Resurrection
Afterlife Series: Part III
Resurrection Is It Really Going to Happen?
RESURRECTION
I S I T R E A L L Y G O I N G T O H A P P E N ?
SETTING THE STAGE : JON DOUGLAS LEVENSON, RESURRECTION AND THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL, PGS. 1-‐3 That classical Judaism firmly believed in the resurrection of the dead -‐ indeed, insisted upon it as a defining tenet of the community -‐ today comes as a shock to most Jews and Christians alike. The reasons are not hard to find. The American Heritage Dictionary gives as the first meaning of “resurrection” (lowercase) “a rising from the dead or returning to life” but soon defines “Resurrection” (uppercase) as “the rising again of Jesus on the third day after the Crucifixion.” The latter meaning, which has historically stood at the very center of the Church’s proclamation of its gospel, has deeply colored the perception of [the Jewish concept of] resurrection (lowercase) throughout Christendom. As a result, Christians often hold the opinion that the absence in Judaism of a belief in the Resurrection of Jesus indicates the absence of all notions of resurrection in Judaism... It is interesting, however, that this misperception, bolstered by the ostensible absence of any notion of resurrection in the Torah, is not unwelcome among modern Jews. Consider the Jews who are eager to differentiate their tradition from its major rival among the world religions but are also uninformed about their own religion. For them, it is enormously useful to present Judaism as this-‐worldly and uninterested in, or even positively skeptical about, the return from death and the World to Come... By excluding the resurrection of the dead from Judaism, modern Jews can appear to the world and, more important, to themselves as simultaneously adhering to a way of thinking that is as old and particular as the Hebrew Bible and as new and universal as modern science.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER v
DO Y OU T HINK JEWS S HOULD B ELIEVE I N A R ESURRECTION O F T HE DEAD?
v
IS T HE C ONCEPT O F R ESURRECTION B ASED O N JEWISH S OURCES O R OUTSIDE S OURCES?
Jewish Scholars Program: Resurrection
Page 2
ENGAGING THE TEXT: DO WE BELIEVE IN A RESURRECTION? RAMBAM (MAIMONIDES), THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES OF FAITH, #13 I believe with complete faith that there will be a Resurrection of the Dead, at the time when the Creator, may He be blessed, wills it to happen…
TALMUD TAANIS, 2A-‐B Rabbi Yochanan said: G-‐d has kept three keys in His own hands and not entrusted to the hand of any messenger: namely, the Key of Rain, the Key of Childbirth, and the Key of the Revival of the Dead. The Key of the Revival of the Dead, for it is written, “And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves.” (Ezekiel 37:13)
NUSACH HA’TEFILLAH, MORNING BLESSING (SIDDUR) My G-‐d, the soul which You have placed within me is pure. You created it … and You preserve it within me. You will eventually take it from me, and restore it to me in the future. As long as the soul is within me, I offer thanks to You … Master of all works, Lord of all souls. Blessed are You, G-‐d, Who restores souls to dead bodies.
RAMBAM (MAIMONIDES), TREATISE ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD The concept of the Resurrection of the Dead – universally acknowledged by our people, incorporated in our daily prayers which were composed by prophets and great, wise men full of knowledge of the Talmud and Midrash – refers literally to the returning of the soul to the body after it has been separated from it … It requires no [allegorical] explanation …
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER v
HAVE Y OU E VER S AID T HIS M ORNING B LESSING?
v
WHY S HOULD W E A SSUME T HE R ESURRECTION O F T HE D EAD I S LITERAL A ND N OT A LLEGORICAL?
Jewish Scholars Program: Resurrection
Page 3
ENGAGING THE TEXT: WHY DO WE NEED A RESURRECTION? RAMCHAL (RABBI MOSHE CHAIM LUZZATTO), DERECH HASHEM, 1:3:9 [After Adam’s mistake] justice decreed that neither man nor the world will ever be able to rise to perfection while still in their current fallen state. Because they remain in this spoiled, non-‐ideal condition, and evil in the meantime has increased, both man and the world must go through a stage of destruction before either can arrive at perfection. Man must therefore die, and everything else that was corrupted with him also must perish. The soul cannot purify the body until the body dies and deteriorates and a new structure is composed, that the soul can enter and purify … It was therefore decreed that man should die and then be brought back to life. This is the concept known as the Resurrection of the Dead … The true time and place of reward will therefore be after the Resurrection in this renewed world. Man will then enjoy his reward with both body and soul. The body will be purified by the soul, and will therefore also be in a proper state to enjoy that good.
