Q&A: Am I Really Responsible for My Soul?

Soul

Q. Why do I, flesh and blood, have to worry about my soul – which actually belongs exclusively to the Creator? Why should I care what happens to it in the Next World? If He wants it to suffer because of sins, so let it suffer! It's His, part of Him, and not connected to me! I know this is wrong, but I can't get it out of my head. Please help me with an answer that will relieve both me and my soul!


A. Often we experience confusion and questions that bring not only lack of clarity, but actually weaken us in our entire path. We find that things that motivated us to advance, begin to lose their significance.

This is the power of safek, doubts; even if they don't provide alternatives to what we thought previously, by their very essence they bring about weakness and lack of confidence in our path. Let me therefore try to explain some things simply and clearly.

Our Sages teach that we are comprised of two different parts: body and soul. The body of course is our external part, that which is temporary. We know that after death, the body is buried in the ground and loses all significance; nothing generally remains of it.

The other part, the much more important part, is the soul – and that is who we truly are. Every person has his own soul, his own significance and meaning. The body is just a utensil, a complex machine via which the soul – the main part – functions in the world.

When a person talks about "I" or "me," and when a person experiences his life and existence – he is actually living his soul. Sometimes a person becomes somewhat confused and thinks that his body is actually him, and then he begins to work only for his body, investing all his time and efforts for his body. Though he knows that the body will die in the end, he seeks to repress this thought and to postpone the inevitable for as long as he can. But of course he will not succeed, for everyone must die; that is the painful, unavoidable truth.

But in the face of this pain of futility, there is something profound that answers all the questions and changes the entire picture: It is that man's innermost aspects, his soul, remains forever. The soul is man's eternal part. Everything he does in life leaves its impression on his soul; the entire process he undergoes in this world is of this eternal part.

This is "him," this is his continuation; he cannot escape it.

Therefore, what the soul undergoes after it leaves the body is actually what the person himself undergoes! This is who you are! As such, the more you reveal your soul in this world, the more you will live this great, profound truth, and thus prepare your soul to receive goodness in the Next World.

That is, Hashem wants only good for us, but He wants us to attain the good that is ours – and therefore if the soul is unable to accept it, it is the person who suffers.

This can be compared to a deaf person who attends a musical performance; he is unable to enjoy it. This world is entirely a preparation for the "concert" of the Next World; he who doesn't prepare, will not be able to enjoy it.

This is the essence of the matter, but there is of course more to elaborate.

Answered by Rabbi Yitzhak Greenblatt, Yeshivat Bet El
Translated by Hillel Fendel