Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life
By Jon D. Levenson
Yale University Press, 274 pages, $40.
For many non-Orthodox Jews, the concept of the physical resurrection of the dead has always been difficult. Prayers mentioning the doctrine — including such central texts as the second paragraph of the Amidah, in which God is addressed as “the one who revives the dead… and restores life” — have been translated in Reform and Conservative prayer books either very vaguely or completely misleadingly. In Abraham Geiger’s 19th-century German translation, for example, God simply “bestows life here or there”; in the Reform movement’s 1975 Gates of Prayer siddur, resurrection becomes “power over [one’s] own life.”
And yet, not only is the expectation of resurrection of the dead central to rabbinic Judaism, but, according to Harvard University professor Jon D. Levenson, it also has roots going back to biblical times. In Levenson’s new study, “Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel,” he overturns the conventional wisdom that resurrection was a doctrine that emerged suddenly around the time of the Second Temple and is tangential to Judaism. He argues that it developed “slowly and unevenly” over the preceding centuries. The result is a fascinating portrait of the evolution of one theological concept over more than 3,000 years, one that many modern Jews will find deeply unsettling.
The fate of the dead in the Hebrew Bible has always been unclear. According to Levenson, in the Old Testament, those who died an “unfortunate” death, marked by “violence, punishment, prematurity or a broken heart,” went to Sheol — the dark, miserable netherworld. Those such as Abraham, Moses and Job, who died content and blessed, did not go to an equivalent heavenly world but rather saw themselves as continued in their offspring. Since the boundaries between the self and one’s family were much more fluid in antiquity, leaving descendants really did have the ability to soften the prospect of death. Hence, those who found themselves in abject misery were functionally equivalent to residents of Sheol, and considered themselves effectively dead. The same applied to those who were barren of children (a recurring concern in the Bible). When God improved their condition, or granted them children, it was seen as a very real form of resurrection.
The Hebrew Bible, therefore, never really saw death as inevitable and irreversible. In Jewish devotional literature, Levenson says, the Temple is often described as Eden-like, giving those who shelter in it temporary protection from death. Similarly, the most extensive description of resurrection in the Bible — the story in 2 Kings of the prophet Elisha resuscitating a child — shows that the possibility of God reversing death was not altogether foreign, although there was not, as yet, an expectation of a more general revival of the dead.
The foundations for this were laid later, when the Scriptures start talking about the nation as a whole returning to the Land of Israel after a period in exile in terms of physical resurrection. Israel, a widow, loses her children, who are then miraculously restored; more radically, in Ezekiel’s famous vision, the nation is symbolized by dry bones in a valley, which are given flesh and breath again, and stand up — “a vast multitude,” restored to life. Finally, in Daniel 12:1-3, “the first transparent and indisputable prediction of the resurrection of the dead in the Hebrew Bible appears,” promising that in the future, “many of those that sleep in the dust will awake….”
Gradually, these strands came together in Second Temple times to form the widespread expectation of a general resurrection. The end result, Levenson emphasizes, was not inevitable, and a variety of other factors — such as the influence of Zoroastrianism — played a role, as well.
“Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel” generally suits a more academic audience, and navigating the book is made harder by the inexplicable absence of a general index; however, those who do make it to the end will be rewarded with a creative and inspiring reading of Jewish texts and history. It is a shame that Levenson seems to be addressing his book to a non-Orthodox audience, and that he doesn’t truly discuss the widespread acceptance of resurrection in the contemporary Orthodox world (indeed, how could he write a book on this topic without mentioning Chabad, many of whose adherents believe that the seventh rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died in 1994, will return). Many in the Orthodox camp would find his book just as revolutionary as would their non-Orthodox peers, for the opposite reason: They may be shocked at how marginal-to-nonexistent the doctrine of resurrection, as they know it, was for so much of Jewish history.
