What Happens To The Person The Moment He Leaves This World?

The moment after the soul leaves one’s body, G-D judges the person. G-d explains to the soul that He went through the trouble of creating it and enabling it to be born from its mother’s womb. G-d explains that from the time of inception throughout its entire life on Earth. He then asks the soul what it has accomplished in its lifetime.

1. How much Torah learning did you do?

2. How many acts of kindness did you perform?

3. Did you try to have children?

4. Were you honest in business?

If the soul is able to respond positively to these questions, it gets spared from punishment and gets escorted to its final resting place. If the soul did not fulfill its mission, however, then G-D gives the soul over to five heavenly angels to punish it. These angels correspond to the five books of the Torah and each has a specific purpose.

1. The first counts how many lashes the soul is to receive.

2. The second angel hits the soul for all of the positive commandments it transgressed on Earth.

3. The third angel takes the light out of the person since he troubled himself to do sin.

4. The fourth angel is sent if the soul stole on Earth. The angel brings bitter herbs and tells it to chew it since it ate from stolen money or from something that didn’t belong to it.

5. The fifth angels hit the soul’s parents because they were unable to lead their child down the right path of Torah. If the parents did teach the child and the child rebelled, then the angel hits the child in front of its parents.

All of this happens before חיבוט הקבר.