Teshuvah - Chapter 9

This phrase is borrowed from Pirkei Avot 2:16. Note the Rambam’s interpretation of that mishnah.

As Halachah 1 of the previous chapter explains, this verse refers to the World to Come.

As explained in the commentary to Halachot 1 and 5 of the previous chapter, karet is the ultimate, but by no means, the only punishment received by the soul.

For example, in the second paragraph of the Shema, Deuteronomy 10:12-15 relates: “If you carefully pay heed to My commandments… I will grant the fall and spring rains… you will have an ample harvest…. You will eat and be satisfied.” Similarly, many other passages throughout the Torah promise material blessings for its observance.

For example, the above cited passage (ibid. 16-17) continues: “Be careful lest your heart be tempted to go astray…. God’s anger will then be directed against you. He will lock up the heavens… the land will not bring forth its crops and you will vanish from the land.” Similarly, in many other instances, the Torah also threatens material catastrophes for the failure to observe Torah and mitzvot.

Leviticus, Chapter 26, and Deuteronomy, Chapter 28, relate a series of blessings which we will receive for fulfilling the mitzvot and curses which we will suffer if we ignore them. In conclusion, Deuteronomy 28:69 states: “These are the words of the covenant that God instructed Moses to make with the Israelites… besides the covenant that was made with them at Choreb.” Rashi interprets the covenant of Choreb as referring to the blessings and curses mentioned in Leviticus.

The promises of success for the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvot and disaster for their lack of observance have been fulfilled in both the national history of the Jewish people as a whole and the individual destiny of each particular Jew. In the future, these promises will continue to shape the face of our people.

Perhaps the Rambam mentions “all the mitzvot” as an allusion to the concept (Berachot 7a, Rosh HaShanah 16b) that a person who is not completely righteous is required to suffer difficulty in this world to absolve his sins. In contrast, a completely righteous man prospers in this world as well.

The passages in Berachot and Rosh HaShanah emphasize that at times, a wicked person will receive material benefits as recompense for the good deeds he has performed so that he suffer complete retribution for his sins after death.

Pirkei Avot 4:2 teaches, “The reward for a mitzvah is the mitzvah.” Among the interpretations of this statement is that the ultimate reward for the mitzvah is not the benefits one receives in this world, but the spiritual connection established with God. This will be revealed in the world to come.

Granting both material and spiritual life to those who observe it. The association of Proverbs 3:18, “It is a tree of life for those who hold fast to it,” with the Torah has its source in Berachot 32b.

See the commentary to Chapter 8, Halachot 2 and 3.

The Kabbalists emphasize that the Rambam’s interpretation of a portion in the World to Come, the spiritual rewards appreciated by the soul after death are dependent on the nature of its service of Torah and mitzvot. Nevertheless, the ultimate good to be experienced by the soul in the age of resurrection, the Kabbalistic interpretation of the World to Come, is not dependent on a person’s service but is rather, an expression of the essential Godly nature of the Jewish soul.

Hilchot Lulav 8:15 states: “The happiness which a person experiences in the fulfillment of a mitzvah… is a great service.”

These benefits and the removal of the difficulties mentioned above are not considered as the reward for the fulfillment of mitzvot, for that reward will come only in the world to come. Rather, they are incidental benefits granted by God to those who fulfill His will. A parallel can be drawn to an employer, who in addition to paying his workers their wages will seek to ameliorate their working conditions.

Hilchot Melachim 12:5 uses similar expressions to describe the benefits that the Jews will receive in the Messianic age: “In that era, there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition, for good will flow in abundance and all the delights will be available like dust.” The Messianic era represents the ultimate state of completion within the context of the limitations of our material world. Hence, all the negative influences such as envy and competition will be eliminated and “good will flow in abundance.” In our halachah, the Rambam describes the benefits that will come to a person for the observance of Torah and mitzvot within the context of our existence in the world at present. Therefore, there will be certain limitations on those benefits. Though there will be no war, envy will remain. Though there will be “an abundance of gold and silver,” still “all the delights” will not “be available like dust.” Since the service of God in the Messianic age will transcend that of the present era as described in the following halachah, the benefits which we will receive at that time will also be greater.

The Rambam emphasizes that these material benefits will not be given as ends in their own right. Rather, God will grant them to man in order to give him the opportunity to proceed further in the service of Torah and mitzvot and thus, attain the World to Come. A parallel can be drawn to an employer, who in addition to paying his workers their wages will seek to ameliorate their working conditions.

A good that it is too great to be earned and is only granted through God’s generosity, i.e., the World to Come.

Generosity, i.e., the World to Come.

The Rambam uses the verb שוגה. In the following chapter, he uses the same verb in the positive context.

