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Dear Rabbi,
where will be the animals which will live in Olam Haba, as they will not die anymore (I guess they will not)? Will they be the animals which lived on this planet before or will they be newly born animals with eternal life?
What's about our pets who we loved? Will they have a part in Olam Haba as there will be animals in the World to come?
Thanks!
Maximilian
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05-03-2017, 05:42 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-01-2026, 10:06 PM by Director Michael.)
The prevailing opinion is that after an animal dies, its enlivening soul returns to and is absorbed in its source, which is in the Hayot HaKodesh angels that have four faces: the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle (see Ezekiel ch. 1). So according to that opinion there is no "heavenly paradise" or resurrection for the souls of animals.
There will be animals in the world in the first stage of the Messianic Era, before the Resurrection of the Dead. They will all be peaceful vegetarians during that era. In that era of time, people will still procreate, and so will the animals.
We don't know what the world will be like after the Resurrection, for that has never been revealed to any prophet, and it is not something that we are able to conceptualize. The world and its inhabitants will be the dwelling place for the unlimited Essence of G-d, and everything that He wishes to be there will be united with Him.
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So if I do unterstand it correctly, the souls of animals are angels?
As they die, they stop to exist and get back into the source of angels?
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05-08-2017, 02:43 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-01-2026, 10:17 PM by Director Michael.)
What you wrote is not the correct understanding. The souls of animals are not angels. Rather, souls of animals are emanated from the class of angels that I described.
Here is an analogy: The light that shines out from a light bulb is not the source of the light. Rather, it is emanated from the source of the light.
According to the prevailing opinion, when an animal dies, its soul is absorbed back into the spiritual source where it came from, at which point it no longer exists.
There is, however, another opinion that after an animal dies, its soul has a continuing existence in the spiritual realm. This was the opinion of the fourth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Shmuel, known as the Rebbe MaHaRash. His letter on this subject has been published in English, and you can find it here on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Case-Animals-Soul...B0F3NYXYRJ