Ultimately, Levenson’s goal of persuading readers that resurrection is not tangential to Judaism may yet bear fruit. In recent years, there has been a trend toward acceptance of Jewish concepts — such as Kabbalah and mysticism — that 30 years ago were deeply embarrassing to many in the mainstream community. As unlikely as it seems at the moment, the Jewish doctrine of resurrection may yet be resurrected in our time.
Miriam Shaviv is the comment editor of the Jewish Chronicle in the United Kingdom.
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Even though Hebrews had just left Egypt where the hereafter was a very important aspect of religious thought.there is no mention of the hereafter in the Five Books of Moses. As one discusses the inclusion of the hereafter in Jewish religious thinking, shouldn't the omission of "hereafter" concept in the Five Books of Moses be explained? If there is such an explanation I, as a non-expert, don't know of it. Can someone explain it?
A life after death? No kidding? Wow, it's the best news I've heard all day. I have a couple of questions for the Orthodox eschatologists: 1. Is there something in particular that I need to do to get resurrected? Will heavy and frequent donations to Orthodox causes guarantee resurrection? 2. When I go to my reward, such as it is, can I take my cat? Or is heaven reserved to you-know-who, "the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals?" Please answer these pressing questions. My cat wants to know.
Sometimes, a review can be as flawed as its subject matter. Both the author and reviewer seem to be oblivious to the fact that an Oral Law that provided the means of interpretation as well as the explication of many halachic ( legal) and hashkafic ( Jewish philosophy) was handed down to Moses by God and thereafter to Joshua, etc. There is no doubt that the resurrection of the dead and the afterworld were considered as such to merit extensive discussion in the Talmud and Rishonim, with the disagreements being only as to the nature of these events, as opposed to if and when these events would happen. With all due respect to the reviewer, this doctrine was hardly a Chabad invention. With all due respect, whenever a Jew prays the traditional text of the Amidah, he or she affirms that God has the ability to revive the dead and act in history in very visible and not so visible ways-ranging from such dramatic events as the Exodus and Revelation at Sinai to the constant improvement of mankind through technology, medicine, etc. In my opinion, neither the book in question nor the review addressed these issues adequately.
A cogent review. I cant wait to read the book. I wish books like this were online. I believe kashrut makes resurrection inevitable. Rabbi Milgrom, in his critique of Leviticus, demonstrates how most Jewish "rituals" are attempts to clearly separate symbols of life from symbols of death, and to remove ambiguity and mixing between the two categories. Dont boil a goat (death) in its mother's milk (life). It is a problem if men ejaculate (life) while sleeping (death). It is a problem if women bleed (death) from their womb (life). It is a problem if living people have corpse-like flesh of leprosy. Do not communicate (life) with ghosts (death). And so on. By extention, I suggest, an ambiguous afterlife where the dead (death) remain conscious (life) cannot be acceptable to Judaism. Humans must EITHER cease to exist entirely (death) OR resurrect entirely (life). There can be no mixing between the two catagories of life and death.
A cogent review. I cant wait to read the book. I wish books like this were online. I believe kashrut makes resurrection inevitable. Rabbi Milgrom, in his critique of Leviticus, demonstrates how most Jewish "rituals" are attempts to clearly separate symbols of life from symbols of death, and to remove ambiguity and mixing between the two categories. Dont boil a goat (death) in its mother's milk (life). It is a problem if men ejaculate (life) while sleeping (death). It is a problem if women bleed (death) from their womb (life). It is a problem if living people have corpse-like flesh of leprosy. Do not communicate (life) with ghosts (death). And so on. By extention, I suggest, an ambiguous afterlife where the dead (death) remain conscious (life) cannot be acceptable to Judaism. Humans must EITHER cease to exist entirely (death) OR resurrect entirely (life). There can be no mixing between the two catagories of life and death.
To Stein Alte Vere: Sleeping and women bleeding have nothing to do with death, quite the opposite. And there's no such thing as ghosts.
To Stein Atle: Please contact me to discuss your views on the Jewish afterlife. My name is Maia, and I am from Miami as well. maialynn@gmail.com
after you die you are in the ground until the resurrectioncant be proven wrong