Yom HaDin in Olam Habah
On Rosh Hashanah, we are judged together as a community. But at the end of our lives, each of us faces a deeply personal and individual judgment.
What exactly happens at that moment? How does Hashem judge each person? What determines our ultimate fate, and what can our sources teach us about the process of judgment after death?
Join Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman for a thought-provoking exploration of the Jewish understanding of our final judgment—and what it can teach us about how we live our lives today.
Yom HaDin in Olam Habah: Yom HaDin in Olam Habah
Hello Everyone,
The title given for these two sessions is Yom Hadin in Olam Haba– “The Day of Judgement in the World to Come.” These two sessions follow the previous sessions which dealt with the holiday of Rosh Hashana during which Hashem judges us and decides how our lives will be experienced in this world.
It may come as a surprise to some people to learn that the “World to Come” has been defined by various authorities in different ways. There are those who say that the “World to Come” is the existence od the soul after death. Others hold that the “World to Come” is the world after the Resurrection.
This disagreement about what is meant by the phrase “World to Come” might seem odd. Why can’t both definitions be true? But despite this reasonable question, the definition of “World to Come” was a subject of fierce debate in the 12th and 13th centuries. This debate fueled calls to ban the works of the Rambam whose definition of “World to Come” was decried as heretical by some authorities.
In these two sessions we will talk about the World to Come, which is something towards which all aspire.
Yom HaDin in Olam Habah: Yom HaDin in Olam Habah
Hello Everyone,
In our previous session we learned about the opinion of the Rambam regarding “Olam Habah”- the World to Come. The Rambam holds that the World to Come is the spiritual existence of life after death. The Rambam certainly agreed that there will be a resurrection but he emphasized that the great reward for the righteous is the spiritual existence of life fter death.
Many of the Rambam’s contemporaries took exception to this idea of the Rambam. But today we will learn about the opinion of the Rambam’s great predecessor, Rav Sadiah Gaon. Rav Sadiah gaon wrote what is probably the first book on the subject of Jewish beliefs. The book was written in Judeo-Arabic and is known in Hebrew as Emunot v’Deiot. In this book Rav Sadiah Gaon discusses in a simle style the basic ideas of of our religion. Rav Sadiah Gaon presents a very different perspective on Olam Habah from that of the Rambam and we will talk about it todayץ
Note- the references in sources section are to the edition of Emunot v’Deiot publised by Rav Kaffach zt”l
Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman graduated from Yeshiva University in 1980 and the dental school of Columbia University in 1985. In 1989 he began studying and teaching at Yeshivat Hamivtar and now studies and teaches at Yeshivat Machanaim in Efrat. He has rabbinic ordination from Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg.