The Life of a Tzadik After Death

The Life of a Tzadik After Death

Welcome to our weekly program on the stories of Chabad in America through the Mindel Archives. Today is Chof Teves, the yahrtzeit of the Rambam, so this program is a continuation of last week's program.

I want to do this program on how a tzaddik, or a religious Jew, lives a life of ahavas Hashem - loves Hashem, fears Hashem, has faith - and does mitzvos, good deeds, and raises his children according to Torah and mitzvos. So when that person passes away, it's not a tragedy - it's only a transition from one place to another place. Now he is here, then he goes to another place, as we spoke about last week.

But when a person is not religious, or even if he calls himself religious, but his priorities are gashmiyus, ta'avos - even things that you're allowed to, as it says in Tanya - or the person goes on vacation, things that are allowed, but his whole life, his whole priority, is the gashmiyus. So when he passes away, it's a tragedy, because first of all he can't take it with him, and now he has all these things that he needed, this was important to him, and then, after 120 years, it's not there anymore. So it is a tragedy, as you can see. We spoke about it last week.

So to continue on the same subject, I found a letter that someone wrote to the Rebbe, and the letter was written in the 80s, on Gimmel Teves, and the Rebbe answered right away, on Hey Teves, with the Rebbe's notation, and the Rebbe signed that letter. Before that, I want to tell you something special that I heard from Isaiah [?] years ago, from my father. So I want to read this letter that answered somebody who wrote on Gimmel Teves. He writes like this:

"Blessing and greeting. I have just received your letter of third of Teves. I do not know if you were aware of it when writing your letter, that the third of Teves is an important day - the liberation, and an auspicious time, for geulah from all distractions and anxieties, to serve Hashem wholeheartedly with joy."

Then the Rebbe continues: "During the soul's lifetime on earth, in conjunction with the body, the soul is necessarily handicapped in certain respects by the requirements of the body, such as eating, drinking, and so on. Even a tzaddik, whose entire life is connected to Hashem, cannot escape the restraints of life in a material and physical environment. Consequently, when the time comes for the soul to return home, it is essentially a release for it, as it makes its ascent to a higher world, no longer restrained by a physical body and physical environment. Henceforth, the soul is free to enjoy the spiritual bliss of being near to Hashem in the fullest measure. That is surely a comforting thought."

So if that's the case, the Rebbe is going to ask: why are there certain restrictions, why is there a period of mourning, if that's the case? And this is what the letter says in the next paragraph: "It may be asked, if it is a release for the soul, why has the Torah prescribed a period of mourning? But there is really no contradiction. The Torah recognizes the natural feeling of grief that is felt by the loss of a near and dear one, whose passing leaves a void in the family, and the physical presence and conduct of the beloved one will be sorely missed. So the Torah has prescribed the proper periods of mourning, to give vent to these feelings and to make it easier to regain the proper adjustment. However, to allow oneself to be carried away by these feelings beyond the limits set by the Torah, in addition to it being a disservice to oneself and all around, as well as to the neshamah as mentioned above, would mean that one is more concerned with one's own feelings than with the feelings of the dear neshamah that has risen to new spiritual heights of eternal happiness. Thus the overextended feeling of grief, which is due to the great love for the departed one, actually causes pain to the loved one, since the neshamah continues to take an interest in the dear one left behind, sees what is going on even better than before, rejoices with them in their joys, and so on."

And as the Rebbe once said - I think I heard it from Rabbi Groner [?] - that when somebody is mehadeir in aveilus, meticulous in mourning, in this world, they are mehadrin with that person in the other world in the aveilus.

One thing the departed soul can no longer do, and that is the actual fulfillment of the mitzvah, which can be carried out only jointly by the soul and the body together in the material world. But this too can at least partly be overcome when those left behind do a little more mitzvos and good deeds in honor of, and for the benefit of, the departed neshamah.

So we see here, as we spoke about last week, that Rabbeinu HaKadosh was crying before he passed away, and they asked him, why are you crying? So he says that he won't be able to do mitzvos anymore - he's not crying because he's going to pass away, because a tzaddik passing away is not a tragedy - but he will not be able to do Torah and mitzvos. But here we see the Rebbe says that's also not [a complete loss] - that when a person passes away, even though he cannot do the mitzvos himself, the people that he leaves behind, if they do a little more mitzvos, that is good for them and for the neshamah.

Here I want to say something I heard - speaking about this inyan, it says tzaddikim, when they pass away, are called "chai," living. And the Gemara says that a tzaddik's body does not decompose, does not disintegrate - he stays whole. So I want to say what I heard from Isaiah [?] - I heard it's written up somewhere, but I'll tell you what I heard. He passed away in 1920.

And the government, I don't know who, wanted to make a park, a road, on the place where he was buried. So the Rebbe's father - the Frierdiker Rebbe - got involved, and they called a few people - I even wrote down, I remember the names, I think I remember Isaiah [?] said - these people should dig up and move his body from that place, even though you're not allowed to, but here, [if they don't,] they'll make a road [through there]. And the Frierdiker Rebbe, I think, was afraid [unclear], gave instructions - I don't - I think my Zeide said that there was [unclear] - they should fast that day and they should say Tehillim, and they made preparations to move the Rebbe Rashab's body.

So they opened up the grave, and this was in 1940, meaning 20 years after he passed away, and they found a complete, whole body, with his beard, and the face was shining, complete, 20 years after he passed away. The only thing was that there was a hole by the heel, a small little hole. This gives us emunah, that we see that a tzaddik, when he passes away, not only is [his soul eternal], but his body is also here. So I wanted to share that with you.

So, since today is the yahrtzeit of the Rambam, and the Rebbe made a takanah, which is that by learning Rambam, and also [unclear], we should be - we should be with the Rambam together.