Musar for Berakhot 122:29

I have found among the various booklets of the Arizal that he defines the differences in these levels of the Hereafter as follows: "Know that the righteous enters into a marriage (union) both in this world and after his death. Every צדיק does so in accordance with his individual spiritual powers. There are also צדיקים who enter into a union (embracing the Hereafter) in this world such as בניהו בן יהוידע. (the exploits of this warrior who was among David's body-guards are listed in Samuel II chapter 23). Some enter into an union with the Celestial partner, i.e. אבא ואמא, already while in this world, since in those regions unions can be consecrated only through what we know as קדוש השם, martyrdom by glorifying the name of G–d. An example of this kind of זווג, union with one's partner in the Hereafter, were the Ten Martyrs tortured to death by the Romans including Rabbi Akiva. The same rule applies during any period Jews suffer religious persecution and defiantly go to their death as Jews." When we recite the קריאת שמע we experience a faint echo of such an affinity to the Hereafter. The name of בניהו בן יהוידע also alludes to the emanation בינה יה-ו י-ה למעלה. This is the deeper meaning of בניהו being described in Samuel II 23,20 as בן איש חי, someone who had established his claim to life in the Hereafter. When said בניהו is reported as having killed a lion, הארי, the numerical value of the word הארי=216 is equal to three times the fully spelled Ineffable Name 72. The prophet describes this encounter with the lion as having occurred on יום השלג, which has its own mystical dimension. When our sages say in Sanhedrin 90a: כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא, they mean that the soul of every Jew has access to the Hereafter. When the sages use the expression that someone is מזומן, "invited," they refer to the future when the light of the moon has become as brilliant as the light of the sun. This is the future we have in mind when we add to the words of the שמע ישראל the 24 letters of the formula ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד, "May the Majesty of His glorious kingdom be blessed forever." Nowadays when we are in exile the twenty-four letters in that formula are reversed i.e. have become ד"ך. This is the mystical dimension of Psalms 74,21: אל ישוב דך נכלם, "Let not the downtrodden turn away disappointed." When the Holy Temple was standing, G–d's Majesty consisted of 24 letters; when it will be rebuilt it will again consist of 24 letters. This is meant in Isaiah 54,12: ושמתי כד-כד שמשותך, "I shall make your suns twice 24." [The standard rendition of this verse is: "I shall make your battlements of rubies." Ed.] During Solomon's reign the moon was considered as having reached its zenith, i.e. in the history of the Jewish people whose fate is compared to the fate of the moon. This is what is alluded to by the 24 letters in the formula we recite when saying the קריאת שמע, when we express our absolute faith in this future display of G–d's Majesty. This number 24 equals one third of the possible amount of light. In the messianic future the full extent of the light, i.e. the other two thirds i.e. the ones alluded to in Isaiah 54,12 as כדכד,=48 will be revealed. When combining the three times 24 we have the number 72, i.e. the Ineffable Name spelled fully as words. In other words, G–d's name will be whole when this light will be displayed in all its power. The mystical dimension of the destruction of the Temple is alluded to in its name. It is called בית, house. The numerical value of בית is 412. By adding the number 2 for the two kinds of light it represents we get 414. This is the numerical value of אור, light, multiplied by two, i.e. 207 x2. The removal (destruction) of the בית, robbed us of two thirds of the light in store for us. The root of this light remains in the domain of אצילות. In those regions the only ones who can derive pleasure from it are those who unite in a זיווג, marital "union," the creatures we know as אבא ואמא. Anyone who will be privileged to do so in the seventh millennium (the millennium during which according to Talmudic sources this world will undergo destruction prior to its re-emergence, totally renewed) are the people our sages have referred to as having been invited to the World to Come. This is the secret meaning of the voice from the Celestial Regions which called out to Rabbi Akiva: "hail to you for you have been invited to life in the World to Come" (Berachot 61b). When the sages speak of someone being assured of the World to Come, i.e. מובטח לו שהוא בן עולם הבא, this is the highest level of life in the World to Come. People of the caliber of בניהו בן יהוידע are slated for such a level of experience in the עולם הבא. People of this caliber experienced death on earth only because mankind as such was sentenced to such a fate, not because they individually became guilty of death. On the contrary, these people used their stay on earth in order to totally perfect their personalities.

I have also heard that some Kabbalists consider that Rabbi Akiva was the re-incarnation of Joseph. This is the reason he is known as Akiva ben Joseph. When we consider that Joseph represents "One," as explained earlier, this is all alluded to in the report in the Talmud that Rabbi Akiva ended his life pronouncing the word אחד, One, in the "Hear O Israel" prayer. The soul that departed from him at the time would be the soul of Joseph who was "One." In this connection I have heard a mystical explanation that in reality only nine of the Martyrs were re-incarnations of people who had lived in a previous period. This was so since neither Reuben, nor Joseph nor Benjamin had committed that kind of a sin. When the brothers included the שכינה at the time they entered into the conspiracy, חרם, never to reveal what had really happened to Joseph, the שכינה became an accessory to their conspiracy. Rabbi Akiva's torture was due to the fact that he represented the שכינה. According to this view the tradition that he ended his life with the word אחד, is that he ended his life "because of the אחד." The reason that of all the people it had to be Rabbi Akiva who was singled out to suffer the punishment on behalf of the שכינה, was that in the course of his studies he, more than any other scholar, had penetrated into the hidden aspects of G–d. In other words, he had experienced the "wings" of the שכינה as being immediately above him.

Midrash Shemuel on Avot quotes the opinion of Rabbi Shimon ben Tzadok to the effect that the Rabbi Shimon who told us about the advantages of silence in the above quoted Mishnah was one of the Ten Martyrs. All these martyrs sanctified not only their souls but also their bodies. There are two methods of sanctifying the body. 1) The way of Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues who died on קדוש השם, a martyr's death.This kind of holiness is referred to in the Torah as: והייתם קדושים (11,45). The second method of achieving holiness of the body is referred to in the Torah as: אני ה' מקדשם (21,23). Nadav and Avihu acquired holiness of the body via the second method, i.e. their souls were burned whereas their bodies remained intact. Their departure from this world was similar to that of Chanoch (Genesis 5,24), and Elijah (Kings II 2,11). This is why I believe that the reason their bodies remained intact was that their death was due to the intimacy they had established with G–d. When Rabbi Shimon said that he had not found anything better for the body than silence, he alluded to the instruction given to Rabbi Akiva and the other Martyrs to be silent and accept G–d's decree without question. Only after having made this point does Rabbi Shimon explain in detail what this silence is all about. The Talmud (Berachot 61b) reports that when he was about to die, Rabbi Akiva told his students that he had wanted to fulfill the instruction (Deut. 6,5) to "love your G–d with all your heart, all your soul and all your might," as we recite three times daily. He had wondered when he would finally be able to fulfill the part of "loving G–d with all your soul." By dying a martyr's death he was satisfied that he had finally been granted the opportunity to also fulfill that dimension of loving G–d. It was in this connection that Rabbi Shimon – who was also to become a martyr – said: "study is not of the essence whereas practice is." He referred to the difference between displaying one's love for G–d in theory and displaying it in practice. He also wanted to teach that when the practical opportunity to die a martyr's death does not arise (as in 99% of all lives), G–d will consider the intention to do so, i.e. the fact that one has mentally and emotionally prepared oneself to love G–d to the point where one is ready to die for His Name, as if one had actually done so. This is the deeper meaning of: אני ה' מקדשם "I, the Lord, sanctify them."