. Berachot 32a emphasizes that wealth and luxury are a challenge that may cause a person to sin. In that Talmudic passage, Rabbi Ushia illustrates this concept with a parable: A farmer acquired a weak and skinny ox. He treated it kindly, offering it the finest fodder, but it stubbornly refused to obey him. The farmer became upset: “Why aren’t you obeying?” he shouted at the ox, “Because I am giving you choice fodder.”

Since the material benefits led these people to sin, God will remove them and force them to live in hardship.

Chapter 6, Halachah 3, states: A person may commit a great sin… causing the judgment… to be… that his Teshuvah will be held back. He will not be allowed the chance to repent from his wickedness in order that he will die and be wiped out because of the sin he committed. The present halachah describes a far less severe circumstance. Free choice is not taken away from the sinner and he has the potential to repent. Nevertheless, his behavior has created obstacles that obstruct his relationship with God. Accordingly, his path towards repentance will involve a much greater struggle. Both cases are governed by the same principle. Since a person has chosen to separate himself from God, God, in turn, creates difficulties for that person so that ultimately, he will suffer the consequences of his behavior and fail to merit a portion of the world to come. There is another reason for having the wicked suffer. Their difficulty may motivate them to realize that they have sinned and brought these problems upon themselves. Then, they will repent as Deuteronomy 4:30 declares: “When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, you will ultimately return to God.” See also Deuteronomy 30:1-2.

When you were blessed with abundant good.

While under the enemies’ rule, the Jews will have far less of an opportunity to observe Torah and mitzvot.

As explained above, a person’s service of Torah and mitzvot will cause God to grant him blessings which will facilitate his observance in the future.

See Chapter 8, Halachah 1.

Avodah Zarah 35b states: “A Torah Sage inherits two worlds, this world and the world to come.”

As mentioned above, our portion in the world to come is dependent on our deeds.

Kohelet Rabbah emphasizes that the awareness of this concept should motivate a person to a more inspired service of Torah and mitzvot in this world. Though a person will derive greater satisfaction in the world to come, there is an advantage to the service of God in this world. The world to come represents the pleasure a human being will experience. However, our service of Torah and mitzvot in this world creates pleasure for God as our Sages declared: “It is pleasurable for Me to have commanded and have had My will fulfilled.” Therefore, Avot 4:17 states, “One hour of Teshuvah and good deeds in this world surpasses the entire life of the world to come.”

The desire for physical pleasure is a major force leading one away from Torah and mitzvot.

One sin leads to another.” Because of a person’s sins, God will bring about circumstances which will make it more difficult for a person to avoid sin in the future.

Similarly, Hilchot De’ot 4:1 states: “Maintaining a healthy and complete body is among the ways of God for it is impossible to comprehend or grasp any aspect of the knowledge of God while one is sick.”

Hilchot Melachim 11:1 states: “Anyone who does not believe in him or does not wait for his coming denies… the Torah.” The Rambam emphasizes that belief in Mashiach is not sufficient. A Jew’s faith is not complete unless he anxiously waits for Mashiach to come. In Halachah 12:4 of that section, the Rambam explains the motivation for that yearning: The Sages did not yearn for the Messianic era in order to have dominion over the entire world, to rule over the gentiles, to be exalted by the nations, or to eat, drink, and celebrate. Rather, [they desired] to be free [to involve themselves] in Torah and wisdom without any pressures or disturbances so that they would merit the world to come.

The Rambam lived before the Spanish Inquisition and the massacres perpetrated during the later Crusades. Nevertheless, he had witnessed sufficient persecution of the Jews by the Christians to include in Hilchot Melachim a passage (11:4) that was removed from most printed texts of the Mishneh Torah by the Christian censors: Can there be a greater stumbling block than [Christianity…. It has] caused the Jews to be slain by the sword, their remnants to be scattered and humbled…. Similarly, in his treatise Kiddush HaShem (Chapters 1 and 4) and Iggeret Teiman (Chapter 1) the Rambam speaks of the severe persecutions Jews suffered under Moslem and Christian rulers.

The Rambam views the Messianic age as an opportunity for man to serve God fully, fulfilling all the mitzvot and acquiring great knowledge of God. As explained in the previous halachah, good deeds and the knowledge of God are the factors that enable a person to merit a place in the World to Come.

The verse continues: “as the sea fills up the ocean bed.”
The ocean contains a vast host of living beings. However, the waters cover them to the point that their individual existence is no longer perceived. Similarly, in the Messianic age, the world will continue to exist. However, every element of its existence will be permeated by the knowledge of God.

