Baal Haturim Deuteronomy: Ekev

Fashionable Resurrections

If that vital spark that we find in a grain of wheat can pass unchanged through countless deaths and resurrections, will the spirit of man be unable to pass from this body to another?  -William Jennings Bryan

It is a principle of Jewish faith that at some point in the future, the dead will come back to life. We have it listed as 13^th of Maimonides 13 Principles of Faith: “I believe with complete faith that there will be a revival of the dead when it will rise up the will from the Creator, blessed be His Name.”

This precept raises multiple questions:

• In what body will we return?
• Will we return old or young?
• If we suffered the loss of a limb, will we return whole?
• If you believe in reincarnation, which person will return?
• And finally, will we return dressed or naked?

While I have faith that all of these questions will be taken care of satisfactorily, the Baal Haturim does provide in Deuteronomy 8:3 the answer to at least one of the questions. He states that the resurrected will return fully clothed. He gives the analogy to wheat. If a seed of wheat can be buried in the ground “naked”, decompose, and return fully grown and “clothed” then so too, those destined to return from death will return fully clothed.

One less thing to worry about.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To all innocent victims of violence.