How to besiege a city

Hi,

"We are instructed to leave a direction open, unsieged, when we besiege a city, so that they should have the means of flight. This way we will learn to act with mercy even upon our enemies in war. Also, this is advantageous in opening a path through which they will flee, rather than strengthen themselves against us."

(Ramban to Sefer haMitzvot, Omitted Aseh #5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Where is the Garden of Eden?

Hi,

"Gan Eden is a rich place on the globe, with abundant water and trees, and Gd will reveal it to humanity in the future, showing them its path, and they will enjoy it. Perhaps they will find amazing plants there, with great benefit and pleasure, aside from those of which we know. None of this is impossible or distant; it is highly possible, even had the Torah not mentioned it, and certainly since it is explained and publicized in the Torah."

(Rambam, Commentary to Mishnah, Sanhedrin 10:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Techiyat haMeitim [the ultimate resurrection of the dead]

Hi,

"R' Tavi said, citing R' Yoshiyah: What is the meaning of the verse, '[Three things are never sated, four never say, 'Enough':] The grave, the barren womb, the earth is never full of water [and fire]'? What is the grave next to the womb? To teach that just as the womb takes in and produces, so the grave takes in and produces."

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 92a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

What happens in Olam haBa (the world of the future)?

Hi,

"Rav regularly said: The next world is not like this one; the next world will not have eating, drinking, procreation, commerce, jealousy, hatred or competition. Rather, the righteous will sit, with crowns on their heads, benefiting from the radiance of the Shechinah, as it is written, 'And they envisioned Gd, and they ate and drank.'"

(Talmud, Berachot 17a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Which body comes back in Techiyat haMeitim?

Hi,

"The last body in which the soul was planted, and in which it grew successfully and developed good roots, will rise up at that time."

(Zohar, Bereishit pg. 131a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Secrets of Gd

Hi,

"Gd caused King Chizkiyahu to suffer, and told Yeshayah, "Go visit the sick," as it is written, "In those days, Chizkiyahu became deathly ill, and the prophet Yeshayah son of Amotz came to him and said, 'So says Gd: Instruct your household, for you will die and not live.'"

"What did that message mean? You will die in this world, and you will not live in the next world.

"Chizkiyahu asked: Why should all this befall me?

"Yeshayah replied: Because you have not been involved in procreation.

"Chizkiyahu explained: I saw in a Divinely inspired vision that I would have bad children!

"Yeshayah replied: What business do you have in the secrets of the Merciful One? You should do as you are instructed, and Gd will do whatever pleases Gd."

(Talmud, Berachot 10a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Why Ramban could not accept Christianity

Hi,

"I cannot believe in his messiahship because the prophet says (Psalms 72:8) "He will have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth" and he did not have dominion...

"The prophet also says (Jeremiah 31:33) "No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know Me..." And it says (Isaiah 11:9) "The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." It says (Isaiah 2:4) "they shall beat their swords [into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;] nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." But from his time until now the world is full of murder and theft..."

(Kitvei Ramban, 1:311)

Have a great day,
Mordechai