RABBI YAAKOV WEINBERG & RABBI MORDECHAI BLUMENFELD, FUNDEMENTALS OF FAITH The relationship of body and soul is like that of a blind man and a lame man (Sanhedrin 91b). Just as there could be no punishment for the lame man alone, there can be no reward or punishment for the soul. Alone, it cannot sin. A soul only sins in its body. Reward and punishment can only apply to the entity that is the person, the body and soul together. Only thus can justice be meted out. The soul cannot enter the World to Come without the body. Is it possible that once the entity of body and soul achieves a place in the World to Come, the body is discarded? A soul is not an image of G-‐d. A body is not an image of G-‐d. The soul doesn’t have free will. Only the two together have free will, only the two together are the image of G-‐d. This ultimate experience of being connected with actual, absolute Existence requires the whole being, the body as well as the soul. Without resurrection, without man’s knowing that he, as he now perceives himself, will experience this pleasure, the idea of the World to Come is irrelevant. People are not impressed with their soul existing in the World to Come. They can’t relate to such an existence because they feel that their soul alone is just not their whole self. The principle of resurrection implies that the body is not merely an object but a subject. The body is part of the person himself.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER v
HOW D O Y OU U NDERSTAND T HE C ONNECTION B ETWEEN B ODY A ND SOUL? A RE T HESE S OURCES A CCURATE D EPICTIONS?
Jewish Scholars Program: Resurrection
Page 4
ENGAGING THE TEXT: WHO GETS RESURRECTED/WHAT HAPPENS? RABBI EHUD RAKOVSKI, DA’AT TEFILLAH: KEDUSHAH The Resurrection of the Dead will not be for man alone, but rather for every force in the entire universe that came into actualization at any time since Creation – they will all be renewed and perfected at the time of the Resurrection of the Dead. The whole idea of man being resurrected is that he is a microcosm of the world, but the whole world will likewise experience the same thing.
RAMCHAL (RABBI MOSHE CHAIM LUZZATTO), MAAMER HA’IKARIM, BEGEULAH At the time of the Resurrection, both the righteous and the wicked shall rise. The wicked who sinned but did not receive the full measure of their punishment will receive it then. However, after the Resurrection will be the Great Day of Judgment on which G-‐d will determine who deserves eternal life and who will be lost … Those who deserve to remain in existence will be assigned an appropriate level according to the system of justice in the newly created world.
RABBI MOSHE FEINSTEIN, IGROT MOSHE, YOREH DEAH, 3:138 Dear young man: You wrote to me and asked whether a fetus that was miscarried in your family will come to life at the Resurrection of the Dead. In the Talmud (Sanhedrin 110b) it is asked: From what age does a child gain a place in the World to Come? And the answer: From the moment the fetus is conceived. In his commentary, Rashi adds that this is true even if the fetus does not reach full term. We see that it is explicitly written that at the time of the Resurrection of the Dead, even fetuses will live. And furthermore, they will have the status of tzaddikim (righteous people) since they are clean and pure of any wrongdoing. Therefore, you can be sure that at the time of the Resurrection, you will have righteous brothers. May you be blessed with peace of soul and body. May you become great in Torah wisdom and deeds of kindness, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein
MIDRASH RABBAH, GENESIS 95 Just as a person goes, so he will return. If he died blind, deaf, or mute, he will return blind, deaf, or mute. As he goes clothed, he will return clothed. G-‐d said, 'let them rise as they went—and afterwards I will heal them'. Jewish Scholars Program: Resurrection
Page 5
RAMCHAL (RABBI MOSHE CHAIM LUZZATTO), DERECH HASHEM 1:3:13 When the soul is recombined with the body after Resurrection, it will no longer be bound or restricted, and it will enter the body with all its brilliance and strength. The body will then experience a great enlightenment, and it will not have to develop gradually as a child does now. The soul will immediately shine forth and purify the body to a very great degree. This does not mean, however, that resurrected man will not be able to continue to elevate himself. The instant that the soul reenters the body, the individual is raised to a high spiritual level and the body experiences its initial enlightenment. At this point, the body will immediately be on a higher level than it could ever possibly attain in its first life. The degree of enlightenment will depend on the individual’s good deeds in his first life, and accordingly he will be placed on an appropriate level among those worthy of enjoying this ultimate perfection. [This level, however, is not permanent,] and the complete person, both body and soul, will still be able to elevate himself in relation to the initial level upon which he is placed.
