Techiyas Hameisim (the Resurrection of the Dead) - its content and details

00:01 There’s a letter here that the Rebbe wrote in 5705–5706. I want to explain a little of the background. It’s a letter about the resurrection of the dead. What’s the story behind these letters in general? There are quite a few very interesting, very deep letters that the Rebbe wrote in those years. We all know that before he became Rebbe, the Rebbe was very much out of the public eye. He did not particularly want to become known and, in general, concealed himself, so people did not know his true greatness. The Frierdiker Rebbe tried in all sorts of ways to bring that greatness out, to reveal it and make it known—to draw it out of him. Sometimes he succeeded, and sometimes he didn’t. You can see in the correspondence between the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe that has come to light in recent years—and there is a lot of it—that the Frierdiker Rebbe was trying to push the Rebbe to become better known and more visible, while the Rebbe did not take to it at all. He didn’t want it. The whole thing is very interesting. In practice, after they arrived in America—the Rebbe came to America—they began publishing Kovetz Lubavitch. Kovetz Lubavitch was modeled, in a way, on what had existed earlier in Poland. When the Frierdiker Rebbe was in Poland, there was Hatamim. Kovetz Hatamim was the first journal to appear. The Frierdiker Rebbe published Kovetz Hatamim, as we know. We didn’t realize quite how much, but in recent years it has become increasingly clear how deeply the Rebbe was involved behind the scenes in that entire undertaking, down to every detail. The journal would be sent from Poland to France, from France back to Poland, back and forth, back and forth. In short, the Rebbe would correct it, proofread it, and prepare the whole thing. When the war with the Nazis began, then, like everything else, this too came to a stop. They had to flee Poland, and it stopped. So

02:34 there are about nine issues of Kovetz Hatamim, something like that, and that’s all that appeared during the years the Frierdiker Rebbe was in Poland. [unclear] But after they arrived in America, Hakriah Vehakedushah began coming out. During the five years of the war, the Frierdiker Rebbe published something like a magazine, a monthly newspaper. It was called Hakriah Vehakedushah, and it was something very lofty. Hakriah Vehakedushah came out throughout the five years of the war, from 5701 to 5705. It had articles about the days of Moshiach, articles and explanations on Chumash—wonderful material, truly remarkable things that presented Chassidus beautifully. Matters of prophecy. The Frierdiker Rebbe wrote hints about the future, predictions of sorts, all kinds of things about what would happen after the war. It was really something lofty, and it appeared until the end of the war. When the war ended, the paper ended. It came out only during those five years. The paper also carried a maamar: the Frierdiker Rebbe would write a maamar of Chassidus in Yiddish for it, and those became Sefer Hamaamarim Yiddish. Everyone knows Sefer Hamaamarim Yiddish. It came out of that paper. In 5705, as we said, it ended. The Frierdiker Rebbe stopped publishing it, and they began publishing—around that time, or a little earlier, I don’t know exactly—they began publishing Kovetz Lubavitch. Kovetz Lubavitch was more focused on Torah scholarship; that was the difference. Hakriah Vehakedushah was in Yiddish and was aimed more broadly, whereas Kovetz Lubavitch was more in Lashon Hakodesh and more scholarly. The Rebbe was in charge of the Torah material there, all the scholarly content. People would send in analyses and questions, and there were

04:52 also questions and answers: people would ask, and the Rebbe would answer. That is where these responses came from. People sent questions to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe answered them. In those letters, the Rebbe’s genius begins to reveal itself—how he develops a subject. Unfortunately, we were not privileged to receive many of them, but what we did receive is a treasure in itself. It came out for a few years. I don’t know how many issues appeared in the end—not many. I don’t have a number, but there weren’t many. Still, the issues that did appear gave us a substantial collection of letters on Torah subjects. In them you see the Rebbe’s greatness and genius in Nigleh, Kabbalah, Chassidus, halachah, and derush—the way he takes up a subject. What subjects are there, for example? One well-known subject is what we’re going to study today: the resurrection of the dead. The Rebbe develops the entire topic of the resurrection of the dead. There’s another letter besides this one, also about the resurrection of the dead. It explains the Mishnah, “All Israel have a share in the World to Come.” It’s a whole letter in which the Rebbe explains who will rise in the resurrection of the dead. That’s a subject in its own right, and a wonderful one too. There’s a letter connected with memorizing Mishnayos. In those years the Frierdiker Rebbe began the campaign mentioned in Hayom Yom, the campaign to memorize Mishnayos. It was the first campaign in Lubavitch: everyone was to learn a Mishnah, walk down the street and review a Mishnah—Torah in the air. There’s a long letter from the Rebbe, some seven or eight sections, explaining the entire subject. What does “Torah in the air” mean? What is air? What does it mean to bring Torah into the air? Why does the air need to be purified? Why through Mishnah? Why memorize Mishnayos? It’s a wonderful letter in which the Rebbe approaches the subject from every angle and explains

