Is There Life After Death?

0:55and eternal death follows. Meaning that after a person finishes their time in this world, their soul continues. Some people die at 100 years old, while others, like my cousin who passed a couple of weeks ago, die at 50 years old. And some, like another cousin, passed away at 26 years old last year. People die at different ages. Even though we all often say, "Ad me'ah v'esrim" (until 120 years), when wishing someone a happy birthday as per our minhag, in reality, how many people do you actually know who live to 120? How many people do you know that live till a hundred? How many people do you know that live past 80? Not many, not many. Most of the people that live till 80 years old usually want to die already at 60 because of how sick they were the last 20 years. Meaning it's not just about living; it's about having a good life. What's a good life? A life with a purpose. Now, Chazal say that after this life, there's a life of eternity—an eternity of good or an eternity of bad.

1:57There's heaven, and then there's Gehenom. There's Gan Eden and Gehenom. Gehenom has seven names in the Gemara. One of my dear friends, Rabbi Reuven Chaim, wrote an article on Ohr Sameach's website and other places, talking about the different places. The Gemara in Masechet Eruvin, page 19a, gives seven names to Gehenom. And this Gehenom, the Chachamim say these seven names, it's not that there are seven names for the same place, it's that these are seven parts of Gehenom. The bad part has seven chambers. It's like a building with seven divisions within the building. Heaven also has seven chambers. Seven divisions within it, each with its own distinction. You don't just place everyone together indiscriminately. This is because imagine if you went to school, did your work, and received a 65 on the test, just barely passing. Seven divisions within it, and within each division—as to why each one—you don't just place the good people, the ones that mitzvot, kept Shabbat, and did all the good things that are commanded. You don't just put all of them in the same place. Why? Imagine this: if, let's say, you went to school, you did your work, and you got a 65 on the test, you just passed barely, and...

3:04And then your friend that studied really hard, he got an 80. And then the guy that studied hard and is a genius, he got 100. Should all of you be in the same class next year? Who agrees that you should be in the same class? Who thinks you should all be in different classes? You with me? Or agree with a different class? Why? The 65 doesn't belong with the 100. Why? He has a 65 brain, a 65 effort. The guy who's 100 belongs at a different level. Maybe if the guy who's 65 studies harder, he can reach 100, but today he doesn't belong there. It's the same thing here. A person lives in this world, fulfills a certain amount of mitzvot, and he has a certain place in Gan Eden. If he does all of the mitzvot, he learns Torah, he does everything that's necessary, he can go to the highest level of heaven. On the other hand, unfortunately, if a person does not fix his character traits, does not fulfill the mitzvot, continues using electronics on Shabbat, continues violating Shabbat, continues watching movies that are inappropriate, continues wasting seed, and so on and so forth, then he cannot go to heaven. Why? Because in heaven, there are people that get a passing grade: 65, 75, 95, 100, and some even 105 and 110; they got extra credit. does not fulfill the mitzvot, continues using electronics on Shabbat, continues violating Shabbat, continues watching movies that are inappropriate, continues wasting seed, and so on and so forth, then he cannot go to heaven. Why? Because in heaven, there are people that get a passing grade: 65, 75, 95, 100, and some even 105 and 110. They got extra credit.

4:30They got extra credit. But if he got a 20 on his test, he cannot go to Heaven. He has to go somewhere else, and that place is called Gehenom or seven other names. Now, what those two places look like is hard to imagine. because the best that you can possibly imagine in your human body is still not even 1% of 1% of 1% of the lowest level of Gan Eden (Paradise). The best thing you could possibly imagine, all the good in the world, all the pleasure in the world, whatever pleasures there are in this world—when you eat good food, when you're married to a good woman, or married to a good man, when you have money, when you have all the things that people desire in this world—let's say you take all the good in the world that ever existed. from the beginning of the world all the way to today. From all of the people. And you combine it all into one little box. All the good they have had, none of the bad. The good food they had, the pleasure they had, the intimacy they had, the stuff they bought, whatever they had, all the good stuff they had. You combine all of the people's stuff that's good, remove all the bad. You put it all into a little box.

5:43Beginning of the world to the underworld, right now there's almost eight billion people in the world. So just now there's eight billion, previous generation about six and a half, previous generation about six, previous generation about five, and so on and so forth all the way to the beginning of the world. All these billions and billions of people, and take just the good parts of their lives, none of the bad, and you put all of that good into one little box. Imagine how much pleasure that is, imagine how great that is. Your life, you could think of a few things that are amazing, that already make you happy. So imagine having all the happy moments of all the people who have ever existed. That is not even 1% of one hour in Gan Eden for a righteous Jew. So it is impossible for us to comprehend how good it is. Unfortunately, for the wicked people... that do not do teshuva, that continue in going against Hashem, the bad is just as bad. All of the bad that ever existed from the beginning of the world for every single person, all of the diseases, all of the death, all of the cancer, all of the heartbreaks, all of the hunger and starvation, all of the bad that ever existed for all of humanity, the Holocaust, the Inquisitions, the pogroms, everything,

7:07Combining into a box, not even an hour of Gehinnom. Not even an hour. So you see, Rabotai, people say that Hashem is merciful. Yes, He is. But in this world, in this world, there's mercy. In this world, we can violate Shabbat and Hashem will still give us a chance to do teshuva and hopefully we keep the next week. In this world, we can even kill somebody. and do teshuva for it. You're alive, you can do teshuva. You can change. But once a person dies, once a person leaves this world, no more mercy. There's no mercy over there. Why? There's din. There's good, there's bad. You're my lover, you're my enemy. That's what Hashem says. You're my lover because you kept the mitzvot. You're my enemy because you violated the mitzvot. You're my lover, you have Gan Eden forever. You have all the pleasure in the world forever and ever and ever. How much is a million out of forever? Nothing. It's not even the beginning.

8:14And you have it forever, for good. On the other hand, if somebody violates the Torah with some of the big sins like Chilul Shabbat, wasting seed, Chilul Hashem—these big things—their punishment, according to the Gemara, Masechet Rosh Hashanah, page 17a and also 16b, is forever. It's a very, very scary punishment. So that's why, Rabotai Yekarim, it's not worth it to have even the best pleasures of this world. If they're going to get us to a place we don't want to be in, it's much better to take the things that Hashem said seriously, apply them to your life, and see that not only are you going to benefit by getting heaven forever, but you're actually going to live a good life here too—better than anybody else that you know. But it requires a little bit more knowledge and a little bit more effort to understand why we're doing what we're doing. And that's part of the point of the shiurim. Next question. Yes, one second, give him the mic.