I was reading a book titled Sparks of Mussar, by Rabbi Chaim Ephraim Zaitchik. I have gotten a lot out of it so far. In a section on Rav Nosson Zvi Finkel, the Alter of Slobodka, page 186 of the version I have, there is the following (italics as used in the book): “‘There is no reward for mitzvos in this world’ (Kiddushin 39). Yet the wicked are paid in this world for their good deeds by being granted long lives. From here we learn that life is not in the category of ‘this world,’ but has something of eternity in it.” My question is, given the information in the excerpt, what then is meant by “this world,” in the quote from the Talmud? Todah Rabah.

Asked on July 19, 2020