06:57 the whole matter. There’s a letter on hashgachah pratis, Divine providence. The Rebbe also wrote a whole essay, some ten sections, on the subject of hashgachah pratis. It was printed in Likkutei Sichos, volume 13, I think, in the addenda to the sichos. There’s the Rebbe’s reshimah covering the entire subject of hashgachah pratis. If you notice, all these subjects are very fundamental to Torah, yet in practice people know very little about them. Precisely on these subjects, which are so important, there’s only a little information, not a lot. And the Rebbe displays tremendous genius, explaining them from every angle. He starts with the Talmud, the Yerushalmi, the Midrashim, the Rishonim, and then explains them according to Nigleh and according to Chassidus. Beyond the Rebbe’s own novel insights, he reconciles different ideas. It’s truly extraordinary. There are more letters like this, in which the Rebbe explains various Torah subjects. There are letters on teshuvah and on a number of other matters. In any case, let’s move on to this letter. If you look here, you’ll see the name Elchanan Cohen Cohen. Elchanan Cohen Cohen was a rather modern Jew who lived in America. It seems he was among the first Jews to become close to Chassidus. He was an influential person, and he had a connection with Nissan Mindel. If I’m not mistaken, Reb Nissan Mindel later became the Rebbe’s secretary. He was a very learned Torah scholar, and not only in Torah—he was also very knowledgeable about the wider world. He was part of the Rebbe’s secretariat, one of the people entrusted with the most confidential matters. The Rebbe wrote letters in English through him. Generally, all the English letters went through Nissan Mindel. He

09:11 He was one of the very closest secretaries, and in those years, while the Frierdiker Rebbe was still alive, he used to give a class to a group of people—prominent people from America, various rabbis of the more, how should I put it, open-minded, academic sort. Anyway, this man’s name was Elchanan Kownen[?], I think, and through this he became very connected to Chassidus. Later he also wrote books—Torah and Science, things like that. So he asks a question. There are several letters from the Rebbe to him; in the early volumes of the letters, you can see several substantial exchanges between them, particularly letters dealing with philosophy, science, and deep questions in Torah. What is he asking here? This man asks the Rebbe because he wants to understand the subject of the Resurrection of the Dead, and he has two questions. First, the details of the Resurrection of the Dead: we know so little about it. When will it happen? How will it happen? Who will be resurrected? There are so many apparent contradictions in the teachings of our Sages, and he simply wants to know a bit more about the details. His second question is about the whole point of the Resurrection of the Dead. The soul—that I can understand. The soul is truly a part of G-d above, so it makes sense that the soul is eternal. Just as Hakadosh Boruch Hu is eternal, the soul is eternal. But the body is dust from the earth. Why does the body need to be there? Why make such an issue of it? Why do we need the Resurrection of the Dead? Why is it such a fundamental matter that the soul must rise again and enter a body? What is the purpose? Those, essentially, are his two questions. We

11:17 notice that when the Rebbe explains it to him, the Rebbe reverses the order. First the Rebbe explains the overall point of the Resurrection of the Dead, and then he explains the details. The order itself is interesting. The Rebbe first addresses the essence of the matter: Why is the Resurrection of the Dead so central that it is a principle of faith? Why do we really need it? What does the Resurrection of the Dead mean to us? The Rebbe takes up the general question, and then, in the second part of the letter, explains the details. Before we get into the Rebbe’s central point about the Resurrection of the Dead, I’ll mention a few things. Afterward, everyone can study the letter inside. At least this will give us some structure for understanding what the Rebbe is going to do here. It’s a wonderful letter. In my opinion, it’s one of the more foundational letters on Geulah and Moshiach, particularly since the whole thing is written in the Rebbe’s own holy handwriting. That has significance. Of course, the sichos that the Rebbe edited are important too. But the fact that every word here is in the Rebbe’s own holy handwriting gives us even more reason to study it carefully and precisely. To bring it into practice, we need to learn it. The Rebbe actually wrote it himself. Here is the point. First, the Rebbe introduces a question: Why talk about the Resurrection of the Dead at all? The Rambam himself writes that it is foolish to talk about it—that is, to talk about all sorts of details. People just want to know how they will rise, what will happen when they rise, and so on. That isn’t what matters, while the main point is being neglected. The main point is the World to Come, not the Resurrection of the Dead. So the Rebbe explains two things. First, the Rambam did not mean that we should not discuss the details of the Resurrection of the Dead. After all, we see that the Gemara discusses them.