The previous verse states: “I will put My Torah in their inner parts and write it in their hearts.” Torah will become the natural instinct of the Jewish people. It must be noted that the published text of the Mishneh Torah reverses the order of the verse. The text in Jeremiah actually states: “One man will no longer teach his colleague, not a man his brother.” The Zohar (Vol. III, 23a) quotes the verse in the same manner as does the Rambam.

At present, there is often a gap between our intellectual comprehension of spiritual concepts and our emotional sensitivity to them. Though we may understand a concept abstractly, we often lack a feeling for the idea. It remains a cold, intellectual truth rather than becoming a dynamic, live force within our lives. In the Messianic age, God will remove the “heart of stone” that creates this gap between thought and feeling.

The Messiah must be a descendant of David as Hilchot Melachim 11:1 declares: “In the future Messianic king will arise and renew the Davidic dynasty.” See also Hilchot Melachim 11:4.

Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah, Chapter 9, distinguishes between Moses’ prophecies and those of the other prophets, explaining that none of the other prophets can be compared to Moses. In Iggeret Teiman, Chapter 4, the Rambam writes that the Messiah’s prophetic vision will exceed that of all the other prophets with the exception of Moses. The Maharatz Chiyot objects to this concept, explaining that Mashiach will reveal great spiritual concepts and, in the age of resurrection, Moses will come to hear his explanations of the Torah.

The Zohar (Vol. I, 118a) relates that, in that era, even little children will know the mystic secrets of creation.

Jewish thought relates that God rewards our behavior “measure for measure.” Since the Messianic age will involve the refinement of the gentile nations, it follows that as a preparatory step to hasten the advent of that era, we must work to refine the gentile nations by influencing them to accept the seven laws commanded to Noah.

In contrast, all life within this world, even the era of the resurrection of the dead, will have a certain limit (See Iggeret Techiyat HaMeitim, Chapter 4). In Sha’ar HaGmul, the Ramban disagrees with the latter concept, explaining that, after the resurrection, there will be no further death.

In Sha’ar HaGmul, the Ramban takes issue with the Rambam, explaining that the ultimate reward will be the resurrection of the dead. As he intimates, the debate between these two positions revolves on a major disagreement between Jewish philosophers and mystics. The philosophers conceive of spiritual awareness and material reality as two contradictory forces. Consequently, the ultimate state of human fulfillment, the world to come, must represent a total transcendence of material reality and a complete unity with spiritual truth. The Kabballists conceive of God as transcending equally the spiritual and the material. Just as He cannot be confined by the limitations of our material world, His Infinity also extends beyond the bounds of spiritual existence. Conversely, just as He reveals Himself within spirituality, He also has the potential to reveal Himself within the context of material existence. Indeed, the more transcendent levels of Godliness can be revealed more completely in our physical world than in the higher spiritual realms. The latter revelation will come about in the age of resurrection. Thus, that era represents man’s ultimate fulfillment and his full reward for the observance of Torah and mitzvot.

The Rambam reiterates these statements with greater emphasis in Hilchot Melachim: One should not presume that the Messianic king must work miracles and wonders, bring about new creations within the world, resurrect the dead, or perform other similar deeds. This is [definitely] not true (Chapter 11, Halachah 3). Do not presume that in the Messianic age, the nature of the world will change or that there will be innovations in the work of creation. Rather, the world will continue according to its pattern. Though Isaiah [11:6] states: “The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the young goat,” these [words] are a metaphor and a parable…. Similarly, other Messianic prophecies of this nature are metaphors (Chapter 12, Halachah 1). These statements are the subject of much debate among the commentaries. The Ra’avad and many other commentaries maintain that Mashiach’s coming will initiate a miraculous era in which the entire nature of the world will change. As the Rambam mentions, many of the Messianic prophecies appear to imply such a phenomenon. The Avodat HaKodesh attempts to resolve these two opinions, explaining that though the world will follow the rules of nature, the nature of the world will return to its state before the sin of Adam and the tree of knowledge. That sin affected the totality of creation. Hence, many of the Messianic prophecies which we regard as miracles can be considered as natural phenomena. The Sh’loh (23b) suggests a different resolution. He explains that, there will be two periods in the Messianic age: one in which the natural order of the world will not change, and a second period which will be marked by miracles. The Rambam’s inclusion of the resurrection of the dead as one of the thirteen principles of faith appears to support this opinion. There is no greater miracle and departure from the natural order than that. In Iggeret T’chiyat HaMeitim, Section 6, the Rambam writes that his statements in Mishneh Torah do not represent a definite and final decision on this question. The Messianic era may, in fact, represent a deviation from the natural order. He intended his statements to explain the Messianic prophecies without challenging the rules of logic or nature which govern our existence. By no means does he preclude the possibility that God will work miracles that transcend that order.

See Berachot 34b, Shabbat 63a, 151b.

See the notes to Chapter 8, Halachah 7.