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Four Expressions of Redemption (1)

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To understand the idea of redemption, we must first discuss its multi-dimensional character; we will then try to isolate its dimensions, and analyze them one by one.  This analysis of the various dimensions might seem artificial, yet as I will try to demonstrate, it is productive and necessary.

 

     From the outset, the Torah hints at the meaning of redemption.  The Torah opens with the divine statement that everything that is created in the world is good, and in the final summary of the story of creation, the world in its entirety is termed "very good." This sets the background for understanding the second story, the story of the Garden of Eden, in which evil makes its appearance.  In the Garden of Eden we find a tree: the tree of knowledge of good and evil, a tree that contains the potential for the existence of evil.  When we look at the world today, we do not see it as "very good" but as "good and evil;" this is a world in which good and evil both function, and in which, at times, the shadows are more apparent than the light.  Evil appears before us with its double face: it is natural evil, in other words the evil that man suffers, but also moral evil, evil that man causes.

 

     The contrast between the two stories demonstrates the assumption that there is a divine plan for a world that is all good, however when this plan is put into action and man appears, evil appears as well.  This description has been the basis for all of the philosophical interpretations of the Scriptures and in Judaism in general.  The Torah paints an ideal state for us, in which there is only good, and a realistic state, in which there is good and evil.  But it will teach us that repentance and redemption are born together with sin.  The return to the Garden of Eden, the redemption and the End of Days are present in potential from the start.  This potential reality gives us hope for the day that is all good, the day on which good will triumph over evil.  The existence of good and evil is a fact.  But the Scriptures refuse to accept and agree to this fact.  They give us hope for an ideal world, a world that is all good.  This is essentially the definition of redemption.  The world of evil is merely a stage in the process.  Evil will be wiped out, "and God will wipe the tear from every face."

 

     And now we can present the central model, which will help us understand the multi-dimensional character of redemption.  The key to building this model is what I would call the sphere principle.  Exile represents evil and our national suffering.  War represents the evil in humanity, the sin of the nations.  To represent the suffering of the individual, we have chosen Job's question, the question of evil that besets a righteous man.  The evil of the entire cosmos is without a doubt death, which rules over humans and galaxies.

 

     Redemption in Judaism means correcting the evil in the world.  This is the source for the four principles, or if you wish, the four expressions of redemption.  Personal evil is corrected through the idea of immortality.  In this world, the reward for keeping the commandments is not always apparent and sometimes does not exist at all, but there is a "tomorrow" when reward will be received.  The national evil is resolved in the messianic idea.  The international evil - in the vision of the End of Days, in which "nation shall not lift a sword against nation, neither shall they study war any more." Beyond these, there is a final utopian vision, of the correction of the entire world, of triumph even over death, of the return to the Garden of Eden.  The lion and the lamb living in peace are a parable for peace among the nations, however they also reflect the fact that there is violence in the non-human cosmos.  The final vision of the prophets means triumph over this violence as well.

 

     There are in fact parallels between the dimensions of redemption and the entire sphere of human life.  The various components can be arranged in a diagram that might clarify their relationships, as follows:

 

Sphere          Evil                 Redemption

 

Individual      The righteous suffer Immorality of the soul

National        Exile                Messianism

Humanity        War                  The end of days

The cosmos      Death                The world to come

 

Classical Jewish tradition, that of the Scriptures and the Talmud, present these four ideas without clearly defining the relationships between them.  Various Jewish philosophers have attempted to structure the various ideas into an integrated system.  The classic example is clearly the work of Rabbi Sa'adia Gaon, who tries to unify the ideas, and create a consistent historical continuum of the events of the future.  The positions of the philosophers are essentially theories.  We are free to find our place among them.  However we must retain the four basic ideas.  These can be seen as atomic ideas, that the philosophers have used to construct various theories.  These ideas can be presented in a different way that will allow us to explain a different part of the problem:

 

The historical axis has on it the end of days - the historical tendency of all of humanity, and the messianic era - the historical tendency of the Jewish people.

 

The meta-historical axis comprises of the world to come: utopia - of the cosmos that is "all good," and the immortality of the soul - the immortality of the individual.

 

     The four expressions of redemption are arranged along two basic axes, the historical axis [the Messiah and the End of Days] and the meta-historical axis [immortality and the World to Come].

 

     These two axes constitute two possible answers to one basic question: Where and how will the redemption occur? Does redemption means fixing this world or does it mean a transition to another world? In other words: does the redemption occur in historical, realistic time, or in another world [the immortality of the soul], or through a basic and general change in the cosmos [the resurrection of the dead]?

 

     With a slight change we can speak of three different ideas of redemption:

1.  Individual redemption

2.  Historic redemption

3.  Cosmic redemption

 

This schema allows us to understand the great debates in the history of the idea of redemption.  The Rambam's ideas can be summarized as an attempt to focus the idea of redemption on two perspectives: the individual perspective (the immortality of the soul); and the historical perspective (the messianic idea and the End of Days).  In contrast, the Ramban saw these two perspectives as an introduction to the true meaning of redemption, the alteration of the entire cosmos. 

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