13:07 The Midrash discusses them too. So the Rambam certainly did not mean to rule out such discussion altogether. He meant that we should not make the main thing secondary and the secondary thing primary. Yes, we need to contemplate the essence of the matter, not just the details. That is one point. Second, the Rambam is following his own position. The Rambam disagrees with all those other early authorities: he holds that the Resurrection of the Dead is not the World to Come. The World to Come is Gan Eden. That is the Rambam’s position, as he states explicitly in Hilchos Teshuvah and similarly in his introduction to Perek Chelek. The Rambam holds that after the Resurrection of the Dead, the final state will be the World to Come. And what is the World to Come according to the Rambam? A spiritual world, a world of souls. The Resurrection of the Dead is a period, not the ultimate reward. The ultimate reward is the reward in the World to Come—souls without bodies. The Rambam holds that you cannot say the reward is for the body, and that is why he says: I don’t understand. Instead of talking about the World to Come and gaining some understanding of a spiritual matter, people focus on things of this world, on the Resurrection of the Dead, which is only a brief period in this world. But that is the Rambam’s position. We do not agree with the Rambam on this. The position of Chassidus is that of the Ramban and other early authorities. If you look later in the letter, the Rebbe lists all the early authorities who disagree with the Rambam. It is on the last page, at the end of the letter, page 26, footnote 23. The Rebbe brings all the opinions that hold that the Resurrection of the Dead means precisely eternal life, souls in bodies: Rav Saadia Gaon, the Raavad, the Ramban, Reb Meir Halevi—the Ramah—Avodas Hakodesh, the Shelah, and the Alter Rebbe. All of them disagree with the Rambam. So it is indeed important for us to understand the Resurrection of the Dead in a body, because that is the ultimate reward. That is the general introduction the Rebbe gives. And here the Rebbe begins—as you can see, the letter is divided into two parts. There is an “A”

15:20 and, a few pages later, a “B”—two parts. In the first part, the Rebbe explains the essence of the Resurrection of the Dead. Why must there be souls in bodies? What is the advantage of souls in bodies? Seemingly, the opposite is true: the soul is far higher, a spiritual soul, and so on. So why do we say that the Resurrection of the Dead will specifically be souls in bodies? Now, here is something interesting, everyone: the Rebbe writes a note below. There is a very simple answer to this question—why the Resurrection of the Dead means souls in bodies. There is a straightforward answer according to the revealed teachings of Torah: fulfilling a mitzvah involves not only the soul but also the body, so the body too must receive a reward. What do you mean, only the soul receives a reward? To fulfill a mitzvah, the soul needs the body. Just as the body needs the soul, the soul needs the body. The Rebbe cites the Gemara in Sanhedrin in a note below. The note has no number. He cites Sanhedrin there, referring to the story where Rebbi asked Antoninus—sorry, Antoninus asked Rebbi: Who receives the reward for performing mitzvos? Who receives the punishment? He gave him a parable about a blind man and a lame man who were guarding a field, and grapes were stolen. What happened? The blind man could not see, while the lame man could not walk. But the lame man saw the grapes and wanted to eat them. So he told the blind man to put him on his shoulders and carry him; he would show him the way, and then they ate. Together they were able to steal. When the king arrived, he asked who had eaten the grapes. Each one said, “I didn’t eat them; I couldn’t see”

17:28 Nothing. And the second one said, “I didn’t eat; I can’t walk.” Each had a different excuse. So the king put one on top of the other and beat them. He said, “You went together.” In the same way, the soul says that without the body it cannot commit a sin. The body says that without the soul it has no desire to commit a sin. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu takes the soul and the body together and punishes them together. This is in the Gemara. The Rebbe writes here below that the same applies to the reward of those who do His will. Since fulfilling a mitzvah requires both of them, and there has to be free choice, both deserve the reward. But the Rebbe says this only explains why the body, too, must receive a reward. That is not the Rebbe’s question here in the text. The Rebbe’s question is: How do we explain that the principal reward is for souls in bodies? This is the main question in Chassidus. All right, the body also has to receive a reward. But the ruling in Chassidus, following the Ramban, as we said earlier, is that the ultimate reward is the Resurrection of the Dead—souls in bodies. That is the principal reward. So the question is: How can the soul, while in a body and subject to the body’s limitations, receive the principal reward there? That is the question. And here the Rebbe goes into a wonderful explanation. I don’t think there is another explanation in Chassidus quite like the way the Rebbe explains it here. It is a fundamental explanation of the whole concept of reward. What defines reward? This, too, is a very basic matter. The idea of reward—what does reward actually mean? We’re used to talking about reward as though it means receiving something good. You did something, and they give you something good. But the essence of reward is much deeper than that. Reward is actually the fulfillment of what you do. In simple terms, we say—you know,

