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12-09-2007, 03:38 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-09-2007, 09:01 PM by Director Michael.)
Preferably the body is buried in a grave and returns to dust, but that is not a commandment for Noahides.
The soul of a Noahide who is observant of the Noahide commandments goes to its level of reward in the heavenly realm after the death of the body. For a faithful Noahide who observes the Noahide commandments because they are commanded by G-d through Moses in the Torah, the soul will be resurrected into its physical body to receive the future eternal reward of the World to Come.
Rabbi Yitz
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Shalom,
I was wondering what will happen to the souls in Gan Eden that do not (G-d forbid) merit to be resurrected in the World to Come? Would they just remain in the spiritual worlds, or would they cease to exist?
Todah.
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08-12-2008, 10:07 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-12-2008, 01:04 PM by Director Michael.)
Sh'lom,
I presented this question to Rabbi Moshe Weiner, author of the book "Sefer Sheva Mitzvot HaShem," published by Ask Noah International. Here is his reply:
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How did these souls merit to be receiving a reward in the spiritual heavens?
It is obvious they are there because of some good deed(s) they have done and Noahide commandments they have observed.
Since any commanded observance and altruistic (unselfish) good deed is truly connected to G-d, and His Existence is forever, therefore the spiritual impression of a commanded observance and an unselfish good deed continues eternally.
The good that was done includes the soul of the person who did this good, and being bound together, they are eternal together, because of the G-dliness within the good that was done.
So when the G-dliness within that good will be openly revealed in the reality of this physical world - and that is the correct understanding of what will happen in the World to Come which is the Era of the Resurrection - then the person himself or herself will also come back into the physical world, to be part of that revealed G-dliness.
Although as I understand it, for persons who were not genuinely Pious Gentiles (i.e., a chasid in the observance of the Noahide Code within the Torah of Moses), but whose souls still merit to be in the spiritual heavens at the time of the resurrection, they will not have the spiritual ability to stand on their own merits in the intense Presence of G-dliness that will be revealed in the physical world at that time. Therefore, their souls will be attached with those of resurrected people, to have a share in that revelation, but not as directly as if they were there in their own physical bodies.
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05-08-2009, 06:13 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-10-2009, 02:34 PM by Director Michael.)
Director Michael Wrote:See for example Isaiah 66:24. Also there is punishment "midah k'neged midah" - measure for measure.
Is the expression "midah k'neged midah" used in Tanakh?
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05-10-2009, 03:07 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-18-2015, 03:48 PM by Director Michael.)
Mattityahu ben Noach Wrote:Director Michael Wrote:See for example Isaiah 66:24. Also there is punishment "midah k'neged midah" - measure for measure.
Is the expression "midah k'neged midah" used in Tanakh?
Not verbatim. But the concept was stated by Yisro/Jethro in Exodus 18:11, about the Egyptians which G-d drowned in the Sea of Reeds (the Red Sea): "Now I know that G-d is greater than all the gods, for with that which they [the Egyptians] schemed against them [the Israelites]...!"
Rashi explains: "[The Egyptians] imagined that they would destroy [the Israelites] through water [by throwing the Israelite baby boys into the Nile River], and they themselves were destroyed by water [in the Red Sea]."
The expression does appear in the Talmud and Midrash, as cited a few times by Rashi in his explanations of Divine punishments that are written about in the Five Books of Moses. One example is in the story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:7).
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Director Michael Wrote:The spiritual Gehinom [Purgatory] is not the only realm in which an unrepentant soul can be temporarily afflicted with a cleansing process. There is also the "purgatory of the grave." An unrepentant Noahide soul that sinned in forbidden relations may be afflicted with suffering as it is forced to witness the decay of the body, whose physical pleasures it was so attracted to.
uum, can i have the reference in the Tenach that teaches this ?
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This is from Zohar, Volume II, and explained in detail by the holy "Ari Zal", Rabbi Yitzchak Luria.
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Director Michael Wrote:Mattityahu ben Noach Wrote:Director Michael Wrote:See for example Isaiah 66:24. Also there is punishment "midah k'neged midah" - measure for measure.
Is the expression "midah k'neged midah" used in Tanakh?
No. But it does appear in the Talmud and Midrash, as cited a few times by Rashi in his explanations of Divine punishments that are written about in the Five Books of Moses. One example is in the story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:7).
How does the Tower of Babel event as related in Bereishis show that HaShem punishes and rewards "measure for measure"?
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10-03-2010, 04:42 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-03-2010, 04:43 PM by Director Michael.)
Genesis 11:4 states: "They said, ... 'Let us make ourselves a name [by building a tower], so that we do not become scattered upon the face of the entire earth.'"
Measure for measure, G-d punished them for their rebellious act, by inflicting upon them the very thing that they feared would happen, on account of which they sinned. Genesis 11:8 states: "G-d scattered them from there upon the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city."
Note: In the Hebrew calendar, this happened in the year 1996 from creation, which was 3775 years ago. From that dispersion, human beings spread out for the first time over all the inhabitable continents in the world.
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Director Michael Wrote:[...] There can be longer stays in Gehinom for souls which were exceptionally sinful and unrepentant.
Suppose I have sins which I have forgotten about, and so have not repented of. Or there are actions I know of but have not realized are sins, and so I have not repented of them.
I assume there it a way I can pray to ask God to forgive me for those sins.
How do I go about asking God for forgiveness?
On the other hand, suppose I have difficulty overcoming an urge to commit a particular act that I have been taught _IS_ a sin. (Assume the sin in question does no harm to anyone else).
How can I overcome the urge, or find forgiveness for the sin, or at least mitigate the harm to myself?