Everything Depends On... One Drop of Ink

It is rare indeed that so much depends on so little, but that is exactly what happens in an obscure line in chapter one. The fate of life on earth literally turns on the tiniest drop of ink, and to make matters worse, we're not even sure if the ink exists at all.

Allow me to explain. Here is the line in question, as it appears in most editions:

אלא בריאתו של האדם למצבו בעולם הבא היא, ועל כן ניתנה בו נשמה זאת, כי לה ראוי לעבוד ובה יוכל האדם לקבל השכר במקומו ובזמנו, שלא יהיה דבר נמאס אל נשמתו בעולם הזה אלא אדרבא נאהב ונחמד ממנה, וזה פשוט

The Hebrew is admittedly awkward, but it can't mean anything other than what Feldheim's translation says it means: "Therefore, the creation of man is wholly linked to his place in the world-to-come, and for this purpose he was given this soul; he will serve the Eternal for its [the soul's] sake, and through it he will receive his reward at the appropriate place and time. In this manner, instead of his soul despising this world, it will love and desire it. This is self-evident."

We need to appreciate the significance of this line. Luzzatto had just quoted a Midrash which compared the state of our souls in this world to a princess who marries one of the town's folk. This man will never be able to make her happy, for she comes from a different world. So too, Luzzatto writes, "The Neshama does not love this world at all; on the contrary, it despises it!" But now, in the concluding sentence of this depressing paragraph, we are told that there a way out of this sad state of affairs. If we work, if we serve God, we can make her happy. Our Neshama is not doomed to despise this world! 

This news comes as a great relief and it also allows us to understand a well-known but difficult biblical expression. 

You shall place these words of mine on your hearts and on your souls. Tie them as a sign on your arms and they shall be an ornament between your eyes. Teach it to your children so they will talk about it when they are sitting at home, traveling on the road, when they lie down and when they get up. Write it on the doorposts of your homes and your gates. In order that your days and the days of your children will be increased on the ground that Hashem promised to give to your forefathers, כימי השמים על הארץ, like the days of heaven on earth.

"Like the days of heaven on earth." What does that mean? In light of what we have learned, it means exactly what it says. If you do the Mitzvos... no, that's not right. If you immerse yourself in Mitzvos; if you fill your heart and mind with Torah, if you bind it to arm and head, write it on the doorposts, and talk about it day and night, at home and on the road, then your soul will experience life on earth - in the Holy Land - with the very same bliss that it experienced when it was in heaven. Heavenly days, on earth!

If only it were so. Unfortunately, the Machon Ofek edition provides us with a different, and apparently more accurate, version of this sentence. It is a miniscule correction, erasing the tiniest slice of a letter and changing a ב into a כ, but it at once saves the sentence grammatically and restores the soul to its uncomfortable status quo. Look at it now:

ועל כן ניתנה בו נשמה זאת, כי לה ראוי לעבוד ובה יוכל האדם לקבל השכר במקומו ובזמנו, שלא יהיה דבר נמאס אל נשמתו כעולם הזה אלא אדרבא נאהב ונחמד ממנה

Here is their translation: "Therefore, this soul was placed within him, for it befits the soul to serve [God], and with it man will be able to receive reward in the appropriate place and in the appropriate time, for [the world-to-come] is not something despicable to his soul as this world, but to the contrary, it is loved and desired by it."

So much for the "self-evident" happiness in the here and now.

[The Feldheim translation given above is from their new translation of Mesilas Yesharim (2004). While they did update the Hebrew text and change the ב which appeared in their older edition into a כ, they failed to appreciate how that transforms the meaning of the sentence.] 

The post might have ended here, but I am dissatisfied with Machon Ofek's translation of their own corrected text. I would argue, and those who can read Hebrew would surely agree, that the good Machon's usually competent translators fudged this sentence. Here is what it really says:

"This is why this Neshama was placed within him, for it is worthwhile to work for her, and through her man will be able to receive reward in the appropriate place and in the appropriate time. This is in order that [the reward] won't be something despised by his soul like this world is, but to the contrary, [the reward in the next world will be] loved and desired by it more than [this world]."

I know it sounds strange, but that it what it says. If we can suppress our objections for a moment and just listen to the words objectively (always a good idea when reading Luzzatto), we are faced with frightening implications. Reward in the next world is not necessarily blissful. If we fail to "work for the soul," the experience of our eternal reward in the next world will be "despised."

No, this cannot be right, you say. Reward is reward and bliss is bliss. Right?

Wrong. The next world can hurt. Not just Gehenom, but Heaven too. Allow me to quote none other than Luzzatto himself, just a few chapters on:

If it is so difficult for people to be ranked below others in the imaginary and deceptive ranks [of this world]... how will they tolerate seeing themselves lower than people whom they currently consider their inferiors? And this in the place of true rank and eternal honor! Even though they currently don't recognize it nor appreciate its value and consequentially they ignore it, when the time comes they will certainly recognize its reality to their sorrow and shame. This will undoubtedly be a source of great and everlasting grief.  (Chap. 4; translation based on Machon Ofek)

Luzzatto is not speaking here of Gehenom. Earlier in the same chapter he cites the Gemora in Baba Basra (75a), "Everyone is burned by their friend's Chuppah." Luzzatto explained that this refers not to base jealousy, but to the pain of seeing someone else achieve a level of fulfillment that you know that you are yourself capable of. This kind of pain can be experienced in Heaven too.

This is what Luzzatto is saying in our corrected sentence. Work for your soul, or else expect to suffer the same very same disappointments in the next world that you experience in the here and now.