19:35 there are two kinds of reward in general. In our world, someone works and gets paid. But the money you receive has no inherent connection to the work. In other words, the money doesn’t come from the work. With most of the things we do, you work at a yeshiva and they pay you for that work, but the money doesn’t come from your work itself. There are people who raise money and give it to you. So the reward is something separate, something incidental. It isn’t the result of the work. But there is another kind of reward, where the reward is the result of the work itself. Right? For example, someone works in a field, and from what he—how do you say it—harvests or sows, he receives a share of the proceeds, like a sharecropper or a tenant farmer. You receive a return from your own activity. That is the reward. It is a natural result of what you do. In the same way, the reward we’re talking about here is reward for serving Hashem. The reward is actually the result of what a person has done. Now, there are many levels to this. As the Rebbe says, there is material reward. A person performs a physical action and receives a material reward. There is also spiritual reward. A worker receiving a share of the field’s produce, as we said, is material. But take, for example, a teacher and student: the student serves the teacher, and the teacher teaches him an idea. So the reward he receives is spiritual. He gains further understanding from what the teacher gives him; the teacher explains the purpose of creation to him. The Rebbe says something very interesting here. In any case, there are several kinds of reward. Reward is a result of your actions. But within this itself, there is limited reward and unlimited reward. The reward people usually speak about is limited reward. But there is a reward connected with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. A Jew

21:37 who serves Hakadosh Boruch Hu—when he fulfills a mitzvah, as our Sages say, “The reward for a mitzvah is a mitzvah.” Mitzvah is related to the word tzavsa, meaning connection. So the reward itself is the connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That itself is the reward. It is not, as some people think, that reward means receiving all kinds of lovely gifts. The reward for the mitzvah is the mitzvah itself. A Jew fulfills a mitzvah and connects with Hakadosh Boruch Hu—tzavsa, a connection. To experience that connection, to have it revealed—that itself is the reward. And that will happen in the future, when this will be revealed in its fullest perfection. Now, in the process of serving Hashem, there is an order and a progression of levels, so that a person can become a vessel for it. It’s like the relationship between a teacher and a student. When the teacher wants to give the student this reward, to teach him an idea, the teacher could teach him very profound things. But the student wouldn’t understand anything, so it wouldn’t be a reward. There is an order and a progression. The teacher teaches the student a little, then a little more, and a little more, until each time he learns more and more and becomes a vessel for the teacher’s deeper ideas. In the same way, in serving Hashem there are many levels, many degrees of human perfection, as the Rebbe calls it here in the letter. For a person to reach perfection—the perfection of a person’s service, human perfection—he has to rise from one level to the next. Each time he refines himself further and receives more, and then he receives still more. And as it says, in the process of reaching perfection there is an arousal from above and an arousal from below; there is an arousal from above proportionate to what comes from below, and there is a gift from above that is beyond all proportion. But this has to happen in an order, through a progression of levels. This is the course of a person’s life: he becomes more and more refined, becoming an ever greater vessel for revelations of G-dliness, until he can

23:37 receive the loftiest revelations. Broadly speaking, the Rebbe says, this is the course of the world as a whole. There are the three periods we speak about: this world, the days of Moshiach, and the Resurrection of the Dead. Those are three periods. This world is the time for work. While the work is underway, there is still a battle, a battle against the evil inclination, and a person’s entire task is to fight and overcome evil. It is an enormous, difficult battle, and the reward is proportionate to the manner of the work. The days of Moshiach are the second period. That is when the battle will be completed; the battle will come to an end in the days of Moshiach. But the days of Moshiach are not yet the World to Come. The days of Moshiach are still part of this world. They are the fulfillment of this world. The days of Moshiach are not the time of reward. They are still not the time of reward. This is very important and very fundamental. We need to know it. People think the days of Moshiach are already the time when the whole business is over—it’s the World to Come. No. The days of Moshiach are still part of this world. They are its fulfillment. That is to say, in the days of Moshiach the process of refinement will be completed, when the battle between good and evil comes to an end. The Jewish people will then reach the perfection of goodness, but the world itself will not yet be in a state of ultimate perfection. There will still be various aspects of work to do. That is why it says, “There is no difference between this world and the days of Moshiach except subjugation to the kingdoms.” The Gemara in tractate Shabbos—since you mentioned it, that is where this idea appears. In other words, even in the days of Moshiach there will still be work to do. There will still be work to do, and that is when the principal work will take place. That is why it says, “And there we will perform them before You in accordance with the commandments of Your will.” There will be the fulfillment of mitzvos then, and the fulfillment of mitzvos will reach its ultimate perfection. In the days of Moshiach, the Jewish people will rise to the perfection of their service so that they will be vessels for the perfection of the reward. And only after the service of the days of Moshiach, then

