Rabbi David Ashear
Some people claim to have seen individuals who have already passed on. Can there be any truth to their assertions, or were they just imagining these sightings?
The Zohar HaKadosh (Parashat Balak p. 186) writes that a person can come back to This World and make an appearance. They pass through what is called Gan Eden hatachton – lower Gan Eden – and put on a spiritual garb that makes them look exactly as they did while they were alive.
The Zohar brings a story that Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Abahu were once discussing an esoteric part of the Torah. Rav Hamnuna Sabba, who had already passed on, appeared to them and revealed deep secrets regarding their discussion. Moreover, the Gemara (Ketubot 103a) says that after Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi passed away, he would come back to make Kiddush for his family on Friday night and sit at their table during the Shabbat meal.
Rav Shabsai Yudelovitz told a story that he heard from his Rabbi, which was directly transmitted from the mouth of Rabb Chaim Volozhin.
Once, one of his students in Yeshivat Etz Chain became very ill, and the Rabbi sent him back to his family for treatment. Another boy from the yeshivah escorted him, and they stayed overnight at an inn.
When they got their bill the next morning, the teens realized that they did not have enough money to pay the full amount. They told the innkeeper that the friend would bring the rest of the money on his way back to yeshivah. When they reached the sick student’s home, he thanked his friend for accompanying him and gave him the balance due on the bill to pay the innkeeper. But it slipped the boy’s mind. He took a different route and didn’t end up settling the account.
A few months later, the yeshivah got word that the sick student had passed away. They gave eulogies and learned in his memory. One night during the shivah, Rav Chaim was walking down the hall of the yeshivah after midnight, and saw the deceased student standing before him. The Rabbi was not afraid. He approached the student and asked what he needed. The student replied that when he went up to Heaven, he saw that he was cleansed from all his sins, due to the suffering at the end of his life. But, as he was about to enter the gates of Gan Eden, he was stopped by an angel who said, “You stole. You cannot enter. The money you sent to the innkeeper never got there, and therefore you still owe.” However, because he had done everything in his power to pay, he was given permission to go back down and ask his Rabbi to ensure that it did get paid. And so, it happened.
Those who pass on from This World are still alive. They are just living in another location. Therefore, it is not shocking if they are seen here.
Eli* told me that he visited the grave of a tzaddik in Eretz Yisrael in 1996. While he was there, a man from his shul, who had passed away that year, appeared right in front of him and told him to light a candle in his memory. Eli was so shocked at the sight that he just stood and stared. The man repeated, “Please light a candle in my memory.” Eli turned around to light the candle, and when he turned back, the man was gone. He said that man’s children about the episode. They told him that their father donated a considerable sum to restore that burial site, so it made sense that he would appear there.
This World is transient. We are here on a mission to follow Torah and mitzvot to the best of our ability, in the circumstances Hashem places us. The Next World is the Real World, the one that will last forever. The better we do our job here, the more pleasant it will be for us there.
*Name has been changed to protect privacy.