AN EXPLICIT STATEMENT OF THE NEXT WORLD IN THE BIBLE
  © Russell Jay Hendel 2001 [1]

  INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW

  One of the distinguishing characteristics, not only of
  Judaism, but of all major religions, is the concept of
  a hereafter‑‑a paradise and hell.  According to many,
  belief in resurrection and hereafter are fundamental
  doctrinal beliefs required of religious people [2].
  * Our Talmud does require belief in the hereafter
  * Our Major Halachic authorities codify this belief
  * There is an explicit description of this hereafter
  * The Talmud describes entrance requirements for the hereafter
  * The Talmud sees various verses alluding to the hereafter

  But while the medieval Jewish texts and even the Talmud
  openly speak about the hereafter, the Bible seems
  to be silent on this important topic. Some antagonists
  to religion even use this silence to cast doubt on the
  doctrinality of this important concept: For, they argue,
  if the hereafter is so important then it should be
  explicitly mentioned in the Bible. In fact, the
  hereafter appears to these antagonists as an
  afterthought that Talmudic Rabbis invented to comfort
  the persecuted masses.

  The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that
  the hereafter is explicitly mentioned in the Bible [3]
  We develop this thesis in 4 stages: We show explicit 
  mention in the Bible that the hereafter...
  STAGE 1: ..is mentioned in the Bible
  STAGE 2: ..is identified with a higher quality of existence
  STAGE 3: ..is a place where people sits in Gods presence & learn 
  
  Finally we will conclude this paper with ..
  
  STAGE 4: Relevant educational implications for us ‑‑‑How
  Olam Haba should affect our curriculum and the instruction
  of ourselves and our children

STAGE 1: Explicit Biblical Mention of Reward for Mitzvoth
 
 We develop our thesis in stages. In the first stage
 we simply interpret OlamHaba as a statement that God
 rewards those who do commandments. Such a statement does
 occur in the Bible. 

 As the Table below shows there are 9 verses in Deuteronomy 
 which promise ARICHUS YAMIM to those who perform the 
 commandments. Subsequent sections will show that the 
 Biblical Hebrew term ARICHUS YAMIM corresponds to the 
 concept of the hereafter.

 In the table below the first column lists the VERSE,
 the 3rd column gives a BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE TEXT OF THE 
 VERSE, and the 2nd column gives a brief synopsis of the 
 SURROUNDING TEXT of the chapter. Those who wish further 
 study should review the whole chapter.

VERSE	SURROUNDING TEXT	BRIEF SUMMARY OF TEXT OF VERSE	
Dt04‑40	Gods greatness	Watch Mitzvoth for aricuth yamim	
Dt05‑16	10 Commandments	Honor parents  for aricuth yamim	
Dt05‑30	Decaloge Receipt	Watch Mitzvoth For aricuth yamim	
Dt06‑02	Intro to Shma	Learn and Do Mtzvt for aricuth yamim	
Dt11‑09	Gods Greatness	Do Mitzvoth .. For aricuth yamim	
Dt17‑20	Kings Obligations	Learn Do Mtzvt.  For aricuth yamim	
Dt22‑07 	Mother Bird mtzvh	Let mother go..for aricuth yamim	
Dt25‑15	Honest weights     	Proper weights ..for aricuth yamim	
Dt32‑47	The Rebuke Poem	Pay Attention(to the Torah)  for aricuth yamim	
Table 1: As an example we review the first row of the table. The first row of the table shows that Dt04‑40
(Deuteronomy Chapter 4 Verse 40) says that we should watch Gods commandments and statutes which I command you today
 which are good for you and your children after you and in order that you have aricuth yamim on the land that  the Lord your God gives you all the days. We have summarized this as Watch mitzvoth for aricuth yamim. The  surrounding text, Dt04‑01:24 speaks about our obligation to see and remember Gods greatness particularly in the Exodus

 STAGE 2: PHYSICAL BIGNESS CAN ALSO MEAN ABSTRACT BIGNESS

 To proceed to the next step we must first illustrate the general rule that any word denoting 
a great physical quantity of an attribute can also denote a great  abstract/spiritual/emotional quantity of an attribute.[4] This principle is not unique to Hebrew but applies in  many languages.
For example the English word Heavy can denote something physically heavy or can indicate a serious matter The Table below illustrates this principle with  a list of words which can
 either have
 * a physical interpretation or
 * an abstract spiritual/emotional interpretation

