – connects the soul with the challenges of our world and enables it to grow in ways that the soul on its own could not. But we will return to the soul’s desire to return in a later chapter – G-d willing.
From the book Safe Kabbalah, Part Three: Journeys of the Soul by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
