Our Gemara on amud aleph continues various debates and discussions to establish the credibility of the resurrection of the dead. The school of Rabbi Yishmael presents the following argument:

We can see how the resurrection of the dead is possible by way of a kal v’chomer from glass vessels: If, concerning glass vessels—which are fashioned by the breath of those of flesh and blood, who blow and form the vessels—it is the case that if they break, they can be repaired, as they can be melted and subsequently blown again, then with regard to those of flesh and blood, whose souls are a product of the breath of the Holy One, Blessed be He, all the more so can God restore them to life.

What kind of argument is this? Often, the more specialized and skilled the craftsman and the object, the harder it is to reconstruct. What of it, that a glassblower can re-form a broken vessel? Can a watchmaker reassemble the intricate mechanism of a Patek Philippe that was run over by a truck? Furthermore, can a luthier duplicate a Stradivarius? How, then, is this a logical argument that a human can be re-created and restored?

I believe the answer is that we are reading the kal v’chomer incorrectly. That the substrate of any material object can be re-formed is no leap of faith. Obviously, God can cause a new body to form, just as a craftsman can make a fair duplicate of an original object. With new biotechnologies such as cloning, we can even understand how a duplicate of a person’s body might be grown in the near future. However, to download the person’s entire personality and memory will likely remain elusive for some time—if ever (Ray Kurzweil’s predictions of the Singularity notwithstanding). Therefore, the real question of faith is: can God restore the person’s soul—that is, the personality—back to who he or she was? It is notable that Tehillim uses the word yechida for soul, which seems to share the same root as “unique” (see, for example, Tehillim 22:21, Metzudas Dovid).

This is what the kal v’chomer is trying to address. The similarity between the glassblower and the verse that “God blew into Adam the spirit of life” (Bereishis 2:7) is not incidental. The idea is that just as a glassblower can form a duplicate of a glass vessel, so too, in some way, God is able to re-form the person and his soul.

What is interesting about this is that even with this accepted principle of faith—that the person’s unique soul is restored to their body—we do not clearly know what actually comes back to life. If one believes in reincarnation, then who returns to the body? The final incarnation? All the iterations? All the memories? It is not clear how that is supposed to work.

The Rambam, in Moreh Nevuchim (3:27–28), holds that the immortality of the soul is achieved through attachment to God. That attachment is made through a person’s contemplation and internalization and embodying metaphysical truths and their understanding of God to the best of human ability, and through that, their intellect becomes eternal. However, according to his Iggeres Techiyas HaMeisim, the resurrection of the dead is a lengthy process in which the body and soul are revived and rejoined. Yet, the ultimate and eternal experience is the afterlife that follows, which consists solely of the soul basking in the Shechinah and being attached to God.

Thus, the stage of Techiyas HaMeisim may indeed involve the complete restoration of both body and soul, though the final Olam HaBa consists only of the soul. But if it is only the soul, how much of our personality and memories reside in the soul, and how much in the body? I do not know the answer to that. However, if none of our personality resides in the soul, then how would our experience of the Olam HaBa be meaningful? We must conclude that there is some essence—however intellectual—that retains an element of our identity.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, DHL is a psychotherapist who works with high conflict couples and families. He can be reached via email at simchafeuerman@gmail.com