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The prophet Zechariah has a vision of the end of days, when the Lord will be One and His Name One. As part of this vision he says the verse, וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֹא יִהְיֶה אוֹר יְקָרוֹת וְקִפָּאוֹן: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall not be light that is precious and frozen” (Zech. 14,6). The Sages of the Talmud (Pesachim 50a) discussed what these words mean. They asked, “What light is both precious and frozen?” They answered, “This is light that is considered precious in this world but worthless in the world to come.”
Rabbi Yoseph, the son of Rabbi Joshua Be Levi then tells of his near-death experience in which he saw what is truly real. People who we venerate in this world were often at the bottom of the scale in the world to come. Our values of this world are truly upside down!
Rabbi Ashlag, the great Kabbalist, so often teaches us that the fulfillment of our wills to receive for oneself alone which we chase after in this world are really illusory pleasures. One could say, they are not worth the paper they are written on, as in the next world they are worthless. What will stand for us at the end of our lives and what will be in the end of days are the good deeds we have done for each other.
Inspired by an article by Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag ztz’l Sefer haMa’amarim 5748, article 12 , “Mahem Torah U Melachah b’derech HaShem, with grateful acknowledgement to my chevruta Dr. Susan Jackson.
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