The Body and the Soul

The Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 4, 5) brings a parable from the Beit Midrash of Rabi Yishmael: There was once a king who had an orchard of beautiful fruit. At the entrance of the orchard he put two guards, one who has handicapped and one who was blind and commanded them to make sure that no one touches the fruit. As time passed, the handicapped said to the blind “There are beautiful, delicious fruits in the orchard.” The blind responded “Let us go and indulge.” The handicapped retorted that how can they get to the fruit, one cannot walk and the other cannot see! Together they found the solution; the handicapped rode on the back of the blind, and directed him where to go. One day the king came to check up on his fruits. To his great dismay, the fruits had been eaten! When he turned to the two guards, each responded “It couldn’t have been us- one of us cannot walk and the other cannot see!” What did the king do? He placed the handicap on the back of the blind and exclaimed “This is what you did! This is how you stole my fruits!” So too, in the end of days Hashem will ask the neshama “Why did you sin?”, and the neshama will reply “Master of the World, it is not me who sinned, rather the body that You placed me in. Since I have left the earthly body, I am pure and holy.” Hashem will then turn to the body and ask “Why have you sinned?” Similarly, the body will respond that it was the neshama that sinned, and since the neshama has left the body, the body has been thrown to the ground like stone. What does Hashem do? He puts the neshama into the body and judges them together.