25:48 At the Resurrection of the Dead, the true reward arrives. That is when the promise “I will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth” is fulfilled; there will be no more death in the world. Hakadosh Boruch Hu will slaughter the evil inclination. All of this is already connected with the Resurrection of the Dead. And then it will be given to us as a gift. [unclear] It comes as a gift from Hakadosh Boruch Hu to the Jewish people, out of all proportion to what they did, even though [unclear] the mitzvos. “The righteous sit with their crowns on their heads and enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah”—according to Chassidus, this does not refer to the World to Come as Gan Eden. It refers to the World to Come as the Resurrection of the Dead. At the Resurrection, “their crowns on their heads” will be revealed. The crowns are an unlimited revelation, because through their service, as the Jewish people rise from level to level, they will become vessels for the revelation of the infinite Ein Sof. Now, where is the answer here to the question of souls in bodies? Why do we say that all this is specifically for the soul while it is in a body? On this, the Rebbe writes in the letter about a principle we all know, the ABCs of Chassidus. The whole matter is founded on the idea that Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling in the lower realms. Since the purpose of creation is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired a dwelling in the lower realms, what does that mean? A dwelling in the lower realms means that Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired that it be specifically in this lowly world, the physical, material world. It is the lowest place—not in location, but in spiritual level, the lowest place in terms of concealment. And specifically here, through his service, a Jew attains bittul, unites with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, becomes a vessel for G-dliness, and turns the yesh—the substance of the body, the very embodiment of yesh—into ayin. That is the entire ultimate purpose. And when a person fulfills that purpose, he surely becomes a vessel for the full reward. Just as

27:41 in physical matters, yes, when something fulfills its purpose, it reaches its perfection, so too, when a person fulfills his purpose, he reaches his perfection. The entire purpose of the world is a dwelling in the lower realms: that physicality should become a vessel for G-dliness. So in the future, that purpose will be revealed here below. It follows that when we say that in the future there will be souls in bodies, it is not just a side point, as we said earlier—that since you observed the mitzvos with your body, you will receive the reward with your body. Rather, this is the ultimate intent. The whole point, the entire purpose of the world’s creation and the entire purpose of Torah and mitzvos, was to fulfill Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s intent in the lower realms. “And Hashem commanded us to perform all these statutes, to fear Hashem”—to attain bittul. So it is clear that the service must be with the yesh, with the physical, and not without it. And when this is completed, the revelation will be here below, in this physical world. That is the whole explanation, the first point the Rebbe explains. Continuing from there, on page 70 the Rebbe goes into the subject of [unclear], and explains the three periods and why there are the days of Moshiach and the Resurrection of the Dead, according to Chassidus. Until now we have been speaking about the perfection of the person. When a person reaches perfection, there are three levels in this: there is achieving it through struggle, and then achieving it without struggle. But there is the service of those below, doing it in the world and revealing it, and then there is the reward or gift given to you, which is the Resurrection of the Dead. But what does that mean? A person has reached the higher revelation, because the ultimate intent is not only for a person to reach perfection. It is also that there should be a dwelling in the lower realms, that the light of the Ein Sof should be revealed. And that higher revelation also has three levels. Here the Rebbe explains—and it is very interesting to see how the Rebbe writes a letter in a simple style,

29:41 because he wants people who do not yet know all the maamarim and everything else, people whose knowledge is limited, to understand it. So the Rebbe tries to explain it in a way an ordinary person can understand. Here the Rebbe goes into the three levels of Memalei Kol Almin, Sovev Kol Almin, and Atzmus Ein Sof, blessed be He. [unclear] The Rebbe explains it with an analogy. The Rebbe takes the analogy from the life of the soul: there is a particular life-force that is invested in each limb according to its nature, a life-force apportioned to each individual limb. There is the general life-force, which is the will, which encompasses the entire body; and there is the essence of the soul, which is life itself. So just as there are three levels in the soul, there are also three levels in the flow of G-dliness. And these three levels are also connected with the three levels we discussed. In Gan Eden, [unclear] is connected with Memalei Kol Almin, which is apportioned to each individual [unclear]. In the days of Moshiach, Sovev Kol Almin will be revealed to the world. The Rebbe explains a few more details here, including the difference between this world and Gan Eden. In this world, we know only the effects of Memalei Kol Almin; we have no grasp of its essence. This is only knowledge of its existence. We see Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s actions in the world. Our knowledge of Memalei Kol Almin is knowledge of its existence. In Gan Eden there is also a grasp of its essence, because G-dliness shines in Gan Eden, but all of this is Memalei Kol Almin. In the days of Moshiach, Sovev Kol Almin will be revealed to the world. That is the revelation of the days of Moshiach, and this is the perfection, until the world reaches its perfection, which will be the second stage. Then, in the third stage, at the Resurrection of the Dead, Atzmus Ein Sof, blessed be He, will be revealed. And since Atzmus Ein Sof, blessed be He, is revealed specifically in the body, as