ZOHAR I, 131A Observe that it has been laid down that the dead of the Land of Israel will be the first to rise, and of them it is written, “Your dead will come to life” (Yeshayahu 26:19). On the other hand, the words “My dead bodies shall arise” (ibid.) allude to the dead of other lands, since instead of saying, “shall come to life” it says “shall arise.” The living spirit, in fact, will only infuse the bodies in the Land of Israel. But the bodies buried in other lands will rise without the spirit of life, and only after they have rolled underground and reached the Land of Israel will they receive souls and be truly resurrected – only there, but not in other lands.
RAMBAN (NACHMANIDES), TORAT HA’ADAM, SHA’AR HAGEMUL In the World to Come, G-‐d will cause people to be satiated from the radiance of his Divine Presence (Bava Basra 10a). This means to say that those that merit it will be sustained by the splendor of [G-‐d’s] glory just as their bodies had been sustained in This World by food and drink. We have seen the proof of the above phenomenon in regard to the pure of soul whose bodies were sustained by little physical sustenance; the more pure the person, the less sustenance he required. For example, manna was absorbed easily and was created by a supernal light that came into physical form only by virtue of G-‐d’s Will. It was only eaten by those who experienced the tremendous spiritual elevation at the Splitting of the Reed Sea.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER v
WHY S HOULD T HOSE B URIED I N I SRAEL G ET A NY S PECIAL S TATUS?
v
WHY S HOULD T HE W ICKED B E R ETURNED JUST T O B E P UNISHED A LL OVER A GAIN?
Jewish Scholars Program: Resurrection
Page 6
KNOW HOW TO ANSWER RABBI SHMUEL WALDMAN, BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, PPG. 286-‐287 Let me offer a little analogy in order to help us better grasp the possibility of the dead being resurrected. ... The caterpillar starts off by spinning silk around itself. This is what turns it into a cocoon. While inside the cocoon, the caterpillar sort of dies -‐ it turns into a thick liquid. There isn’t the slightest trace of the caterpillar that was just there. It’s completely “melted.” And then... this liquidy glob turns into the most dainty, exquisitely colored, most petitely-‐shaped moth or butterfly. The appearance, lifestyle, and eating habits of the butterfly are completely different from that of the caterpillar. This is truly a miracle. Rabbi Yisrael Lipshitz tells us that one of the reasons that G-‐d created such a phenomenon is to help us comprehend, conceive, and perceive how even after a person dies and his body decomposes, it’s still possible for his body to arise again at a later date, during the period when all the dead are revived. And just as when the caterpillar emerges from the cocoon, it emerges with the most sublime changes, so too will miraculous changes happen to previously decomposed human bodies at the time of the resurrection.
RABBI PINCHAS WINSTON, GEULAH B’RACHAMIM, PG.43 The question has never been if there will be a period of resurrection, but when it will occur. According to many opinions, the appropriate time to resurrect the bodies of the dead is after the year 6000, in preparation for the final judgment, spoken about in the Talmud (Sanhedrin, 99a). However, this is not the opinion of all Torah commentators: There will be many resurrections, from the first one after the 40 years of “gathering in the exiles”, to the last one at the end of a period of, according to Rabbi Yehuda, 210 years … according to Rabbi Yitzchak, 214 years... (Midrash Ne’elam, Toldos 140a) … The period of the Resurrection of the Dead will be until the end of the 6000 years. (Sha’arei Leshem, pg. 492) If the Zohar is correct, then the resurrection is destined to begin either in 5786* according to Rabbi Yitzchak... or, according to Rabbi Yehuda, 5790... Either way, according to both opinions, the resurrection of the dead will occur long before 6000. *At the time of this publication, the year is 5773 (2013), which would put the latest possible date for the first resurrection in only 13 years!
ROLE PLAY Someone approaches you and says, “I heard Jews don’t believe there will be a resurrection of the dead because that’s only a Christian idea. Is that true?”
What do you respond? Jewish Scholars Program: Resurrection
Page 7
Resurrection Is It Really Going to Happen?
RESURRECTION
I S I T R E A L L Y G O I N G T O H A P P E N ?
SETTING THE STAGE : JON DOUGLAS LEVENSON, RESURRECTION AND THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL, PGS. 1-‐3 That classical Judaism firmly believed in the resurrection of the dead -‐ indeed, insisted upon it as a defining tenet of the community -‐ today comes as a shock to most Jews and Christians alike. The reasons are not hard to find. The American Heritage Dictionary gives as the first meaning of “resurrection” (lowercase) “a rising from the dead or returning to life” but soon defines “Resurrection” (uppercase) as “the rising again of Jesus on the third day after the Crucifixion.” The latter meaning, which has historically stood at the very center of the Church’s proclamation of its gospel, has deeply colored the perception of [the Jewish concept of] resurrection (lowercase) throughout Christendom. As a result, Christians often hold the opinion that the absence in Judaism of a belief in the Resurrection of Jesus indicates the absence of all notions of resurrection in Judaism... It is interesting, however, that this misperception, bolstered by the ostensible absence of any notion of resurrection in the Torah, is not unwelcome among modern Jews. Consider the Jews who are eager to differentiate their tradition from its major rival among the world religions but are also uninformed about their own religion. For them, it is enormously useful to present Judaism as this-‐worldly and uninterested in, or even positively skeptical about, the return from death and the World to Come... By excluding the resurrection of the dead from Judaism, modern Jews can appear to the world and, more important, to themselves as simultaneously adhering to a way of thinking that is as old and particular as the Hebrew Bible and as new and universal as modern science.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER v
DO Y OU T HINK JEWS S HOULD B ELIEVE I N A R ESURRECTION O F T HE DEAD?
v
IS T HE C ONCEPT O F R ESURRECTION B ASED O N JEWISH S OURCES O R OUTSIDE S OURCES?
Jewish Scholars Program: Resurrection
Page 2
ENGAGING THE TEXT: DO WE BELIEVE IN A RESURRECTION? RAMBAM (MAIMONIDES), THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES OF FAITH, #13 I believe with complete faith that there will be a Resurrection of the Dead, at the time when the Creator, may He be blessed, wills it to happen…
TALMUD TAANIS, 2A-‐B Rabbi Yochanan said: G-‐d has kept three keys in His own hands and not entrusted to the hand of any messenger: namely, the Key of Rain, the Key of Childbirth, and the Key of the Revival of the Dead. The Key of the Revival of the Dead, for it is written, “And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves.” (Ezekiel 37:13)
NUSACH HA’TEFILLAH, MORNING BLESSING (SIDDUR) My G-‐d, the soul which You have placed within me is pure. You created it … and You preserve it within me. You will eventually take it from me, and restore it to me in the future. As long as the soul is within me, I offer thanks to You … Master of all works, Lord of all souls. Blessed are You, G-‐d, Who restores souls to dead bodies.
RAMBAM (MAIMONIDES), TREATISE ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD The concept of the Resurrection of the Dead – universally acknowledged by our people, incorporated in our daily prayers which were composed by prophets and great, wise men full of knowledge of the Talmud and Midrash – refers literally to the returning of the soul to the body after it has been separated from it … It requires no [allegorical] explanation …
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER v
HAVE Y OU E VER S AID T HIS M ORNING B LESSING?
v
WHY S HOULD W E A SSUME T HE R ESURRECTION O F T HE D EAD I S LITERAL A ND N OT A LLEGORICAL?
Jewish Scholars Program: Resurrection
Page 3
ENGAGING THE TEXT: WHY DO WE NEED A RESURRECTION? RAMCHAL (RABBI MOSHE CHAIM LUZZATTO), DERECH HASHEM, 1:3:9 [After Adam’s mistake] justice decreed that neither man nor the world will ever be able to rise to perfection while still in their current fallen state. Because they remain in this spoiled, non-‐ideal condition, and evil in the meantime has increased, both man and the world must go through a stage of destruction before either can arrive at perfection. Man must therefore die, and everything else that was corrupted with him also must perish. The soul cannot purify the body until the body dies and deteriorates and a new structure is composed, that the soul can enter and purify … It was therefore decreed that man should die and then be brought back to life. This is the concept known as the Resurrection of the Dead … The true time and place of reward will therefore be after the Resurrection in this renewed world. Man will then enjoy his reward with both body and soul. The body will be purified by the soul, and will therefore also be in a proper state to enjoy that good.
