Question of the Week
From Dan, six years old:
When someone dies, can their soul come back down in another body? Or does the soul just die?
Answer
Great question Dan! You have a very deep mind.
You like playing arcade games, don't you? I'm sure you've been to Timezone.
Imagine you were spending a couple of hours playing games there with some friends. You run from one game to another, swiping your games card and using up your credit. As you play, you earn more and more points. You can cash them in for prizes, but that comes later.
Eventually your session comes to an end, and you have to go home. You might want to stay longer, but your parents tell you that it's time to leave. It's been fun, but you have other things that need to get done. You can't stay at Timezone forever.
Now it's time to cash in your points for a prize. It's fun choosing a prize. But the truth is, it was more fun just earning the points.
Once you have your prize it's time to go. But what if you still have some credit left on your games card that you didn't use? It would be a waste to just throw it away. Just as you are walking out of Timezone, you see a friend of yours walking in the entrance. So you give him your card, so he can use the credit.
This whole story happens to the soul. It's called the game of life.
Our soul has certain amount of credit. This soul credit is the energy we are given each day so we can do mitzvos, the good deeds that G-d commanded us to do. We need to use our energy for doing as much good as we can, like giving charity, learning Torah and helping people in need.
Every mitzvah earns us points. We will be rewarded in the end. But greater than the reward is the mitzvah itself. Knowing you did what G-d wanted you to do is the greatest reward there can be.
But there comes a time when we have to leave the game. At the end of our life, our soul, along with all the mitzvos we did, goes up to heaven. But some parts of the soul may not have been fully used yet. We aren't perfect, and may have missed some opportunities to do good. Only the used parts of the soul go to heaven. The unused parts are sent back down into another body, so they can get used. Someone else will do mitzvos with those parts of the soul.
Dan, your soul has definitely been here before. You are here to finish the job, and do as many mitzvos as you can every day. Don't leave any credit behind. Because once we all do the mitzvos that we are here to do, Moshiach will come. That will be the best timezone to be in!
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss