These two chapters, translated from the Hebrew by Shlomo Katz, are from the concluding section of the first book of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, written in 1180, ten years before his better known Guide to the Perplexed. The Mishneh Torah is a codification of Jewish belief and law in fourteen volumes, the purpose of which is to serve as a handbook (!) for Jews who do not have the time or ability to engage in the study of the Torah and Talmud. Yet for those who are interested in the mystery of Maimonides (was he a mystic, an atheist, confusedly Orthodox, or thoroughly Orthodox in a way we do not understand?), the Mishneh Torah is as important as the Guide.
The chapters printed here point to the heart of the problem. As a believing Jew, Maimonides affirmed the existence of a “world to come,” that is, of heaven. As a student of Aristotle, he was an opponent of mythology and anthropomorphism. Consequently, in his description of the “world to come” he seems to be giving with one hand and taking back with the other. The “world to come” is inhabited by souls. But he also makes clear that “it is the intellect which is the human soul’s specific form” (chapter 4 of Mishneh Torah)and that the “world to come” will not be established by the Messiah, whose function seems to be primarily the political redemption of Israel, but is already here though beyond our ken. So it would almost appear that the “world to come” is equivalent to the realm of true philosophic ideas as attained by the perfect intellect.
But the final chapter on the love of God, with its unmistakable passion and its binding of knowledge to love, indicates that if this is a philosophic re-working of Judaism, it is not philosophy as we know it. The mystery of Maimonides remains.—Ed.
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The good reserved for the righteous consists in life in the world to come, which is a life without death and good without evil. This is implied in the Scriptures where it is said: “In order that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live many days” (Deut. 22:7). This has been understood by tradition: that it may be well with thee—in a world that is all good; that thou mayest live many days—in a life that is endless, and that is the hereafter.
The righteous will be rewarded in that they will merit bliss and be in it; the wicked will be punished in that they will not merit this life but will be cut off and will die. Whoever does not merit this life [in the world to come] dies and will never come to life again, but is cut off in his wickedness and is lost like cattle . . . .
In the life hereafter there is neither body nor form, only the souls of the righteous without bodies, like the ministering angels. Since there are no bodies there is no eating or drinking or any of the things that human bodies require in this world, nor can there happen any of the things that occur to bodies in this world, such as sitting, standing, sleeping, dying, sadness, laughter, and the like. Thus it has been declared by the early sages that in the hereafter there is neither eating nor drinking nor marital intercourse, but only the righteous sitting, their crowns on their heads, enjoying the light of the Divine Presence.
It should be evident that there are no bodies there since there is no eating and drinking. As for their saying “the righteous sitting,” it was meant by way of illustration, that the souls of the righteous are there without toil or weariness. Similarly when they said “their crowns on their heads,” they meant that the righteous are aware why they merited life hereafter and this knowledge is their crown. In a similar manner Solomon spoke of “the crown wherewith his mother crowned him” (Songs of Songs 3:11) and it was said “with everlasting joy upon their head” (Isaiah 35:10), yet joy is not corporeal that it could be placed upon the head and when the sages spoke of crowns they referred to knowledge.
By what was said concerning their enjoying the light of the Divine Presence was meant that they know and perceive the truth of God, something which they did not know in the darkness and the lowliness of the body.
Whenever the soul is mentioned in this connection it does not refer to the soul that is a requisite of the body, but that form of the spirit which is the knowledge that perceives more or less the Creator as well as other abstract concepts and things. This is the form whose essence we have explained in the fourth chapter of the Laws of the Fundamental Principles of the Torah and in this connection we call it soul.
Since this life is not attended by death, for death is an attribute of the body and there is no body in the hereafter, it is called the Bond of Life, as it is said “yet will the soul of my lord be bound in the bond of life with the Lord thy God and the soul of thy enemies will He hurl away” (Sam. I 25:29). This is the reward than which there is no higher, and the good which cannot be exceeded and which was the desire of all the prophets who metaphorically called it many names such as the mountain of the Lord and His holy place, the holy way, the courtyards of the Lord, the tent of the Lord, the pleasure of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the house of the Lord, the gate of the Lord, and the sages, speaking metaphorically of the good destined for the righteous, described it as a feast, but it is everywhere called the hereafter.
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The greatest retribution, than which there is no greater, is that a soul be cut off and not merit that life, as it is said “that person shall be cut off, his iniquity is upon him.” This is the loss which the prophets call the pit of destruction, perdition, flaming pit, leech, and other terms denoting extermination and destruction are applied to it, for after it there is no resurgence and this loss can never be rewon.
Perhaps you hold this good lightly and imagine that there is no other reward for fulfilling the commandments and for man’s walking faithfully in the ways of truth except that he eat and drink good foods, have intercourse with beautiful shapes, dress in garments of linen and embroidery, dwell in ivory palaces, use dishes of silver and gold, and similar things as the foolish, silly, and dissolute Arabs think.
But the sages and men of knowledge knew that all these are senseless and meaningless things in which there is no hope, and they are only esteemed a great boon in our midst in this world because we possess body and shape, and all these things are desired by the body, but the soul desires them not, except insofar as they are needed by the body for its gratification and well being. But since there is no body there [in the hereafter] all these things become void.
There is no way in this world of conceiving and knowing the great bliss of the spirit in the hereafter, for in this world we know only the pleasures of the body and for these we yearn, but the other bliss is very great and cannot be compared to any of the pleasures of this world except metaphorically . . . .
The sages of old have already told us that man lacks the ability to comprehend thoroughly the bliss of the hereafter, and none knows its greatness and beauty and might except God alone, and that all the forms of bliss which the prophets of Israel have prophesied refer only to corporeal matters which Israel will enjoy in the days of Messiah when the kingdom will be restored to Israel.
But the bliss of the hereafter is incomparable and unimaginable and was not described by the prophets lest they diminish it by their images. Hence Isaiah said: “Eye hath not seen beside thee, O God, what He prepareth for him that waiteth for Him” (Is. 64:3). That is, the bliss which the eye of the prophet has not seen, and none had seen it but God, was made by God for man who waits for Him. The sages have declared that all the prophets foretold only the days of Messiah, but no eye beside that of God has seen the hereafter. That which the sages call the hereafter is called thus not because it is not in existence now and this world must perish and only then will come the hereafter. This is not so, for the hereafter is in existence now, as it is said “which Thou hast treasured up, which Thou hast wrought” (Psalms 31: 19). It is called hereafter only because it comes to man after his life in this world where we exist in body and soul, and this one comes first.
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Man must not say: I will perform the commandments of the Torah and occupy myself with its wisdom in order that I obtain the blessings enumerated in the Torah or that I merit life hereafter, and I will avoid the transgressions against which the Torah warns in order that I be spared the curses written in the Torah or that I do not forfeit life hereafter.
It is not right to serve God in this manner, for he who serves in this wise does so out of fear, and this is not a virtue of prophets or wise men. Only the ignorant and women serve in this fashion and children who are trained to serve out of fear until their knowledge increases and they serve out of love.
One who serves out of love occupies himself with the study of the Torah and the fulfillment of its commandments, and walks in the paths of wisdom not because of any external matter in the world nor out of fear of evil consequences nor in order to inherit good rewards. Rather he practices truth because it is truth and in the end his reward is bound to come.
This is a very high state indeed and not every scholar attains it. It was the degree attained by Abraham whom God called “My Lover” because he served Him out of love only. This is also the degree ordered by God through Moses, for it is said: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might.” (Deut. 6:5) When one loves God as one should he will at once observe all the commandments out of love.
What is the proper love? That one should love God with a great, exceeding, and mighty love until one’s soul is bound up with the love of God and he dwells on it always like a love-sick person whose mind is never free of love for the particular woman of whom he always thinks, sitting down and standing up, when eating and when drinking. Still greater should be the love of God in the hearts of those who love Him . . . .
The sages said further: The text “that delighteth greatly in his commandments” means that the commandments themselves, and not their reward, should be sought. The great scholars were in the habit of exhorting their more intelligent and understanding pupils: Be not like servants who minister to their master for the sake of receiving payment, be rather like servants working for their master without thought of reward. Because he is the master he deserves being served, that is, served out of love.
Whoever engages in the study of the Torah for the sake of a reward, or to avoid calamity, does so not for the sake of the Torah. He who studies the Torah not out of fear nor for the sake of reward, but only out of love for the Lord of the world, who commanded it, he engages in it for its own sake. And the sages said: One should always engage in the study of the Torah, even if one does so not for its own sake, for though studying it for ulterior motives, in time one will come to study it for its own sake.
Therefore, when one teaches children, women, or ignoramuses, one teaches them to serve out of fear and in anticipation of reward, until their knowledge increases and they become very wise, then one reveals to them this secret gradually and one accustoms them to this matter gently until they grasp it and know it and serve out of love.
It is known and certain that love of God does not enter man’s heart until after he dwells on it properly all the time, and leaves all mundane matters aside, as it is commanded: “With all thy heart and with all thy soul.” One loves Him according to the knowledge of Him. This love will be determined by the knowledge, be it little or much.
Man should therefore devote himself to learning and understanding the wisdom and the studies which acquaint him with his Maker, in accordance with his capacity to understand and to comprehend, as we have explained in the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah.
Blessed be the Merciful One who has aided us.
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