RABBI YAAKOV WEINBERG & RABBI MORDECHAI BLUMENFELD, FUNDEMENTALS OF FAITH The relationship of body and soul is like that of a blind man and a lame man (Sanhedrin 91b). Just as there could be no punishment for the lame man alone, there can be no reward or punishment for the soul. Alone, it cannot sin. A soul only sins in its body. Reward and punishment can only apply to the entity that is the person, the body and soul together. Only thus can justice be meted out. The soul cannot enter the World to Come without the body. Is it possible that once the entity of body and soul achieves a place in the World to Come, the body is discarded? A soul is not an image of G-‐d. A body is not an image of G-‐d. The soul doesn’t have free will. Only the two together have free will, only the two together are the image of G-‐d. This ultimate experience of being connected with actual, absolute Existence requires the whole being, the body as well as the soul. Without resurrection, without man’s knowing that he, as he now perceives himself, will experience this pleasure, the idea of the World to Come is irrelevant. People are not impressed with their soul existing in the World to Come. They can’t relate to such an existence because they feel that their soul alone is just not their whole self. The principle of resurrection implies that the body is not merely an object but a subject. The body is part of the person himself.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER v
HOW D O Y OU U NDERSTAND T HE C ONNECTION B ETWEEN B ODY A ND SOUL? A RE T HESE S OURCES A CCURATE D EPICTIONS?
Jewish Scholars Program: Resurrection
Page 4
ENGAGING THE TEXT: WHO GETS RESURRECTED/WHAT HAPPENS? RABBI EHUD RAKOVSKI, DA’AT TEFILLAH: KEDUSHAH The Resurrection of the Dead will not be for man alone, but rather for every force in the entire universe that came into actualization at any time since Creation – they will all be renewed and perfected at the time of the Resurrection of the Dead. The whole idea of man being resurrected is that he is a microcosm of the world, but the whole world will likewise experience the same thing.
RAMCHAL (RABBI MOSHE CHAIM LUZZATTO), MAAMER HA’IKARIM, BEGEULAH At the time of the Resurrection, both the righteous and the wicked shall rise. The wicked who sinned but did not receive the full measure of their punishment will receive it then. However, after the Resurrection will be the Great Day of Judgment on which G-‐d will determine who deserves eternal life and who will be lost … Those who deserve to remain in existence will be assigned an appropriate level according to the system of justice in the newly created world.
RABBI MOSHE FEINSTEIN, IGROT MOSHE, YOREH DEAH, 3:138 Dear young man: You wrote to me and asked whether a fetus that was miscarried in your family will come to life at the Resurrection of the Dead. In the Talmud (Sanhedrin 110b) it is asked: From what age does a child gain a place in the World to Come? And the answer: From the moment the fetus is conceived. In his commentary, Rashi adds that this is true even if the fetus does not reach full term. We see that it is explicitly written that at the time of the Resurrection of the Dead, even fetuses will live. And furthermore, they will have the status of tzaddikim (righteous people) since they are clean and pure of any wrongdoing. Therefore, you can be sure that at the time of the Resurrection, you will have righteous brothers. May you be blessed with peace of soul and body. May you become great in Torah wisdom and deeds of kindness, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein
MIDRASH RABBAH, GENESIS 95 Just as a person goes, so he will return. If he died blind, deaf, or mute, he will return blind, deaf, or mute. As he goes clothed, he will return clothed. G-‐d said, 'let them rise as they went—and afterwards I will heal them'. Jewish Scholars Program: Resurrection
Page 5
RAMCHAL (RABBI MOSHE CHAIM LUZZATTO), DERECH HASHEM 1:3:13 When the soul is recombined with the body after Resurrection, it will no longer be bound or restricted, and it will enter the body with all its brilliance and strength. The body will then experience a great enlightenment, and it will not have to develop gradually as a child does now. The soul will immediately shine forth and purify the body to a very great degree. This does not mean, however, that resurrected man will not be able to continue to elevate himself. The instant that the soul reenters the body, the individual is raised to a high spiritual level and the body experiences its initial enlightenment. At this point, the body will immediately be on a higher level than it could ever possibly attain in its first life. The degree of enlightenment will depend on the individual’s good deeds in his first life, and accordingly he will be placed on an appropriate level among those worthy of enjoying this ultimate perfection. [This level, however, is not permanent,] and the complete person, both body and soul, will still be able to elevate himself in relation to the initial level upon which he is placed.
