What it Means No Share of the World to Come?

0:11What is "no share in the world to come"? What does it mean? Now, according to the Rambam, if you look at what's written versus what's said in today's world, you see that there is a very, very big difference between the two. As a matter of fact, in...

1:32Whatever he says, okay, did he say anything about Shabbat the same? Oh, he doesn't teach that yet. Okay, so what do you do then until then? You don't keep it? So the Rambam says in Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah, the good that's hidden for the righteous is the life of the world to come. This will be life which is not accompanied by death and good which is not accompanied by evil and... The Torah alludes to this in the promise in Deuteronomy 22, verse 7: "so that good will be granted to you and you will live long." The Oral Torah explains: "so that good will be granted to you," this refers to a world that is entirely good, and "you will live long," this refers to a world that is endless. Okay, so here is the beginning where he says, this Olam Haba. Amazing, as it gives you a couple of sources of where it's from and so on. As it continues in this halakha, it states the retribution, the punishment of the wicked, is that they will not merit this life; rather, they will be cut off and die and...

3:00Which in Hebrew says, "ikaratu v'yamutu." Whoever does not merit this life is truly dead and will not live forever. Rather, he will be cut off in his wickedness and perish as a beast. This is the intent of the meaning of the term "karet" in the Torah. For example, one of them is in last week's parasha, Chapter 15, Verse 31 in the Book of Numbers, where it states, "the soul that will surely be cut off..." Ikaret hikaret ha-nefesh. Based on the repetition of the same word in the oral tradition, this explains that ikaret means "cut off from this world," and hikaret means "cut off from the world to come." After these souls become separated from their bodies in this world, they will not merit the life of the world to come. Rather, even in the world to come, they will be cut off. So now, here he's telling you that, in essence, someone that's righteous has a lot about which is great and wonderful and so on and so forth. There are obviously more details, even more so in the second halacha. But the point is that there's righteousness and wickedness. This is part of the 13 principles of faith: the righteous merit and gain Olam Haba, while the wicked lose Olam Haba. So now, this first halacha...

4:22was originally the reason Chazal explains that many of the sages didn't read the entire Mishneh Torah and hadn't gotten to the section on Sanhedrin. This is the reason why they wanted to burn these books. This is the reason why many of the sages were opposed to the Rambam. They said that the way he described Olam Haba, reward, and punishment was completely insufficient. When he said that the retribution is just losing Olam Haba and that's it, that's what it seems like at first glance. However, in the fifth halacha, it gives more details. But in the first halacha, it seems like it's either you get Olam Haba or you don't get anything. They said it was so far away from what really happens.

5:35They want too much to cancel out this entire series. Why? Because you didn't talk about getting home. He says someone losing the Olam Haba seems like a fairy tale, like okay, so you didn't go to play with the kids, big deal. You didn't get the ice cream. You didn't get the award. You didn't get the trophy award. You didn't get the participation award. No, they said no, no, no. In the introduction of chapter 10 of the Sanhedrin, the Rambam states what karet really means, and he says that the most severe punishment the soul receives is karet. But this is not intended to imply that there's no other retribution; on the contrary, on the contrary, there are details of a... What happens to those that sin, and what happens to those that don't achieve olam haba and a shem tov? They get serious punishment. Not having olam haba is the least of their worries. The suffering they get instead of olam haba is severe. What people commonly thought he wasn't teaching, so in the fifth Halacha, he actually says the retribution beyond is...

6:58There's no greater punishment than when a soul is cut off and will not merit the World to Come. This is referring to the obliteration of the soul. which uses the verse in Psalm 55:24, "The pit of destruction," referring to "Be'er Shachat." He gives the seven different names for this nullification of the soul, but all of it is referring to these seven different names, which the Gemara talks about. These are the seven different names of Gehinnom. Now I'm not gonna obviously go give you guys a shiur by getting home right now, but to give you an idea of what we're dealing with here so no one says that they don't know. In the book Sefer Ma'amarim, he says that anyone who teaches Torah...

8:16It says, he says, anyone that teaches Torah but tries to darken the issue of meaning as if it doesn't exist. Unfortunately, this sounds very similar to today's teaching, which is: "No, no, Gehinnom is like a washing machine. You go there for a year, you get washed a little bit, like a thorough car cleaning, and everything's okay." So, first and foremost, I... Chazal explain this by giving many, many sources. In this context, we are discussing a person who is using euphemisms to minimize what Gehinnom (Hell) really is and what the punishment for sin is. Such a person is considered 100% a rasha (wicked person). Why? Because he is leading people to have false beliefs. And how do we know that there is such a thing as Gehinnom?