31:36 we said regarding a dwelling in the lower realms, the culmination will be specifically in bodies. So that is, in general, the first part of the letter. By the way, there are quite a few novel points in this letter. Apart from the general subject we have just discussed, there are several points that need to be examined. It is very interesting to see that there are a few things the Rebbe writes here as requiring further study. In short, later on, over the years after assuming the leadership, the Rebbe developed the subject and answered the questions. A few things appear here only as matters requiring further study, but were developed over the years. Note seven—if you look at note seven, yes, note seven—the Rebbe focuses on the words “today, to do them”: the days of Moshiach are the “today” for doing them. In other words, in the days of Moshiach there will be observance of Torah and mitzvos, yes? It will be in its fullest perfection. By contrast, regarding the Resurrection of the Dead, it is said that “mitzvos will be nullified in the future.” There are two notes on this, note seven and note nine. In note seven, the Rebbe discusses the days of Moshiach and cites the Alter Rebbe, who says explicitly that there will be observance of Torah and mitzvos in the days of Moshiach. He cites the Ramban, and the Rebbe writes about the Ramban, “I have not merited to understand.” That is very strong, yes? For the Rebbe to write such a thing about the Ramban. But the Rebbe writes, “I have not merited to understand” the Ramban’s words. So what is going on here? Just to tell you briefly—these are only headlines, but it is a whole, wonderful subject. There is a great deal of back-and-forth here in reconciling the views of the early authorities. There are contradictions. There is one very major contradiction that everyone discusses—everyone who deals with the subject, that is. On the one hand, several sources imply that in the future there will be Torah and mitzvos, that the mitzvos will be observed.

33:43 The observance of mitzvos will be complete. On the other hand, there is the well-known statement of our Sages in Tractate Niddah: “Mitzvos will be nullified in the future.” That raises the question: How can that be? Will mitzvos be observed in the future or not? On the one hand, we say in our prayers, “And there we will perform before You the mitzvos of Your will.” We are waiting for Moshiach so that we can observe Torah and mitzvos. The Rambam writes that in the days of Moshiach, the King Moshiach will restore all the mitzvos, and so on. All 613 mitzvos will be restored to their place. On the other hand, we say that in the future mitzvos will not be observed. How do we explain that? There are several approaches. The simplest is that there is a difference between the days of Moshiach and the Resurrection of the Dead, which is what the Rebbe discusses here in the letter. But it is not so simple, because there are places that seem to imply that even in the days of Moshiach, mitzvos will not be observed. For example, the Gemara in Tractate Shabbos—the Rebbe cites Shabbos 151—speaks of “days in which there is no desire, in which there is neither merit nor obligation.” According to many commentators, this means that there will be no Torah and mitzvos then. The Gemara says these are the days of Moshiach. The Ramban wants to say that it does not mean there will be no mitzvos, but that people will serve Hashem by their very nature. No, their actions will not carry the same significance. People will observe Torah and mitzvos, but without free choice. Now you have a choice, so when you perform a mitzvah, it can be credited to you. In the future, a person will observe Torah and mitzvos naturally, like Adam before the sin, when he had no inclination toward wrongdoing.

35:28 Except for the Tree of Knowledge—that was the one thing about which he had a choice. But regarding everything else, Adam had no yetzer hara, so all his observance of Torah and mitzvos was natural. It will be like that in the future. The Rebbe cites the Ramban here and writes, “This requires examination.” He does not accept the—yes. It is a whole subject. Why does he not accept it? He cites the Gemara in Shabbos, from which the Ramban brings proof about Torah and mitzvos in the future. The Rebbe says it can be explained as Rashi does, but Rashi gives a different interpretation. What does “there is no desire in them” mean? Look at Rashi there in Tractate Shabbos. No, it does not refer to Torah and mitzvos; it refers to other things. In any case, the Rebbe concludes footnote seven by saying that perhaps, in the Ramban’s words, even part of the period of the Resurrection of the Dead is sometimes called “the days of Moshiach,” and that is certainly the period he is discussing. The Rebbe offers a remarkable insight here: perhaps when the Ramban speaks in his commentary on Chumash about the days of Moshiach, he means the Resurrection of the Dead. There is a period of the Resurrection of the Dead that is called the days of Moshiach. In that period, it really will be as the Ramban says. In other words, even the days of Moshiach are divided into periods. This is a whole subject. We know from later volumes of Likkutei Sichos that the Rebbe developed this subject in several places. There is his maamar on the Resurrection of the Dead, where the Rebbe discusses several periods within the Resurrection of the Dead. There is also a sicha of the Rebbe on the Ramban’s view, concerning 10 Teves, in Likkutei Sichos. In the notes there, the Rebbe discusses the Ramban’s view and develops the idea much further: we must say that, even according to the Ramban, there is a stage of the Resurrection of the Dead that falls within the days of Moshiach,