ZOHAR I, 131A Observe that it has been laid down that the dead of the Land of Israel will be the first to rise, and of them it is written, “Your dead will come to life” (Yeshayahu 26:19). On the other hand, the words “My dead bodies shall arise” (ibid.) allude to the dead of other lands, since instead of saying, “shall come to life” it says “shall arise.” The living spirit, in fact, will only infuse the bodies in the Land of Israel. But the bodies buried in other lands will rise without the spirit of life, and only after they have rolled underground and reached the Land of Israel will they receive souls and be truly resurrected – only there, but not in other lands.
RAMBAN (NACHMANIDES), TORAT HA’ADAM, SHA’AR HAGEMUL In the World to Come, G-‐d will cause people to be satiated from the radiance of his Divine Presence (Bava Basra 10a). This means to say that those that merit it will be sustained by the splendor of [G-‐d’s] glory just as their bodies had been sustained in This World by food and drink. We have seen the proof of the above phenomenon in regard to the pure of soul whose bodies were sustained by little physical sustenance; the more pure the person, the less sustenance he required. For example, manna was absorbed easily and was created by a supernal light that came into physical form only by virtue of G-‐d’s Will. It was only eaten by those who experienced the tremendous spiritual elevation at the Splitting of the Reed Sea.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER v
WHY S HOULD T HOSE B URIED I N I SRAEL G ET A NY S PECIAL S TATUS?
v
WHY S HOULD T HE W ICKED B E R ETURNED JUST T O B E P UNISHED A LL OVER A GAIN?
Jewish Scholars Program: Resurrection
Page 6
KNOW HOW TO ANSWER RABBI SHMUEL WALDMAN, BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, PPG. 286-‐287 Let me offer a little analogy in order to help us better grasp the possibility of the dead being resurrected. ... The caterpillar starts off by spinning silk around itself. This is what turns it into a cocoon. While inside the cocoon, the caterpillar sort of dies -‐ it turns into a thick liquid. There isn’t the slightest trace of the caterpillar that was just there. It’s completely “melted.” And then... this liquidy glob turns into the most dainty, exquisitely colored, most petitely-‐shaped moth or butterfly. The appearance, lifestyle, and eating habits of the butterfly are completely different from that of the caterpillar. This is truly a miracle. Rabbi Yisrael Lipshitz tells us that one of the reasons that G-‐d created such a phenomenon is to help us comprehend, conceive, and perceive how even after a person dies and his body decomposes, it’s still possible for his body to arise again at a later date, during the period when all the dead are revived. And just as when the caterpillar emerges from the cocoon, it emerges with the most sublime changes, so too will miraculous changes happen to previously decomposed human bodies at the time of the resurrection.
RABBI PINCHAS WINSTON, GEULAH B’RACHAMIM, PG.43 The question has never been if there will be a period of resurrection, but when it will occur. According to many opinions, the appropriate time to resurrect the bodies of the dead is after the year 6000, in preparation for the final judgment, spoken about in the Talmud (Sanhedrin, 99a). However, this is not the opinion of all Torah commentators: There will be many resurrections, from the first one after the 40 years of “gathering in the exiles”, to the last one at the end of a period of, according to Rabbi Yehuda, 210 years … according to Rabbi Yitzchak, 214 years... (Midrash Ne’elam, Toldos 140a) … The period of the Resurrection of the Dead will be until the end of the 6000 years. (Sha’arei Leshem, pg. 492) If the Zohar is correct, then the resurrection is destined to begin either in 5786* according to Rabbi Yitzchak... or, according to Rabbi Yehuda, 5790... Either way, according to both opinions, the resurrection of the dead will occur long before 6000. *At the time of this publication, the year is 5773 (2013), which would put the latest possible date for the first resurrection in only 13 years!
ROLE PLAY Someone approaches you and says, “I heard Jews don’t believe there will be a resurrection of the dead because that’s only a Christian idea. Is that true?”
What do you respond? Jewish Scholars Program: Resurrection
Page 7