9:26And in Gemara Masechet Eruvin, page 19a, it says there are seven. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi actually saw Gehenom. There's a whole Gemara about how he met Eliyahu Hanavi, and Eliyahu Hanavi showed him Gehenom. He says that there are actually seven names for Ge'enom in the Torah. He gives the verses from the prophet Jonah, from Tehillim (Psalms), from the prophet Yeshayahu, which is Isaiah, several verses, and also from the five books of Moses. For example, one of them being the parashat Korach. So we have seven different names for Gehenom. One of them is Sheol, which we learn in Parashat Korach. That's when the ground opened up. And it says that Korach and his family, except his kids, fell into Sheol. One time it's called Sheol, another time it's called Sheolah. So here the Gemara says that is another name for Gehenom. Another place in the Gemara says that there are three openings.

10:47Forgain, um, one of them is in the desert where Korach is. One of them is in Yerushalayim, and one of them is in the sea. One of them is somewhere in the ocean. First name is Shaul, that's what Korach is, and a rasha that minimizes the issues of Gehinnom, says that Gehinnom doesn't exist, or it's a Christian belief, or it's not part of Judaism, or it's not really such a big deal. It's a washing machine that just goes away after a year. He is considered 100% a rasha according to the Torah because he's giving people false beliefs and... So that's one. The second thing is it's called Avadon. Avadon, we learn from a different source, from Tehillim. Another one is Be'er Shachat. Another one is Bor Shaon. Another one is Tit HaYaven. Tzalmavet is also in Tehillim. And another one is Eretz HaTachtit, which is actually in Vayikra. So, here we have the whole issue of Gehenom being very much a real thing. Now, the next question is, what is this that everybody keeps saying about how there's only a year in Gehenom, it's just a washing machine? Where do they get that from? In the Gemara, Masechet Rosh Hashanah, page 17, it talks about how there's a Gehenom and that the trial is one year.

12:08Trial is one year. There's no such thing as Gehenom being one year. Gehenom could be eternity. But according to the shita of Rabbi Meir, which uses at least no less than five different sources, he says that the minimum sentence in Gehenom is 20 years. The minimum sentence in Gehenom is 20 years. Nowhere here, not that I remember this whole book by heart, but here in the text, the shita... In Sha'ar HaYirah, it talks about Rabbi Meir, Mishum Rabbi Elazar. It says that the judgment of Ge'enom is 12 months. But another place also says the same thing or something a little bit more. The point being is that to say this one-year thing is definitely not a rule of thumb; it could be less, it could be more. You know, it could be none; it could be nothing if you're righteous. But to just say that everybody goes to Ge'enom for one year, there's no source for that. The only source for one year is that the trial is one year. But another source also says something similar or perhaps offers a slightly different perspective. The point being is that to state this "one year" concept as a definite rule of thumb is not accurate. It could be less, it could be more. In fact, it could be none at all if one is righteous. To simply assert that everyone goes to Gehinom for one year lacks a definitive source. The only source for the one-year concept is related to the year of mourning, which is one year.

13:34As far as what happens in Gehinnom, oh, I don't think you guys really want to go over that. That's really, really horrific. But there's a Midrash, a famous one, that I think one of the Israeli rabbis made a very, very scary video about. And it talks about this specific one from the story where Rabbi Yehoshua met with Eliyahu HaNavi, and... Yavan, when he came to be ashore, he asked him, "Do you want to see Gehinnom?" He said yes, and he showed him what's in Gehinnom, and then he reports what he saw. The visual is a nightmare times a million of what he describes that he saw. So, since it's late, I don't think it's necessarily relevant for everyone to know. We're not going to go through every detail, but whatever you're imagining, multiply it by a thousand. It's even worse. To give you all a small idea, even though it's only souls and not bodies, it says that he saw all types of people hanging, and they hang by the parts of their body that sinned.

15:02So, if they sinned with their sexual organs, that's where they're hanging from. If they sinned with their eyes, that's where they're hanging from. If they sinned with their hands, that's where they're hanging from. If it's with their mouth, that's where they're hanging from. But he provides many more details than what I'm giving you. The point is that this entire book is very, very, very frightening. This is where it contains Masechet Gehinnom. This is where we get most of our information about it. There are a few other books about it as well. But the key... To understand that again, Gehinom is very, very much a real part of Torah. It's not a Christian belief, even though they believe it; they got all their information from us. It's not some, I don't know, far away place. It's real, and it's actually necessary for all of you to believe in it, because the only way you're going to avoid it is by believing in it first. Therefore, you understand what you're dealing with now.

16:02People always ask, why is it that rebuke is rare? But at the same time, the Torah says that it's necessary because, as the prophet Jeremiah says, and also in Masechet Shabbat 119b, the Beit HaMikdash was not destroyed until... Hashem didn't decide to destroy the Beit HaMikdash until He officially saw that there were no more people to actually rebuke anyone. No one was willing to rebuke anyone anymore. It says that now that there's no one to rebuke anyone anymore, there's no way anyone's going to do teshuva. And if no one's going to do teshuva, it might as well be destroyed; it's just going to get worse from here. The Rambam in Hilchot Teshuva and also, I believe, in Hilchot Deot talks about rebuke. He gives you the laws of rebuking, but one of the main things that he discusses is that someone who does not rebuke...