37:20 and after that there is a stage of the Resurrection of the Dead that is the World to Come. This resolves many questions. That is footnote seven. Similarly, when we get to footnote nine, there is the whole subject of mitzvos being nullified in the future, which all the commentators debate at length. Here, too, we in our generation have been privileged to receive the hadran—the last hadran the Rebbe delivered on the Rambam, in 5752. There the Rebbe explains the entire subject of mitzvos being nullified in the future in a truly remarkable way. Once you study that hadran, the whole of footnote nine here takes on a completely different picture, a completely different meaning. There is also a “This requires examination” here concerning Tanya, chapter 36, which is resolved by that sicha. These are things written here in two lines, but over the years the Rebbe developed them into an entire subject. Footnote eight, for example, became the well-known sicha, the hadran on the Rambam in Likkutei Sichos, volume 27, on Bechukosai—the hadran about the two periods. Everyone knows that hadran on the two periods, where the Rebbe explains that according to the Rambam there are two periods in the days of Moshiach. The Rambam agrees that there will be a Resurrection of the Dead. That entire sicha explains what appears here as just footnote eight; in Likkutei Sichos it is a whole sicha on the periods. In the second part of the letter, as we said, the Rebbe goes into the details. There is the time of the Resurrection of the Dead, for which he cites statements of our Sages. There is the place of the Resurrection of the Dead, for which he also cites statements of our Sages. Where will the Resurrection of the Dead take place—in Eretz Yisroel or outside Eretz Yisroel? How will it happen, for tzaddikim and for everyone else? The pain of being carried underground, and how there will be no such pain. There is a whole, very deep discussion here of how the Resurrection of the Dead will take place in Eretz Yisroel, and how it

39:20 will take place outside Eretz Yisroel. Then there is another question: Who will rise in the Resurrection of the Dead? Who will rise? You see? This is very brief, but the Rebbe refers to Teshuvos U’viurim, booklet six, and does not repeat it here. As I told you, there is another letter from the Rebbe devoted to the question of who will rise in the Resurrection of the Dead. By the way, in that letter you begin to see how the Rebbe wants to include all of the Jewish people in the Resurrection of the Dead. The Rebbe offers tremendous insights there: even those people about whom various statements say that they will not have a share in the Resurrection of the Dead will also rise then. That is one of the Rebbe’s greatest insights. It is a separate letter, elsewhere. Then there is the matter of reincarnations. When a soul has been reincarnated several times, which body will rise in the Resurrection of the Dead? Many people ask that question. There is a wonderful explanation here, a truly wonderful and fundamental explanation. How does it work with all the reincarnations? One soul descended into this world three times, ten times. So do all the bodies rise? Just one body? How is that possible? How exactly do you divide up the cake, so to speak? The Rebbe explains that it is not really a cake. It is something different; it works like candles. Well, there is a whole explanation here. And the question of the soul itself—why are there reincarnations?—is a subject in its own right. Then there is also the manner of the Resurrection of the Dead. Will people rise with their clothes or without them? Will they rise from the dust? Will they rise ill or healthy? And so on. There is a whole sequence: the order of the Resurrection of the Dead. Who will rise first? Who will rise afterward? How will it happen? And then there are people who will be alive at the time of the Resurrection

41:17 of the Dead. What will happen to them? He cites the Zohar. What will the order be for those living at the time of the Resurrection of the Dead? They, too, will experience a moment of death—all of them—and only afterward will Hakadosh Boruch Hu renew them, and there will be a new world, and so on. All these matters. And specifically, the resurrection of the body: how the body will be resurrected from the luz bone. How Hakadosh Boruch Hu will take the luz bone and build the entire body from it. There are also sichos of the Rebbe about this in Likkutei Sichos, volume six, for Yud Shvat—a whole sicha on resurrection from the luz bone. The Rebbe has several sichos on this subject as well. Then we come to the Day of Judgment. It is very interesting that it says there will be a Day of Judgment at the Resurrection of the Dead: “Behold, I send you Eliyahu the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Hashem.” You see, the Gemara says there will be a Day of Judgment in the future. What is this Day of Judgment? The Rebbe brings three views. Will the Day of Judgment take place after the Resurrection of the Dead, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu will judge each person again for all his deeds? That is the Ramban’s view. Or will there be no such Day of Judgment, and the “day of judgment” refers only to a day of retribution against those who caused suffering to the Jewish people, against all the nations that oppressed us? Or the third view, that of the Arizal: the Day of Judgment will not be a judgment of the Jewish people, because they have already received their judgment. Finally, the Rebbe discusses what life will be like in the world after the Resurrection of the Dead. He cites the Gemara in Berachos here: after the Resurrection of the Dead there will be no eating, no drinking, no procreation, no business dealings, no jealousy, no hatred and no competition.