ROOT	Physical Meaning	VERSE 	Abstract Meaning	VERSE	
G‑D‑L	Big        	Gn21‑08	Leader [5]          	Est03‑03	
K‑B‑D	Heavy      	Prv27‑03	Honored	Nu22‑17	
R‑V‑Ch	Spacious	Jer22‑14	(Emotional)Calm[7]  	1Sa16‑23	
R‑B‑H	Reproduce	Dt08‑13   	Trainees [8]        	Nu32‑14	
K‑T‑N	Small	1Sa17‑14	Unworthy [9]       	Gn32‑11	
K‑Tz‑R	Short[10]  	Ps89‑46  	Lack of Interest    	Ex06‑09	

Table 2: To illustrate let us review the 3rd row of the table. The Hebrew ROOT studied is Resh‑Vav‑Cheth. The VERSE
 Jeremiah 22‑14 speaks about people who build houses with Spacious attacks. Thus this verse illustrates  the PHYSICAL meaning of R‑V‑Ch. By contrast the VERSE  I Samuel 16‑23 speaks about how King Sauls paranoia was calmed when they played music for him. Thus thisverse illustrates the spiritual/emotional meaning of the R‑V‑Ch. The reader should note that calmness  corresponds to adequate emotional space and therefore echoes and mirrors the concept of physical space.

We can now show that the hereafter refers to a higher 
quality of life. Recall that in STAGE 1 we showed that 
the reward for commandments is aricuth yamim.  The Hebrew 
word orech means long.  Thus the literal translation of 
Aricuth yamim would seem to mean long days. 

However the above table shows a duality between physical
and abstract meanings. Hence just as aricuth yamim
could mean a lengthy life, aricuth yamim could also mean
a higher quality of days. This then is the desired goal of
stage 2: To show that the reward for doing commandments
is a higher quality of life.

To defend this possible translation of aricuth yamim as higher
Quality of life we bring 4 supports.

* The Radack points out that the Hebrew phrase for 
  Lengthy days uses the preposition for (lamed). For
  example Gn26‑08 would be translated as and when
  the days were long for him (orech l). Based on this
  observation it would appear that the ordinary phrase
  orech yamim (Without the preposition for) would mean
  higher quality of life

* According to all commentaries the Hebrew word aruchah
  can mean healing (which is analogous to a higher
  quality of life). Thus Jer30‑17 is translated as
  a promise by God to bring a healing to you

* We have the explicit statement in Chullin 142a
 
  	Consider the case where a mans father said to him,
Go up to the top of the building and bring me down
 	young birds. The son then went up to the top of the
  	building, let the dam go, and took the young birds,
  	but on his return fell and was killed. 

  	If we translate orech yamim (Dt22‑07) as length of
	Days then the Biblical promise to give this person
  	Length of days has not been fulfilled. 

  	Therefore we must interpret Orech yamim as 
  	Hereafter.
 
 * Finally extending the above Talmudic argument we
  can cite other verses where quality of life 
  is a preferred translation to length of life.
  Perhaps the simplest example is I Kings 3‑14 where
  God promises King Solomon orech yamim if he watches
  Gods commandments.

  But King Solomon violated the prohibition against 
  intermarriage and did not follow Gods commandments.
  So King Solomon lost his right to orech yamim.
  The Bible does not say he was punished with death!
  Rather the Bible explicitly says he was punished with
  harassment ‑‑In other words he lost quality of
  life (I Kings 11:11‑14).
 
To summarize: In stage 2, we demonstrated from a 
variety of sources that orech yamim, the explicitly
stated Biblical reward for observing commandments,
does not mean long days but rather refers to a higher
Quality of life. Our support for this comes from
semantic, grammatical, Biblical and Talmudic sources.

STAGE 3: THE NATURE OF THE NEXT WORLD

Before proceeding to the next stage we recall the distinction between pleasures whose source is physical vs pleasures whose source is intellectual.[11] Some examples will suffice:Examples of Physical pleasures are eating, marriage, social standing, financial security etc. By contrast examples of intellectual pleasures are the happiness in finding a good distinction while learning or the sense of satisfaction in performing a commandment such as a charitable cat

Recall further the distinguishing characteristics between physical and intellectual pleasures. Physical pleasures are intrinsically limited: You cant eat an unlimited amount unless you possess the food; and even if you did possess unlimited food overeating would cause nausea not pleasure. There is no way to train oneself to enjoy overeating. By contrast you neednt possess anything to learn or accomplish. If you are properly trained then you can learn all day and enjoy it. The pleasures of the next world are more similar to intellectual pleasures [11] then they are to physical pleasures. (That is, the next world is an unlimited pleasure that does not require the competition of possession).