17:17person that is, let's say, for example, violating a rabbinical mitzvah because he thinks he's not going to listen. That's one thing, but that does not relieve him from the mitzvah of rebuking. Many people think that if someone is not going to listen, then you're absolved. You don't need to rebuke him. That's only on rabbinical mitzvot. It's only on rabbinical mitzvot, and it's only on things that are not from the Torah, and If someone is violating Shabbat, you have to rebuke him regardless of whether they listen or not. To such an extent that the Rambam says in Hilchot De'ot 6:7, and also in Hilchot Teshuva 4:1, he talks about how the failure to rebuke is one of the four sins that's so severe that... Hashem will take away this person's ability to do teshuva, meaning that if someone refuses to rebuke other people, Hashem is going to put him in a situation where he himself can't do teshuva. He's not going to have siyata di'Shmaya. Obviously, everyone can do teshuva, but he's going to remove his siyata di'Shmaya. So when do we have to rebuke, and...

18:37we have to rebuke anything that's a violation of any mitzvah d'Oraita. If you see somebody driving on Shabbat, you have to rebuke him. If you see someone, huh? So, that's a good question. This is exactly what he talks about, and this is why I connected it to this. He says, okay, when... comes down to a biblical sin, when it's a biblical sin. Initially, you have to try to rebuke them privately without humiliating them. If it's a biblical sin such as Shabbat violation, being intimate with a woman that's not allowed, or anything like that, initially it should be private. But if He continues to sin after you've rebuked him. He continues to drive on Shabbat, violating not just a rabbinical decree, like Netilat Yadayim, but a Torah prohibition. You have 100% permission from the Torah to embarrass him in public.

19:51Here he says, he may be put to shame. This is actually what it says in the Halacha here. He may be put to shame in public, and his sin may be publicized. This means you could potentially put a bulletin board in the middle of the highway saying, "Joe drives on Shabbat." But consider that the same thing is happening now with those men, and they are not receiving the message. Exactly why? Because they're violating it a lot. Violating a lot. You have to understand that they're not considered someone whom you're not allowed to embarrass. They're beneath that; they're not following the law. Therefore, they actually get abused by the law. They may be subjected to abuse, scorn, and curses until they repent, as was the practice of all the prophets of Israel. This is actually what the prophets used to do. This is actually part of the reason why the prophets were killed, but nonetheless, when someone commits a biblical sin, you are actually allowed to embarrass them. Now, of course, the Rambam also talks about how you should do everything you possibly can to avoid embarrassing them. We're not here to start throwing rocks at people.

21:04Know that to embarrass them, you have to do things in a nice way. Bring them a lecture, send them a lecture, give them a CD, talk to them, and convince them. Invite them for Shabbat. You attract more bees with honey than you do with something else. But the point being is that if someone continues to talk in shul, ruining everybody else's tefillah, you're allowed to embarrass them in public. And... Again, it's not an open invitation to embarrass people in public, but this is to make sure that we all understand. Where is the line? Where is this line of not being allowed to embarrass you in public? Can they just desecrate someone's name? We don't say anything like to be quiet. But people said, "No, listen to this attack against this rabbi who said homosexuality is okay and is great. It's a chilul Hashem. It's embarrassing in public." No, it's not; you actually have to do it. Why? Because you went against the Torah, and And in a place that is called Hashem, there's no consideration for kavod, no consideration for honor or anything like that. It's off-limits. So this is the last of it, and that's one of the most important things that you need to understand. One story I tell you from Tanna D’vei Eliyahu. Hashem came to Yehoshua, after Moshe Rabbeinu, and He said,

22:29Why do you use such language to frighten my people? You tell all my people Hashem is not going to forgive you. Hashem is going to punish you. There's Gehinom. There's this. Why? Why do you say I'm not forgiving? Didn't I forgive them after they complained about me ten times in the desert? Didn't I forgive them after the idol worship? Didn't I forgive them after they complained about the manna? Didn't I forgive them after all these things? Didn't I forgive them? What are you saying? Asking, "Are you sure that's new shoe?" I sing the song about me. Sure, I say, I only did it to scare them so they listen to what you say, and Hashem. But I'll be right there. Yeah, one of these tonight available. Yeah, we are one of you, right? So this is when He kissed his hands, kissed your shoes, hands, and forehead, thanking him. I don't know what that means. He kissed his hands. All I know is Hashem doesn't kiss my hands. Meaning that Hashem's strategy of rebuke is the same thing.

23:39It's not new; this is not an innovation. This is the way it's always been until the last few hundred years. But we need to know what Gehinom is; we need to know what Olam Haba is; we need to know what losing Olam Haba is because we need to know the price in order to know what's on the line. Once we know what's on the line, it doesn't matter what the details are of how much suffering there is. You just need to know there's a bad place and a good place. Get to the good place because the bad place is where you don't want to be. You don't need to know where you're hanging from and how you're hanging. You just need to know there's a hanging. And then the same, we all do Teshuva, we all get closer to Hashem Yitbarach. We all actually do what Hashem wants, the way He wants it, and not start creating our own rules.