42:58 “The righteous sit with their crowns on their heads and enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah.” On this passage, there’s a wonderful note below by the Rebbe about the apparent contradictions here. There are contradictions in this, too. What does it mean that in the time to come, after the Resurrection of the Dead, there won’t be any food? First of all, what, really? We’re waiting for the Resurrection of the Dead, and there’ll be nothing to eat? No, no, that doesn’t make us look forward to it. In any case, on the other hand, we know there will be a feast at the Resurrection of the Dead. There’ll be the wild ox and the Leviathan. Someone has to eat them, right? So the Rebbe first brings several explanations: either there will be two periods—first the Resurrection of the Dead, and then a later period—or, according to one approach, the Rebbe’s novel explanation is that it doesn’t mean people won’t eat. “There is no eating or drinking” doesn’t mean there won’t be food at all. It means there won’t be eating for the purpose we eat now. Now food serves to connect the soul and the body. In the time to come, when the body will be eternal, there will be no need to connect the soul and the body. But there will still be food for other purposes: food will represent various ascents, levels, and the gathering of sparks. That aspect of food will exist in the time to come as well. So there will be both the wild ox and the Leviathan, and “no eating or drinking,” and so on. By the way, the Rebbe has a very, very beautiful Reshimah on this teaching of our Sages, on “there is no eating or drinking.” Here the Rebbe only cites the teaching; he doesn’t explain it. But there is a Reshimah—I don’t remember which one, perhaps it’s number ten or something. I recall it being Reshimah ten, but it’s a Reshimah based on something the Rebbe said in France in 5699, on Shavuos 5699, I believe, and the Rebbe then wrote it down. He explains every word of this teaching of our Sages. It’s a truly wonderful Reshimah in which the Rebbe explains the meaning of eating, drinking, procreation, the righteous, sitting, their crowns, their heads. Every

45:00 word is explained by the Rebbe. There’s a wonderful explanation there of the entire Gemara, including the continuation of the Gemara—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives women a reward too, even more than the men. “By what merit do women attain this?” The Rebbe explains the whole continuation of the discussion wonderfully, both according to the revealed dimension of Torah and according to Chassidus. It’s one of the Reshimos discovered after Gimmel Tammuz. In any case, that gives you a bit of a picture of the Reshimah on the Resurrection of the Dead. Now each person can take it, sit down and study it, make use of the time, and thereby strengthen our own faith. The Resurrection of the Dead is one of the fundamental principles of faith. Through this, may we merit, very soon, to see the Resurrection of the Dead in actual reality. I just want to end with one story I heard about Dr. Branover. Have you heard of Dr. Branover? He’s a Jew from Russia who became a baal teshuvah through the Rebbe, a very important professor. He always gave many lectures on matters of faith and science, matters of science and philosophy. He was here in Argentina several times, too. Dr. Branover related that he was once with the Rebbe in yechidus and spoke about the lectures he gave around the world. He told the Rebbe that he lectured on the fundamental principles of faith and could explain all of them, but found it hard to explain the principle of the Resurrection of the Dead. That’s what he told the Rebbe. So the Rebbe said to him, “On the contrary, the Resurrection of the Dead is much easier to explain. To explain faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu and faith in the creation of the world, you have to explain creation from nothing. Creation from nothing has no basis whatsoever in science. So if you can explain to people the oneness of Hashem, explain to them that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world from nothing,

47:06 then what about something coming from something? That’s what the Resurrection of the Dead is: something coming from something. And something coming from something is much easier to demonstrate even according to science than...” Actually, the Gemara says this in Sanhedrin: “If those who never existed can come to life, then those who already existed—all the more so.” That’s the idea. But the Rebbe explained it so simply. Dr. Branover said that from then on he was able to present the Resurrection of the Dead in a way that... Once it becomes simple to you, you can convey it simply to others as well. In any case, may we merit to see the Resurrection of the Dead with our physical eyes. In short, [unclear], and our Nasi’im. And most importantly, as they say, “Moshe and Aharon with them,” and the Rebbe, our Nasi, will be at their head—or among them. May he lead us upright to our Land, immediately, and may he redeem us.