Kabbalah: The Life of the Dead in Sefer-ha-Zohar

“From death, from the fear of death arises all knowledge of the All.”
- Franz Rosenzweig, The Star of Redemption

Writing from the Macedonian trenches of First World War, the Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig sought redemption in the face of absolute annihilation. Rosenzweig’s opening line, that the fear of death is the beginning point of our belief in the transcendent, rebelled against Western philosophical tradition, which subordinated transcendence to Reason and repressed the fear of death.

While mysticism is often the attempt to “conquer” death by uniting with the divine, Sefer ha-Zohar presents a vivid approach that creates a practical relation between this world and the divine realms that await us.

Death, the mystery of annihilation or the return to divine origins, is depicted in Sefer ha-Zohar as the transition to an active afterworld, bustling with the souls of the dead, who are busy with either pleading for the living or greeting the souls of the newly dead, showing them around...

Death is anticipated and experienced by every night’s sleep which functions as a rehearsal, and when it finally occurs, it operates much like a well-organized journey run by efficient divine delegates.

The verdict of death is decided by Divine authority on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, delivered on the Day of Atonement (Yom Ha-Kippurim), and sealed on the day of great supplication (Hoshanah Rabah – the last day of the Holiday of Sukkot). Once judgment is sealed, the angels descent to collect the tzelem (likeness of the Creator) of the condemned, who from now on ceases to belong to the world of the living and whose soul becomes more and more reluctant to return from its nocturnal wanderings in the upper worlds.

The event of death itself is depicted as the terrible and sorrowful separation of the Ruach (the spirit part of the soul) from its body. The spirit wanders fiercely among the limbs, departing from each limb at a time. Meanwhile, the four elements, fire, water, wind, and earth, which are tied together in the body, struggle to dissolve their knot and disintegrate the body.

Article Author: michal Schwartz

Michal Schwartz holds a PhD in philosophy and literature, and has been long obsessed with Kabbalah and mysticism in general. She published her first book "Metapher und Offenbarung," in Berlin, 2003 and her book "Gateway of Souls. A Kabbalistic Mystery," just came out.
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