Resurrection - II

Rav Yehudah Petaya (the foremost disciple of the famed Ben Ish Chai, and one of the leading Kabbalists in Jerusalem until his passing in 1942) explains that Gan Eden is not the "place" for reward for one's good deeds. He maintains that as Gan Eden is only a place for souls and not bodies, it would be inequitable for only the soul to be rewarded while the body was also involved in doing good deeds. He maintains that the place for reward is Olam HaBa, i.e. the time of Resurrection when the soul is reunited with the body.

He then asks that since the World to Come is the same as Resurrection and according to the Talmud will occur before the seventh millennium, and it is preceded by the Epoch of the Messiah, how is it that most of the sixth millennium has passed and the Messiah has still not arrived? When, then, will the Messiah reign and when will there be the World to Come?

He answers that the Talmudic statement of a the world ending after the sixth millennium only refers to the world as we know it, Olam HaZeh. It does not include the Epoch of the Messiah and beyond. He offers several proof-texts to support the notion that Messianic times are not included in Olam HaZeh. The actual amount of Messianic time is unknown and is a matter of dispute and could not be included in the set amount of time that the Talmud was giving. Beyond these Epochs, he says there is yet another Olam Haba, another resurrection which will exist after the world as we know it is obliterated.

The key thing that I take from here is the fact that he does not understand the times stated in the Talmud to be fixed. That Messianic times can go beyond the year 6,000.