 With this background let us review how the Bible
 describes the hereafter. Recall that The Bible mentions that as a reward for doing 
 commandments we will have a higher quality of life. This promise is made in 9 verses.

 By studying the Biblical context of the promise, that is, by
 studying what preceded and followed the promise of
 higher quality of life in the Biblical chapter, we can 
 infer how this higher quality of life is perceived

 As is shown in the table below, the higher quality
 of life which is promised as a reward for the 
 commandments is connected with
 * the intellectual pleasure of learning
 * the satisfaction of performing commandments
 * the intellectual   pleasure of hearing Gods greatness
This description of the hereafter as a place where souls learn, do
commandments and view Gods greatness is almost identical with the
explicit statements made by both our Talmud and Rishonim
concerning the nature of the hereafter [2].

 To illustrate how the table is used let us review the
 4th row: Deuteronomy Chapter 4 discusses Gods greatness
 * The chapter asks us to remember Gods Greatness. 
 * The chapter reviews how God literally saved the Jewish nation from Egypt
* The chapter also reviews How God caused prophecy to rest on the entire Jewish nation.
* The chapter then concludes that we should watch  Gods commandments 
* in order that WE HAVE A HIGHER QUALITY OF LIFE ON THE LAND THAT GOD PROMISED US.

 We are suggesting that the concluding sentence promising
 a higher quality of life if we observe commandments
 can be seen as concluding the whole chapter.. In other
 words we see the message of the whole chapter as
 * advising us to remember Gods greatness
 * requiring us to observe Gods commandments
 * And then as a consequence (to all the above) we will
   have a higher quality of life (orech yamim).

We also see this consequence as a logical consequence vs an arbitrary gift by God.
That is the reason we will attain a higher quality of life for remembering Gods greatness
and doing Commandments is because by definition our source of pleasure will be
intellectual (doing commandments and talking about Gods greatness) rather than physical
Again this perspective on the next world is fully supported in the Talmud and Rishonim [2]
   
VERSE	SURROUNDING TEXT	TEXT OF VERSE	THE CONTEXT	
Dt06‑02	Intro to Shma	Learn Do Mtzvt	LEARNING	
Dt17‑20	Kings Obligations	Learn Do Mtzvt 	LEARNING 	
Dt32‑47	The Rebuke Poem	Pay Attention	LEARNING MOOSAR	
Dt04‑40	Gods greatness     	Watch Mitzvoth	GODS GREATNESS	
Dt11‑09	Gods Greatness	Watch Mitzvoth	GODS GREATNESS	
Dt05‑30	Decaloge Receipt	Watch Mitzvoth	DO COMMANDMENTS	
Dt05‑16	10 Commandments    	Honor parents	DO COMMANDMENTS	
Dt22‑07	Mother Bird mtzvh  	Let mother go	DO COMMANDMENTS	
Dt25‑15	Honest weights[12]	Proper weights	DO COMMANDMENTS	
Table 3: Context of 9 chapters contain promise of higher quality of life for doing commandments.
 
STAGE 4: APPLICATION TO EDUCATION

We conclude with a few comments on application to modern
Judaica curriculum. Is the next world a theoretical 
concept to comfort people whose relatives died. Or
is there something deeper to it?

I would suggest that besides promising us reward, the
concept of the next world also Teaches us moral behavior.
Without the concept of the next world most people would
concentrate on physical pleasures such as financial security
 
However the concept of the next world reminds us of
mans capacity to enjoy things other than physical
pleasure. As the Bible itself says Dt08‑03 in Order
That You Should Know That Man Doesnt Only Live by
Bread but Rather Man Lives by the Word of God

In short, by teaching the concept of the next world
we are also helping ourselves in this world. We are
reminding ourselves and our children that man has
capacity for pleasures that are intellectual in nature.
By reminding ourselves of our capacity for these 
pleasures we in turn encourage the type of training
(in performance of commandments and learning)  that 
facilitates the community to observe Gods law. 

