Respecting the Dead

President Barack Obama has paid his respects to 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan, the first time he has honored the fallen in this way. The President stood solemnly saluting as the coffins pasts by.

In Hebrew the giving of one’s life for the sake of a higher cause is called Maser Nefesh/Giving Soul, a seemingly strange term since the soul lives, but it is the body which dies. The soul is eternal, the body is temporal but sacrifice is the ultimate action of the soul.

In the two Temples in Jerusalem which existed for nearly 1000 years animal sacrifices were continual upon the Altar of God through the day and burned all night as a sign to the people of the earth that it is our sacrifice from which God gets pleasure. Pleasure according to the Cabala is the highest of human attributes.

It is explained in the Torah how in the next world the soul stands while in this world the soul walks, meaning once the soul and with it the consciousness of the person separates from the body they can no longer effectuate their place in creation–the dead are laid to rest and as a result the soul stands in heaven.

These souls gave their all to their country; they are the constant sacrifice upon the altar of man.