One of the reasons the prophet has told us nothing in his book of punishment in the next world is that the form of the soul apart from the body is unknown to us; still, less do we know what brings it delight in that state or causes it to suffer. GD did, however, explain this to those who could understand its meaning as He said to Yehoshua, "I will let you walk among those who stand here" (Zecharyah 3:7) This was not to be while his soul was still joined to his body but was an allusion to the state after death when the soul in its simple and refined condition divested of the body and no longer using it assumes the form of the angels if it was purified and radiant and its deeds were good in this world. Another reason is that the doctrine of reward and punishment in the World to Come was received by the common people from the prophets in the form of oral tradition and was grasped by the wise through their intellectual faculties. They, therefore, did not mention it in Scriptures, just as they did not mention much of the exposition of the commandment and duties because they relied on the tradition. 437
Once, on a Motzoei Shabbos, the chasidim were sitting in the bais medrash of the Ruzhiner Rebbe zy”a for Melave Malka. Suddenly, the Rebbe opened the door of his room next to the bais medrash, stood at the entrance, and said, “The Baal Shem Tov was not a deity, and the zaida, the Magid, was not just an ordinary wagon driver. And once, when the holy Baal Shem Tov prayed, his talis fringe fell out of his gartel and dragged on the floor. The Magid approached, picked it up, and put it back in the gartel, but he was trembled with such tremendous fear that he fainted and his life was in danger. They were compelled to rouse the Baal Shem Tov from his deep dveikus in order to calm him.” He then added, “I told you that the Baal Shem Tov was not a deity and my zaida, the Magid, was no wagon driver. Still and all, when he touched the Besht’s garment, he fainted from fear. The entire world is Hashem’s garment. How much fear must we feel to touch this world!” May the memory of the...
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