True there is an ideal not to observe commandments because
of reward and pleasure but as a practical matter we can
help people a great deal if we point out that by training
themselves (in performance of commandments and learning) 
they can obtain pleasures in this world without the wear and 
tear of physical pleasure and this awareness will significantly
increase Torah and Mitzvah performance.

 FOOTNOTES
[1] An HTML version of this article may be found at
    http://www.RashiYomi.Com/olamhaba.htm

[2] The following sources on the hereafter will prove useful
    in the rest of the article
    ‑‑(2a) Requirement to believe in the Hereafter(Sanhedrin 90a)
    ‑‑(2b) Halachic conficiation of this requirement (Rambam Repentance 3:6-14)
    ‑‑(2c) What is the next world like (Beracoth 17, Rambam Repentance 8:2)
    ‑‑(2d) Requirements for entry to hereafter (e.g. Shabbath 31a, Niddah 73a)

[3] The ideas in this article originally appeared in Spring 1997
    Bais‑Medrash, a copyrighted email group of (www).Torah.Org, 
    hosted by Rabbis Menkin and Lobel. I would
    like to acknowledge the extensive and learned discussion
    that took place in Spring 1997 which helped
    me clarify my ideas and made this article possible. The
    original texts of these postings may be found on my
    website starting at http://www.RashiYomi.Com/bm.htm ‑‑
    scroll down (or do a find for) NEXT WORLD.

[4] Translation of verses is frequently subject to controversy
    To avoid controversy I have selected entries in this table
    from the Radack, Book of Roots which is a major authoratative
    source of Biblical meaning. Rashi frequently echoes the
    same theme as is shown in the footnotes to the table.

[5] Physical bigness denotes many inches.  A political leader
    has many followers and hence is big.

    See Rashi on Gn10‑20. Rashi explicitly points out that
    Big can either mean older or a leader.

[6] Note the consistency of metaphors. A physically heavy
    object has great impact, and can bear pressure. Similarly
    an honored person has great impact and can bear social
    Pressure on a situation

[7] Physical spaciousness denotes that I have room in which
    to maneuver. Emotional spaciousness denotes that I
    have emotional Room in which to maneuver. That is, I
    am not fixated on some phobia (Which was King Sauls problem)

[8] To reproduce means to produce more members of the same
    species. To train/teach means to produce more members
    Adhering to the same organizational doctrine

[9] See Rashi on Gn09‑24 where he points out that small
    can also mean despicable. 

[10] See Nu21‑04 for a lengthy Rashi discussing that short
     can denote physical shortness or emotional shortness
     (a lack of emotional room). Rashi discusses the
     general concept of a physical‑abstract duality. Also
     see http://www.RashiYomi.Com/nu21‑04c.htm

[11] The word intellectual pleasure has many negative
     connotations. Consequently let me be clear: By
     the words physical or intellectual I refer to
     the sources of the pleasure: The source of
     physical pleasure might e.g. be food. By contrast
     the source of intellectual pleasure might be
     learning Talmud, or reading about Gods great
     deeds or even receiving a prophetic understanding
     of God. Thus in each case the words physical
     and intellectual refer to the source of pleasure

[12] The astute reader may wonder why the reward of
     Higher quality of life is only mentioned in certain
     commandments like honorings ones parents or the
     commandment of the mother bird.

     Rashi answers this in a set of 7 verses: Rashi suggests
     that the Torah expected the reader to use the Biblical
     technique of generalization. In truth observing any
     commandment leads to a higher quality of life. The Torah
     indicated this by telling us this rule (of obtaining
     a higher quality of life from performing any Commandment)
     in extreme cases. In other words one obtains the hereafter 
     * Even for doing something requiring little effort
       such as sending away the mother bird (Dt22‑07)
     * Even listening to your parents (Which most people 
       do anyway because their parents help them socially)
     * Even for having honest weights (Which is a one
       time act that does not require effort)
     In other words, the Torah advised us that we can
     obtain the next world for observing any commandment
     by telling us this fact on commandments that 
     require little effort (like weights, and letting
     the mother bird go) or commandments that are done
     anyway (like respecting ones parents). See the following
     URL: http://www.RashiYomi.Com/dt17‑20b.htm for 
     complete references in Rashi and more discussion.