What Is the Resurrection of the Dead?

Techiyas hameisim, the resurrection of the dead, is the Torah’s promise that the dead will live again, body and soul, in the era of Moshiach. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, King Moshiach, taught, following the Ramban, that the ultimate reward is given at the resurrection, when souls return to physical bodies in this world (Likkutei Sichos vol. 39, pp. 440-441).

What did the Rebbe teach about the resurrection?

The Rebbe taught that the highest reward comes at the resurrection (Likkutei Sichos vol. 39, p. 441).

In a letter for Rosh Hashanah dated 25 Elul 5750, the Rebbe set out the classic dispute. According to the Rambam, the highest reward is in the Garden of Eden, where souls live without bodies. The Ramban, who lived after the Rambam and studied his teachings, rules that the ultimate reward comes at the time of the resurrection, when the souls come down again into this world and are clothed in physical bodies. The Rebbe adds that the halachah follows the later authority, especially in this matter.

Why should the body receive the highest reward? The Rebbe explains that a physical creation holds a G-dly power not found even in the highest spiritual worlds. Only G-d Himself can create a physical thing from nothing. That hidden quality of the physical will be revealed at the resurrection. The Rebbe made the same point to yeshivah students on the eve of Yom Kippur 5750 (Likkutei Sichos vol. 39, p. 394).

Why does the body matter so much?

The Rebbe taught that in the Redemption the soul will draw its life from the body.

Today the soul gives life to the body. In the Era of the Redemption this will reverse, and “the soul will derive its nurture from the body” (Sichos In English, 27 MarCheshvan 5752). The Rebbe Maharash explained that the spiritual source of the body was always higher than the soul; it is only concealed until Moshiach comes.

The Alter Rebbe writes that G-d desired a dwelling in the lower worlds, and that this purpose is fulfilled in the days of Moshiach and especially at the resurrection (Tanya, ch. 36-37). The Rebbe drew a practical lesson. The ultimate reward is not only spiritual, like the reward of souls in the Garden of Eden. It is experienced in this material world, as souls are clothed in bodies (Sichos In English, Shabbos Parshas Balak 5751). The feast G-d makes for the righteous will be an actual physical meal.

Is the resurrection a principle of Jewish faith?

Yes. The Rambam counts the resurrection as the thirteenth of his Thirteen Principles of Faith.

The Rambam lists the principles in his commentary on the Mishnah, at the start of Perek Chelek (Sanhedrin, chapter 10). The Mishnah there says that all Israel have a share in the World to Come. The first one it names who loses that share is one who says the resurrection is not taught in the Torah (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1; Sanhedrin 90a).

Three times a day the second blessing of the Amidah praises G-d “who revives the dead.” Many congregations say the thirteenth principle each morning: “I believe with complete faith that there will be a revival of the dead.” The Rambam also wrote a separate letter defending this belief, known as the Essay on the Resurrection (Iggeres Techiyas HaMeisim).

Where is the resurrection taught in Scripture?

The prophets state it openly, and the Talmud derives it from the Five Books of Moses (Sanhedrin 90b).

• Daniel: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake” (Daniel 12:2).
• Isaiah: “Your dead shall live… awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust” (Isaiah 26:19).
• The Torah: G-d promised to give the Land “to them,” to the Patriarchs themselves. The Talmud reads this as a promise that they will live again to receive it (Exodus 6:4; Sanhedrin 90b).

The verse from Isaiah, “Arise and sing, those who dwell in the dust,” is the one the Rebbe applied to the Previous Rebbe and to David, King Moshiach, in the sicha of Beis Nissan 5748 (Sefer HaSichos 5748, vol. 1, pp. 350-354). This sicha is the source of the proclamation Yechi Adoneinu.

Who rises first, and when?

The Rebbe taught that the tzaddikim of all generations rise first, early in the Redemption (Shabbos Parshas Bo 5752).

The Rebbe said this surely applies to the Previous Rebbe, the leader of our generation, and that he will share this with the members of his generation (Sichos In English, “A Lifetime Renewed”). The righteous will rise while the mitzvos still apply, and will keep them on the higher level of the Redemption (Sichos In English, Shabbos Parshas Vaeira 5752). The Talmud itself allows that Moshiach may be one who comes from the dead (Sanhedrin 98b).

For the Jewish people as a whole, the days of Moshiach come first. The sages say the days of Moshiach last forty years. The Ran explains that this is a preparation, and after it comes the resurrection (Chiddushei HaRan, Sanhedrin 99a). The Rebbe explained the number forty: it takes forty years to grasp a teacher’s wisdom fully, so after forty years of Moshiach’s teaching the world is ready for the higher stage (Toras Menachem 5744, vol. 4, p. 2403).

How will the dead appear when they rise?

The sages teach that the dead rise as they were, and then G-d heals them (Sanhedrin 90b).

• Clothing. Rabbi Meir compared the dead to a grain of wheat, buried bare and rising clothed. All the more so the righteous, buried in their garments (Sanhedrin 90b).
• Healing. “As a person went, so will he return.” G-d raises them as they were and then heals them. The Zohar says G-d will shine a healing sun on them.
• Appearance. They will rise with the same appearance, so that people will recognize them. Rav Saadia Gaon writes that G-d will renew the body “like a precious gem.”

The Rambam warned against curiosity about details while ignoring the main point: that the Redemption and the resurrection are coming. The human body itself will change, as described in the human body in the era of Moshiach.

How does a person prepare for the resurrection?

The Alter Rebbe teaches that the perfection of the resurrection depends on our deeds during the exile (Tanya, ch. 37).

The Rebbe stressed that the main thing in a mitzvah is the physical deed. One who has every intention but does not do the mitzvah has not fulfilled it, while one who does it without the intention has fulfilled it (Likkutei Sichos vol. 39, p. 440). Every mitzvah done with the body makes the world a dwelling for G-d and prepares the body for that day.

The Rebbe added that each mitzvah already brings a foretaste of the reward, a personal redemption, and can tip the balance of the whole world (Sichos In English, Shabbos Parshas Ki Seitzei 5751). This is living with Moshiach today. The resurrection belongs to the full picture of what happens when Moshiach comes, together with the Rambam’s laws of King Moshiach.